This could be heaven or this could be hell

I wanted different, and I certainly got it! I left my hostel in London early Friday morning and went to Heathrow to catch my flight. The trip over was pretty uneventful. I flew on Air India and stopped over in Mumbai, but only for a couple hours. It took about 14 hours total, and with the time difference, I got into Bangkok early Saturday morning. It was kind of weird seeing two sunrises out the plane window in just over a half day. I took a few trains to my hostel and was impressed with myself for only really getting lost once. The hostel let me check in early and I pretty much slept all day. If ever you're in Bangkok, stay at the Saphai Pae Hostel. It was brand new, clean, friendly, and extremely cheap. One of the nicest hostels I've ever stayed in. That night, I made a few friends in the hostel and we decided to head out and explore a bit. About 20 minutes of walking later, we found the Silom night market, which was kinda crazy. Street vendors lined the sidewalks with everything from bootleg dvd's to clothes to various exotic foods. Along Silom are Sois, which are basically side streets. Down these sois are bars, massage shops (both legitimate and otherwise), restaurants, storefronts, etc. Wandering these sois gave us our first experience with the uglier side of Bangkok, since you can't take more than 5 steps without encountering a Thai person with a big fake smile on his face and something to sell you. They're pushy too, trying to get you in their tuk tuk or taxi, or shady bar (girls girls! Lots of young girls for you!). Needless to say, it was quite the culture shock. Before coming over, I'd heard as much as you have about Bangkok's sex industry, but it still didn't prepare me for what I saw. Seeing a 60 year old white guy walking down the street with a Thai girl on his arm that's no older than 13 is revolting and depressing the first time you see it. Unfortunately it doesn't get any easier to digest the 10^th time you see these human pieces of shit (ex-fats or sex-pats as they're referred to by us morally righteous backpackers) in the same night. Aside from this, I enjoyed my first night out, strolling the market and getting to know my new friends.

The following day I did some more exploring, seeing a few sights, but still tired from the jet lag. That night, we met Ian the rowdy Irishman in the hostel and a few towers of beer later, he said he knew a good party spot so the 5 of us crammed ourselves into a tiny tuk tuk and headed out. Turns out the party spot was Soi Cowboy, which is a street lined with go-go bars, which it turns out, are basically fronts for prostitution and an excuse to charge 7 times what a beer is worth. There we met Greg, a creepy sex-pat who wouldn't leave us alone. Here was a classic example of all that's wrong with people who come to Thailand for all the wrong reasons. He tried clinging onto us by trying to buy us drinks and basically pay his way into our friendship. Which is how he obviously gets all his intimacy. Luckily he stayed away from me for the most part because I made it clear to him the first time he talked to me that I wanted no part of him. We made the most of our night despite all this, finding a pub with more pool tables than hookers and we even ate some fried bugs sold by street vendors. I think given the circumstances we managed to leave with our dignities in tact.

The following day, a few of us decided to check out Khoa San Road, which is backpacker central in Bangkok and close to many of the big sites, such as various temples and the reclining Buddha. Khoa San was like the Silom night market, but during the day, and a lot less sleazy. I needed to find a new pair of sandals, which ended up being a much more difficult task than it would seem. Turns out there aren't a lot of size 13 feet kicking around Thailand, but I managed to find a comfortable pair at a good price (haggling is not only expected, it's an integral part of the experience!) After some more exploring and shopping, we decided to sit at a bar and do some people watching. This was great except for all the touts who would come bug us with whatever trinkets they were selling. If we went 2 minutes without getting bugged by one of them, it was considered a long break. Regardless it was fun watching the world go by. My favourite were the backpackers who had clearly just gotten in from the airport with a bunch of gear on their backs and a dazed look on their face as they tried to find their guesthouses. Still in shock, we kept it a lot quieter that night, opting to stay in the hostel for some pool and a few more towers of beer.

The following day a few of us hit up MBK for some supplies, which is a huge shopping mall that has a lot of the same types of stores as western malls, but also areas with stalls and stalls of goods, much like the outdoor markets. I managed to pick up a power converter and some much-needed shorts. When I got back to the hostel, 4 of us – Eli and Gabby, the Americans, Paul, another Irishman, and I figured out logistics for getting down to Phuket the following day. We booked our hostel and our flight for really good prices. Our flight was pretty early the next morning so we decided to have another quiet night in. What's that road paved with good intentions again? A few other people wanted to go check out the night life on Khoa San road, so we agreed to go see what it was like at night and have a drink or two and leave. This did not go as planned... we did some more people watching, and then it was decided to head to a club (not my decision) for one last drink. One last drink turned into several not-last drinks, and before I knew it, it was 3 am and the club was closing. That's fine, I figured, we could still get home and get 5 hours of sleep. Wrong. Somehow an impromptu dance party started in the street and I knew I was in trouble. Not wanting to be a party pooper, I just went with the flow and had a good time. It was actually a lot of fun and I was having a blast, I just couldn't shake the fact that there was this early morning flight. It was my favourite night out in Bangkok by far because it was just people having a good time... there was no exploitation, no sleaze. We finally made it back to our hostel at 6 and got a couple hours of sleep.

The next day could be described as rough. I managed to wake up, pack up, and be out at the agreed upon time despite my entire body wanting otherwise. It was then that I discovered my bank card was missing. I had the card cancelled, but there wasn't much else I could do since it was night time back home with the time difference (Thailand is 12 hours ahead of Ottawa). We managed to make it to the airport on time and check in. Right after we checked our bags I had my much needed coffee spilled on my shirt. Since my luggage was already on its way to the plane, I had to just grin and bear it...which was fine, because that was the least of my concerns. The flight down to Phuket was about an hour (and kind of rough for the 4 of us but we survived). We bussed into Phuket Town where our hostel was booked and got directions from somebody at the bus station. So we walked in the hot sun for about 20 minutes and finally found the place, except we had been directed to the wrong place. So after sitting down for a few and figuring out where it was we were supposed to actually be, we made our way back to the hostel...which was about 3 minutes away from the bus station. This hostel was actually really nice as well. It's basically a pretty fancy hotel with one floor of dorm rooms. We were actually afraid to go ask at the counter if we had the right place because it was way too nice. Needless to say, we kept it pretty quiet that day and went to bed at a decent hour. The following day we made our way down to Karon beach, which was what we were all waiting for after the craziness of Bangkok. We spent the day relaxing on the white sand, enjoying the view and occasional swim in the turquoise water. This was way better than the smoggy metropolis of Bangkok. This was capped off with an evening on the balcony that included a singalong, some russian win lose or draw, and some asian whiskey. On another note, after several headaches, it looks like my bank card situation is slowly working out, so I will be able to continue on my journey without resorting to begging for Baht to get home. Thanks for all your help back home mom, sorry for the stress!

So that's where we're at now. Tomorrow Gabby and Eli are going to head over to Rawai to stay in a Muay Thai training camp for a few weeks. Paul and I are going to head down to Ko Phi Phi, a small island just south of Phuket. Apparently it's a paradise down there so I'm looking forward to exploring it.

I just re-read this post and it really comes off like I hate Bangkok. I don't really hate it, I just don't really like it either. It's got some beautiful parts to it, but it's got a very ugly underbelly as well. So far I really like Thailand in general. The culture is cool, the climate is amazing, the food is delicious, and everything is a lot cheaper than it was in Europe. I also feel like I'm experiencing more if that makes sense. The many European cultures were cool to learn about, and they're certainly different from Canadian culture, but they still have a very distinctive Western feel to them. This is a completely different kettle of fish though. I know I'm breaking new ground here, saying that Asian culture is different than Western. I guess the best way I can explain the experience is that in Europe I felt more like I was sight-seeing whereas here I'm discovering. So my advice if ever you're out this way is to stay in Bangkok to say you've seen it, but get out to the more peaceful parts of the country as quickly as possible. I can't wait to explore more and report back.

Pictures to come soon