Bangkok

My stay in Bangkok was about five days, a bit too long according to many. I would say there is plenty to do, but there are nicer cities to visit.

Staying at a “party” hostel:

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Breathing either smog or cold AC air:

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Hospitality in general:

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Food thus far:

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solo female traveler

💅:

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Making friends:

immeasurable 😋

It took me a while to get the website going, then I managed to make updating it from backlog a “task” and so here we are. Finally doing it! Two weeks later, what can I say about Bangkok:

It felt pleasant enough arriving at the airport, my first impression was that people here are generally kind and helpful. I was told to get a “grab” to the hostel, which is the Thai version of Uber. I downloaded the app (I had internet already because of the wonders of e-sims), but then decided it was all a bit too complicated. I was tired, jet-lagged and the humidity was already getting to me with my big backpack on. The official taxi stand was not a simpel solution in the end, but it was efficient. I paid way too much for my first ride in SE Asia, just like you’re supposed to.

For my first stay I had picked a bit of a party hostel, because there weren’t many high-rated ones that weren’t, and because it seemed like a good thing for me at the start of my trip. Walking in I felt like I had made a huge mistake. For some reason I had expected a rooftop pool, beautiful people chilling on loungers, reading, while some pleasantly chatted and laughed, welcoming you to join their conversation if you so pleased. Instead there was loud music, a dirty little garden pool and a very long table of average looking people drinking cocktails, literally, out of buckets. I went up to my all-girls dorm and with the chatter and white-girl music penetrating the walls started a conversation with the only other girl there…

…Who was from Utrecht, of course! Fly halfway across the earth and the first proper conversation I have is in Dutch with a lovely blue-eyed blond girl. She had been in Bangkok before and was just stopping by for a bit of sleep before going to the Philippines. Luckily for me she still had to have dinner, so after I got settled, called Bas and had a moment of dreadful regret, we went out to explore. First we had a drink downstairs and I realised it was actually quite nice to meet loads of fellow travelers from the get-go, though I still felt a bit nervous about actually going out into the “wilderness” of Bangkok. Turns out there is nothing to be afraid of.

My hostel was about 10 minutes away from the infamous Khao San Road, so it was reallytouristy. But also felt really safe. My first meal was absolutely delicious and Lara showed me some of the ins and outs of backpacker life in Thailand, including introducing me to 7-eleven, which has become an addiction by now, but I will write more on that later. By the next day I was strolling around like I knew the place, cautious but careless, it felt good to finally be there and exciting.

It was easy to make friends in the hostel, so there was soon a group of girls to fall back on for a chat in the morning or have dinner with at night. One of them also convinced me to go on a pubcrawl organised by the hostel, which I don’t regret but wont repeat. Khao San road is truly an experience, but very overwhelming. I think we made it to the second bar before walking “home”, though not before a stop at 7-eleven for some snacks.

Apart from that I went to the National museum, which I found interesting but the layout wasn’t very clear to me and it was hard to form a timeline, though it gave me plenty of topics to further research later. I walked around in general, finding temples everywhere and tried not to get heatstroke. Getting a Thai massage was also a positive experience, though different to a massage in Europe not just by price. There was no music and I was the one to avert my gaze when she instructed me to “take clothes off”. I found out later that I didn’t actually have a Thai massage because I enjoyed it and wasn’t in pain for most of it. To me it felt like the real deal when I had a Thai lady literally climb over me to get to different parts of my back and I’ve never had the “front” of my body massaged before either. Anyway, she was nice enough that I didn’t feel uncomfortable when she told me that I was a very beautiful woman after massaging my near-naked body for an hour.

My favourite experience in Bangkok was going on a bike-tour. There’s a company called Co van Kessel, set up by a Dutch man (with the same name) who lived in Bangkok before passing away about ten years ago. It was a bit of drama getting there, my first #lostinThailand experience but I kept my head cool and managed to arrive at an acceptably late time. The tour started around 18:00 and there were only two other people on the tour: a lovely…. wait for it…. Dutch couple! Of course! :-). I forget their names, but they were a friendly pair of 50-something year-olds from a place near Nijmegen. I was the only one to wear a helmet (you reading this mum, grandmothers, Bas!) which definitely added to the established parent-child dynamic at play. The tour was about 3 hours long, taking us all over the place: past temples, a Christian church, backstreets in the “living part of Bangkok”, the huge flowermarket, Mr. van Kessel’s grave (yerp) and Chinatown. We had a bite to eat somewhere along the tour, which was really spicy rice and a roti with egg and banana, tasty! I definitely arrived back at the hostel with loads of energy and would do this tour again if I had the chance.

All in all, Bangkok was pretty cool and I enjoyed a lot of avocado toast while I still could. It seemed every single person I met went to Chiang Mai next, I did the same…

Oh and yes, I did have ONE bucket cocktail in case you were wondering. It was a mojito and it was pretty good.

XXXX

Ruby

(lastly, some pictures from the Mall)