“The world is a book, and those who do not travel have only read a page” - St. Augustine -
We left Oslo January 12th, with big hopes and expectations. But with no idea what was waiting for us.
A long flight later we arrived in Bangkok, known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon, meaning “the city of angels”.
I travelled with my good friend, Inga, and we were now going to spend the next 103 days together.We didn’t have much planned before we left, just a Lonley Planet book of every country we were planning on visiting. The rest we figured out on the way. The first impretion of Bangkok was overwhelming. Nine million people live in the capital, and when we we were trying to cross the road for the first time, it’s seemed like ‘Mission Impossible’.
The trafic was insane!
And aparetnly, they don’t find trafic ligths usfull. There are tuk-tuk’s, cars, bikes, and people everywhere. It was different to anything I have ever seen before. The smells were so intense and the heat was unberable.
So where do you start? Where do you go?
Lonely Planet gives you some good ideas. Infact I don’t know what we would do without that book.
They call it the “Backpackers Bibel”.
So back to Bangkok...
Our first day we signed up for a trip to the floating marked, a snake farm and a less impressive elephant show. Our tour-guide talked non-stop, and I understood less than half of what he said. In “Thai-English” they don’t pronounce ‘r’ only ‘l’. The marked was definalty worth a visit. I tasted fried banana and rose(lose)apple for the first time, I tried to bargain on a pair of shoes, and learned that this is not my talent, I touched an albino snake and fed a baby elephant!
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Sightseeing can be exhausting, but it is something you just have to do. Take som photos, send them home, and make mummy and daddy proud.
Out first Thai meal was at Mc Donalds. The big yellow ‘M’ was screaming at us as we walked past. And with all the noodle and rise we ate the next four months there was no reason to feel guilty.
In Khao San Road there is Happy Hour all night. And you don’t walk far before someone pulls you in to their bar and serves you one of their famous ‘buckets’. And yes it is excatly what you think it is. A drink in a bucket.
You get them in any colour, and you can choose between strong, very strong, or very very strong. A little advice is to stay away from the Chang beer, cause the roumer says, they’re not too sure about the exact percentage of alcohol it is in each beer. It can be everything from 6-12%! And that will most definatly make your night in to a blurry memory.
Bangkok is a mekka for backpackers.
But after three days, we’ve had enough.
Khao San Road, known for it’s crazy nightlife and many tourists, is overcrowded with kids ready for new adventures. It’s smelly, it’s warm, and it’s loud. My first night there I even met a girl I went to shcool with. The world is be a big place, but the backpacking society is quite small.
If you decide to stay in a hostel on this street, be prepared for some sleepless nights. We found a cheap hostel, with a sign that said:
“Fan and big bed”.
There was no big bed, and the fan didn’t work.
After a long night, and some strong buckets, we woke up at 12 pm the next morning, of a woman hammering our door. “Cleaning lady! Must leave ‘loom’ now!”
God how I missed my own bed.
We decided to go to Cambodia next.
12 hours? It can’t be....TWELVE HOURS???
After a few months on the road, we learned that twelve hours on a bus is a piece of cake...
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