Bangkok Again

I was in Bangkok in 2001 with my best friend Jheng. It was the first time I ever left my country the Philippines. Armed with my crisp new passport and tagging Jheng along we rode Air France's last round trip flight to Bangkok before KLM acquired their asian fleet.

This year, I went with yet another person who I could say know me more than most.

He called me a week earlier and told me he'd sponsor my ticket to Thailand if I go with him. I called on the dare and went. Come to think of it, not only was I going with someone who knew me inside out (and only a very few people could say that) but another similarity of this trip from 2001 was that I got it for free! Wahh!

Anyway, our first day was a voluntary "confusion" day. We planned to be cool about it - deciding not to book our hotels ahead of time and just look for a place to stay when we get there. He on the other hand decided to be even more "ultra cool" by not booking a flight back to Manila. In the end, he booked a flight which costs a 100% more than usual @ business class and us, staying in a hotel in the midst of what we thought was a close semblance to Tondo.

Little did we know that we were gonna be picking gems along the way. First, on our list was to walk around and try street food. That of course led us to an appetizer of maggots , crickets and frogs. We explored the BTS and some high end places where we had an amazingly affordable japanese dinner (yeah I know, japanese dinner in bangkok! Bummer!). We then proceeded to Pat Phong...the infamous red district of the pussies. Well, disgusted as I was before, we left the club a bottle of beer and one lighted cigarette later.

The next day, we were chauffered around by our guide Anurah. He was a delight to be with because he was such a classy tour guide you know you could afford some private time while on the tour. He does not oversell his services but he surpasses your expectation of service that is why he quickly became a favorite of our trip.

I went through the usual routes ones again...but definitely much more pleasant than the first time I walked the temples of Bangkok. This time, i did not burn myself because I had to walk back having overshot our destination because no one in the bus knows where we were headed. This time around, we were dropped off on every single doorstep/ gate of our destination.

We punctuated our day with Siam Niramit, a cultural show of grand proportions. We called it a day at around 11 p.m. and just landed face down on our beds and snored the night away.

Day 3 was less tiring although we went to the outskirts of Bangkok. But no elephant,crocodile or floating market could top our accidental discovery. Right across the hotel where we stayed the first night was a shopping heaven. We immediately lost our heads in the astonishing view of rows and rows of clothes and trinkets. In 2 hours, Mond has added 10kgs of goodies in his trunk.

Although I may just be speaking for myself... I wish the trip was longer and our pockets deeper. :) Nah! none of those limitations got in the way of us getting on with a wonderful trip. Till our next adventure... Sayonara Bangkok...open your shops to us again next time!

Mond, it was a pleasure travelling with you...you should know that I would always be bewildered by the circumstances by which we met and how those brief meetings led to such a surprisingly deep friendship. Thank you. Thank you.