Rob and Anna's travel adventure

Arrival-Bangkok

Anna's entry:

As soon as we landed in Bangkok after our night flight from Mumbai, India, we went into a complete state of reverse culture shock. We left the very modern Bangkok International Airport, and realized we were no longer in chaos of India - Thai roads were perfect, every car was staying it its delegated lane, there were no cows on the streets, no fires burning on side of the road, no goats jumping on the roofs, no people squatting along the highway... Rob and I looked at each other and said "Thailand will probably be dull". After four months of absolute insanity of India, which we didn't plan to, but fell in love with, modern rich Thailand was a shocker for us. India made us challenge our emotions and thoughts every day, Thailand however, seemed normal and predictable. But, we were here, we decided to open our hearts to a new experience, trying to block our skepticism at least for the moment. We decided to dedicate our first month in Thailand to its Southern part with a focus on the country's natural beauty, and our main reason for going there was scuba diving.

We had a few days in Bangkok, however, before continuing South. The first days were not very happy ones, especially for Rob. He got sicker than a dog, was throwing up, extreme weakness, diarrhea, you name it. So, he stayed in bed for several days trying to recover, and I went on short walks around Bangkok trying to get familiar with surroundings. We stayed in the backpacker district called Banglamphu. Anyone who is feeling sick of seeing crowds of westerners - don't come here, or at least stay away from Khao San Road! There are thousands of westerners here, they are everywhere, there is no escape... If I didn't see the Royal Palace and Thai language, I would think we were in Florida during Spring break. But, if your goal coming to Thailand is only to party, drink, smoke, and have easy sex, this is your place. Rob and I are out of the above mentioned focus groups, so that part of Bangkok was really dull for us. The only aspect that we could relate to after months of traveling in India was a craving for a quick western food fix, pizza in particular, so we headed out to Siam Square with major Western food chain establishments. It was Rob's Birth Day, he somewhat had recovered from his illness by that time, so we ordered two big western pizzas, and a substantial jar of pop. We got out feel, and were ready to head out from Bangkok for more interesting things to see and do.

posted by Rob and Anna @ 3:27 AM