All Roads Lead To Bangkok

Thursday, August 11, 2005

Forget Rome! It's official now...all roads lead to Bangkok!

My three days in Bangkok were an absolute blast and I've encountered a new city that just may rival Hong Kong for "coolest place in Asia." And I also adopted the new assertion that yes, at some point, everyone really does come to/pass through Bangkok while travelling. It's like the meeting place of the planet! More on that later...

Michael and I checked into the Royal Benja Hotel and oh man what a sight for sore eyes that hotel was. We had a great room way up high on the 25th floor overlooking the city, with two giant beds, a TV, and a huge bathroom with a bathtub and separate shower! Add that to the pool, sauna, and free daily breakfast and you can understand why I felt like I had died and gone to heaven. After so much travelling in the last 72 hours it was absolutely wonderful to have a few nights of calm and peace in a familiar-style hotel. What a treat! (And all of that for only about $30 a night! What a steal!)

So I'll unabashedly admit at this point that while in Bangkok for those three days I didn't do a single touristy thing. I didn't visit any temples, didn't go and see the Golden Palace or Emerald Buddha, didn't go for any boat rides on the river or canals... All we did for that time was shop, shop, and SHOP. You see, if Bangkok isn't the meeting place for all of travelling humanity, then it definitely without a doubt is The Shopping Mecca! The shopping in Bangkok is unrivalled by any other city that I've ever been to in my entire life. Picture gigantic markets FULL of all sorts of clothes that are not only RIDICULOUSLY CHEAP, but are cool, trendy, and really fun. I was in heaven! After being denied access to cool clothes in Korea (the styles there are awful) for a year and a half, I went wild. Michael, Kristian, and I spent over five hours at the Weekend Market and during that time I bought five t-shirts and two collared shirts, and plus the night before at a mall I had bought two pairs of fake designer jeans. This may not seem like a lot, but it's more clothes than I've bought for myself than in the last two years, and I got it ALL for less than $75! I-N-C-R-E-D-I-B-L-E!

Both Michael and Kristian bought a lot of clothes too and we were finding all kinds of steals. Designer jeans for $7! Stylish Converse sneakers for $5! Funky shirts for $2! Diesel belts (imitation of course) for $0.70! WOWSERS! After three days we had shopped up a storm (to match the daily torrential downpours that Bangkok seems to be perpetually plagued with) and yet hardly put a dent in our wallets. I'm so happy that I'm passing through Bangkok two more times during this trip, so I can perfrom repeat shopping sessions!

If you don't come to Bangkok for the shopping, then you come for the cuisine. Thai food, I think, is the most delicious food to be found on the planet. The flavours! The spices! The fresh ingredients! The combinations! All amazing and exciting, each and every meal. And, once again, like everything else in this great city, it's cheap cheap CHEAP. Michael and I had quite a few very delicious meals, many-a-times only costing us about fifty cents each. I could definitely get used to this kind of eating!

The best surprise of the weekend was when I had my own "Bangkok Crossroads" experience. Michael's been to Bangkok five times before this trip, and each and every time he's run into someone that he knows from somewhere else in the world. Well it just so happens that the same weekend that I was in Bangkok was the same Saturday night that Katie and Kara were passing through town on their way back to Korea from Krabi. What are the odds!!?? I was thrilled to bits when I found this out and so the four of us met up on that fateful evening for our own little reunion in the Thai capital. It was SO EXCITING to see the girls and hang out for a night, doing a little shopping, having a couple of drinks, and sharing our stories. I didn't expect to see Kara again until December, and Katie not until sometime in 2006, so it was so wonderful to see them again, even if it was just for one night.

By the end of the weekend we had all gone off in our own directions: the girls back to Korea, Kristian up to Chaing Mai for a 3-day trek, Michael down to Southern Thailand for a week or so before he moves off to Indonesia, and me on to Ayutthaya and beyond to check out some ruins. A lot of goodbyes, but leaving behind a lot of good memories, and I'll see each of those dear people sometime in the next few months.

"Bangkok - Bringing The World Together One Happy Unexpected Reunion At A Time!" :-)