Our flight to Bangkok arrived just in time to catch the last train to the city. It took us about halfway to the neighborhood around Khao San Road, Bangkok’s notorious backpacker zone. On the train, we met a young French couple, who we assumed were going to the same area, based on their dreadlocks and filthy backpacks. We asked if they wanted to share a taxi. I was glad they said they would rather take the bus, since it showed what kind of travelers they were, but I knew that the buses had actually stopped running at this hour.
It turned out that we were also heading to the same guesthouse, since it is one of the cheapest around. I was surprised that when we arrived that I recognized it. It was the exact same guesthouse that I had stayed in when I first arrived to Thailand on my way to India five years prior. It felt strange to unexpectedly land back here again after such a long time.
We spent a few days lazing around Khao San Road. What can one say about one of the world’s largest backpacker hubs? Well, I can’t say much good about it. It is a bizarre oasis of almost Thai-free culture that gave me the biggest culture shock of my life five years before when I landed there after three months in India. I didn’t consider liking it or hating it the first time I passed through there before India, but on the way back it was utterly dreadful. I was shocked at what tourism had destroyed in a city. I was appalled at the disgusting consumerism and hedonism that prevailed in every corner. Every tourist seemed to have a complete disregard for the fact that there was an incredible city with fascinating culture to explore a few blocks away. This time, however, I knew what to expect, and I was ready to treat it for what it was: a cultural anomaly that had developed some time in the last quarter, maybe half, century. I didn’t have to approve or disapprove of it. With the right approach, I could treat it like any other culture that I come into as an outsider. I don’t have to agree what goes on, but it is interesting to watch nonetheless. I may not approve of the caste system in India, women’s veils in Muslim countries, consumerism in Malaysian malls or anything going on in Vegas, but since I have little to do with these cultures, I can sit back and watch the show.
So we explored the trinket stalls, ate crappy phad thai and banana pancakes, drank beer in the streets, but mostly we just sat and watched it all go by. We hadn’t seen many travelers in our month and a half of travel, and this was a veritable parade of backpackers and tourists ranging from the filthy hippy with meter long dreads, to the frat boy fresh from the beach with a maraschino cherry sunburn, and everyone in between. We were both surprisingly content with just sitting around and watching the diverse hordes of foreigners from all over the world make their way through these crowded streets.
As packed as it was with foreigners, it was interesting how we could randomly stumble upon some local Thai treasures that seemed completely overlooked. Just a couple doors down from our guesthouse there was a row of a quaint bar/cafes, all with local musicians performing. One had jazz, another folk and another had some Thai rock. For some reason, all the foreigners were passing by this bit of easily accessible culture. Although the beer was a bit pricier than we were used to, we decided it would be worth it to listen to some of the music. It was hard to believe that we could be so close to Khao San Road and be the only foreigners at a bar with live music.
We bided our time in the city, deciding on our next move. In the mean time, we did some modest exploration. Bangkok is a lively city with plenty to see and do. Unfortunately, a lot of the most impressive sites cost quite a bit, so we decided we would put those on our list of things to do on another trip to Bangkok when we had more money. It was now my fourth time in the city, although every time seems to just be a couple of nights and I still haven’t seen much of it. One of our little excursions took us onto one of Bangkok’s many canals that streak through the city. It was nice to see that they are still quite popular as a means of transport. The canal stank, and we were fortunate that they pulled up tarps to protect us from the splashing as we hit top speed in our long boat.
Beyond some random wandering though, most of our time in Bangkok was spent regrouping. Lise and I had both been sick just before coming here, and we were still weak. We had some practical errands to run (post office, book store, internet, etc.) as well as the obligation to figure out where we would go next. We had decided to meet a friend of Lise’s in Cambodia, so we planned our trip around that. We didn’t have much desire to hit the famous islands of the south, and didn’t have much desire to go to Chiang Mai, Thailand’s other major hub of tourism. We decided to go to Surin in the northeast, a region that is close to Cambodia and relatively tourist free.
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