I haven’t been in South East Asia in a long time - my last visit to Bangkok was around 25 years ago but, in many ways, I feel it hasn’t changed much.
It’s still hot, sticky and crowded (I can cope with this weather, albeit in small doses).
There are still street vendors everywhere (a big thumbs up on this front).
And the Khao San Road is much the same as I remember it back in 1998.
After one night in the area, I decide I don’t want to spend my time in the capital socialising with loud Americans, drunken British backpackers and overweight Germans who are consuming beer by the bucket. (I kid you not).
I didn’t spend close to $1000 on a flight ticket for that.
I move to a far more residential part of the city, where there are almost no tourist spaces, and end up in a co-working space called Pillow and Bread, which really is a good place to get used to Thailand. I wander the streets aimlessly, stopping in the grocery stores to stare at local products. I eat at night markets, along with all the locals - I point to pictures of dishes that look like (or are marked vegetarian) and seem to end up eating well.
I walk in Chatuchak Park, green and leafy, one of the veritable oases in the city, and stumble upon a Butterfly Garden.
I discover, quite accidentally, a Vintage and Antique Emporium, and spend a while wandering its halls.
I contemplate buying a Buddha statue, a dagger, a gramophone, a humble machine and some china cups, before reminding myself that I can’t overload my pack this early in the game.
I take both the Skytrain and the Metro,
The metro is pretty new and very modern - double doors (much like the Docklands Light Railway in London) and air con - but it’s not particularly user friendly (nearly all instructions are in Thai).
And, of course, I have no idea how to buy a ticket!
Luckily, a young woman comes to my aid - she spent six months in Idaho on a school exchange project and speaks great English. Not only does she help me purchase the requisite token, she even takes me to my stop!
If I were looking for a true urban experience, I’d rent a place in Bangkok and stay a month - it would be fun, that much I know. But my general plan is to get out of capitals (as much as possible) and take things a bit slower. The pace is fast in the Thai capital and there’s no use fighting it.
I decide, after a few days of acclimatizing, saying goodbye to jetlag and getting used to the intolerable afternoon heat and evening humidity, to head north to Chang Mai. It might be Burning Season there but surely there will be a bit more of a breeze at night?
It’s time to see how easy it is to book transport north.