The One With The Two Goodbyes

Hi everyone!

All of you who spent some time with me during the last year or so must be more than well aware of how I’ve been planning this big, amazing, 6 months long trip to Southeast Asia.

The day of my departure to Bangkok, 8th of March, approached much quicker than I could ever really imagine. One moment I had plenty of time and the next thing I know, I was moving out of my room and packing bags and boxes. Honestly, when it finally came, I didn’t feel ready at all. And so I missed my flight… I think of it as lesson number one of this trip 🙂 I managed to rebook it for the next day though, so no worries, everything is still happening (more or less) as planned.

Day 1

The first moments after arrival to the airport were really stressful. It took me forever to get through the visa check. On the other hand, I was quite proud of how easily I managed to get to the hostel and not get lost.

When I came to the hostel, I dropped my stuff and went for a small tour around the neighborhood. It is unimaginably busy. When you are in Bangkok, you are surrounded by a cacophony of cars and bikes and tuk-tuks and cabs… there are stalls with everything you can imagine – food, clothes, lottery tickets… Also, there’s a surprising amount of 7-elevens, they’re on every corner.

As it was already dark, I did not really manage more than that simple walk.

When I sat alone in my room after that, I realized I already miss Barry and I have no clue what the hell I am doing in here. The city was too warm, too sweaty, too smelly, too loud, too crowded and all that went through my head was “Did I just make a huge mistake?”. On top of that, I only booked the hostel for one night and I couldn’t extend it, because it was already fully booked… And the last thing I felt like doing the next day was lugging that stupid, big, heavy backpack through the city again! I honestly just wanted to book a ticket back home and forget this ever happened. But then again, I’d probably not forgive myself for giving up that easily…

Day 2

The morning started with a simple breakfast and a mission to get to the Myanmar embassy and apply for visa. And again, I have managed it without getting lost! It may seem silly, but gosh I was so happy about that (and still am haha). Another achievement – I managed to haggle with a street vendor and saved whole 40 Bhats on a 220 Bhat item! That was a pretty successful journey 🙂

When I got back and went to check out, the kind owner of the hostel pointed me to another place where I could stay. It is very close to the original one, so the moving also went rather smoothly.

And then the fun part began. One girl from the old hostel joined me and together we visited a Buddhist temple Wat Pho. Already from the distance, I could see the whole complex looked really amazing. And little did I know it was even better than it looked. The architecture was astonishing. Some of the statues were really humbling. I knew that the Reclining Buddha was huge, but in reality it was enormous. I also got to see a museum about Siam and eat some real Thai food for the first time, which was really tasty.

All in all, this day made me realize a couple of things. It’s great to have a plan and something to do, and it’s nice when you can do it together with some other fellow traveler. Bangkok is a very intense, crazy city, loved by some and hated by others. Being a white tourist here means everyone is just trying to rip you off. However, there are also some interesting things to see here. When I was walking through Wat Pho, I though “Yes, this is the reason why I wanted to travel. And it’s as amazing as I hoped it would be.” I was truly enjoying myself there.

As for future plans, I’m probably going to stay for 2 or 3 more nights, and then head on to the north, where it’s hopefully going to be a bit calmer 🙂

Hugs to all of you!

N.

P.S. Although normally I’m not the biggest fan of selfies, this blog is probably going to be full of them. There’s only so many strangers I can trust with my phone 😛