holydays: travels in the east #2

arriving in bangkok from singapore is a bit like arriving in a shit-hole. locals call this shit-hole “the city of angels”. most other folks call it “bangkok”. bangkok - a city of neon lights and huge billboards. bangkok - a crazy hot, bustling city. bangkok - a city with no traffic control. there is nothing elegant here. on the surface anyway. any elegance was papered over long ago by crazy-ass commercial insanity. apparently pagoda’s and temples once littered the skyline. now all that litters the skyline is car fumes and a thick brown smog.

is the city i live in
the city of angels?

i arrived in bangkok on four separate occasions. and it sure does grow on you. probably because arriving in bangkok from cambodia is a bit like arriving in... err... the most modern place in the world ever. with tarred roads and hot showers and 7 eleven’s and shit. and i grew to like the place. unlike singapore, there sure is something dynamic about this place. the metaphysics of quality man. dynamic quality... the leading edge of evolution.

i stayed in khao san road. you’re not a backpacker until you’ve been to khao san road. apparently. but i say you can be anything. if you really really want to. reach for the stars. a universe of potential is within you. afterall, you are the product of four billion years of evolution. don’t waste it man. buddha knows it took a totally sick amount of time to produce you. anyway, scruffy bohemian folks with big bushy red beards and baggy orange pants and anklets are also the product of four billion years of evolution and they own khao san road. that’s the type of place it is. weird hippy shit happens there.

my living quarters consisted of a cardboard box and a bed. “box-room” would be an apt description. it sure is cosy. you can hear people snoring in the next room when you go to sleep. you can also hear other things sometimes. hmmm.

so... touristy bangkok consists of wats and pagoda’s and buddha’s. and markets man. everywhere you look there’s a market. food markets. night markets. clothing markets. amulet markets. there’s even markets in the shopping centres. huge floors full of markets. selling loads of legal illegal stuff. bangkok must be a musician’s / film maker’s worst nightmare. nightmare on khao san road.

three days into my bangkok experience i decided to get out of town. i wanted to see tigers. so the tourist info sent to see the bridge over the river kwai. not surprisingly, it looks a lot like a bridge... over a big brown river... named kwai. then i went on a train ride – why?. then they sent me on an elephant safari - around some mango trees in someone’s backyard. note: i don’t recommend the elephant treks in thailand – i got the sense that they treated the elephants really poorly. which is a shame. cos they are such lovely creatures. after that headed to a waterfall, stayed the night on a boat house, and rafted down a river. no tigers. bastards.

but no worries. it was time to party. and time for the islands.