Bangkok

I flew in Bangkok on Friday the 25th at 11:30 pm. I had booked a room at the Malaysia Hotel, in the expats area (far away from the horrible Kao San touristy area).

When I arrived in the hotel it was only to learn that they were full, so they set me up in a small guesthouse they had close by. I was exhausted, hot, thirsty ; to make matters worse I had forgotten the key to the lock of my backpack's wire mesh so I couldn't even open my bag.

I went out to get a bottle of water in a 7/11 I had seen close by, as well as a good fresh beer in a little bar right round the corner. As I was enjoying my beer and smoke, an Ozzie guy, Geoff, invited to pay me a drink. We ended up talking until pretty late (like 3:30 am). He had been living here a year ago or so, had a Thai girlfriend at the time, was now back just to see his friends and relax. It was really a nice encounter as after that night we would meet nearly everyday at that same bar, I would always check whenever I walked pass if he was in, through him I also met Tony, an English guy in his 50s, who has worked all around the world and is now working as a security manager in Bangkok. Those individuals are always fascinating to me and I really enjoy their company.

Bangkok for itself is a huge city, extremely hot and polluted, with too many people and too many cars. It defenitly has an atmosphere to it, some areas are pretty international (where you have all the embassies and international companies offices), while some others are so typical with no tourists at all (flower market, lost streets, etc). The big area to avoid is defenitly Kao San where all the tourists stay, after what Geoff had told me about it I just went there to check it out, and he was right, it was a nightmare.

After 3 days there I took the night train going to Chaing Mai, even though I had been warned that it was the rainy season and that some roads/accesses might be blocked.

My train was at 19:30 on Monday night, arriving in Chaing Mai the next day at 9:40. I caught a cold in that freezing train and slept very badly due to the cold. If you take it take a bottom bunk and bring something warm, otherwise the experience is interesting.