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Published: January 26th 2011
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Sunbaked food. As soon as I stepped off the plane, that's the scent that hit me square in the face and my god, did it smell like happiness. Perhaps I imagined it, seeing as I hadn't eaten in 24 hours due to being sick, but that warm smell was welcoming all the same. It's funny what a vitamin D deficiency can do. The humidity in Thailand settled nicely on my bare legs that felt oddly scandalous since they had been covered in snowy Korea for so long. As I sat with the other foreigners waiting for our transport, I looked around at the tropical plants and realized I could be in Hawaii and not even know it. I'd always seen Thailand as a much more treacherous and exotic place, but frankly the scenery was eerily similar to what I had seen in Kauai. The laid back attitude of the Thai also led to Hawaii comparisons but as soon as the bus hit the explosion of culture that is Bangkok, those ideas went out the window.
Khao San Road at night is an attack on the senses. It's a short road; if you walked without stopping at the many many distractions,
you would make it down the whole thing in less than five minutes. And yet, some people spend their whole time in Bangkok there. The street is packed with tourists, various pad thai food carts where a woman chops raw chicken to throw into the hot oil that's sizzling loudly, Thai boys throwing neon flying toys into the air that careen down just as loudly as they went up, and things to buy. Racks of hipster t-shirts are slammed side by side down the street on both sides. Each little "shop" sells basically the same shirts, but in different colors or styles. Singlets are all the rage as they are flying in every color from every doorway with brands, ironic quotes, celebrity faces, and hot bodies printed on them. In between all the shirts there are boards and tables draped in jewels, sunglasses, purses, belts, watches, underwear, and pirated DVDs and cds. My personal favorite is the "fake your way through life" stand. The poster gives examples of the fake driver’s license, diplomas, school id's, and PASSPORTS they can give you. I tried to take a picture but a woman screamed at me and snatched it away before I could.
Legal? I’m guessing not.
Khao San is gluttony personified as a road. Not only is there shopping, but there are people stretched out getting foot and head massages in lounge chairs right next to a man selling coconut juice. On either side of the relaxation is the contrast of techno music in the Absolut bar where tanned bohemians, middle aged couples, and businessmen drink cocktails under disco balls. It struck me as wonderful to see the diversity of tourists that come to Bangkok. I mean there are little kids, babies, old folks, preppy college students, dreadlocked stoners, honeymoon couples, and ravers. It's fantastic. The night was becoming sweaty and golden and I was growing tired so I went to my no frills hostel room which was just off the main road. Going out didn't hold much allure as I was exhausted and traveling by myself. If there's one thing I don't enjoy, it's sitting at a bar alone.
Daylight turns Khao San Road into a whole other creature. There was no food except, to my delight, the fruit shake cart that was burdened with every fruit you could think of. The street is easy to move down in
the day because there are only one or two clothes racks and many of the shop doors are closed. A few people milled around and some hung-over faces crammed potatoes and eggs in their mouths at the bars that looked much dirtier in the daytime. It was time for me to see what else Bangkok had to offer.
I'm a wanderer so I just set off walking in a general direction and started exploring. I got out my map to see what street I had ended up on when instantly a little Thai man popped out of his tuk-tuk and said "Oh where are you going??" Sensing a scam, I was wary, but he helped me with the map and finding my way to Democracy Monument (which I might add, is nothing to exciting to see) and proceeded to point in the direction of other great sights. This also happened to me when I was wrangling my map at a stoplight and again when I was staring at the red "you are here" on a giant map outside a park and wondering how the hell I got "here". The second I looked confused or slowed my gait, some helpful
local would be by my side peppering me with questions like "Where are you going?", "Where are you from?", "How long in Thailand?" and "Where will you go next?” Not one of them tried to sell me anything...this I was not used to. These good samaritans stopped happening once my brother showed up so I'm guessing being a solo blonde girl in a little dress, sipping her coconut juice may have played a part.
As you walk along the crowded and loud streets of Bangkok, once and awhile you come to open doorways in the white walls. These lead to wats or monastery temples. There is usually a woman selling flowers or candles outside and when you step in there is gold Buddha’s with incense flowing around their heads. I've been to so many temples now that their wonder has dulled a bit for me, but these temples were gorgeous. I loved the mix of gold and orange and the purple and pink flowers that crawled over the walls. Everything was so ornate and the monks draped in their bright orange cloth sat cross legged on the floor jovially eating a meal together. Compared to Korea's temples and gray
monks, everything glistened and seemed a bit brighter. I'm a sucker for good use of color.
Santi Chai Prakan Park. Not your typical tourist attraction, just a park that sits on the river looking out at the Rama VIII bridge. It was my favorite place in all of Bangkok. I came across it when I was trying to get to the other side of town and my wretched sense of direction led me astray. Massive lamphu trees are all around and shade foreigners and Thai people reading their books or just sitting and enjoying the quiet. Besides me, there was only about 10 other people reading, meditating, and painting. I lay down next to the swollen water full of tree branches and soaked up the sun while my mind went for a stroll. There was a small fruit juice stand where I got watermelon juice for the equivalent of 75 cents. I wrote in my journal and studied the people around me and decided I could stay in this park all day. But it was time to meet up with my brother and there was a plate of sun infused pad thai with my name on it.
As we (my brother now with me) left Bangkok the next day in an airport van, a little Swedish child in front of me looked out the window at the quickly darkening landscape and said in a singsong voice, "Hej då, Bangkok. Vi ses."
Goodbye Bangkok. See you soon.
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