a city of smells & sounds.

I think that's the best way to describe Bangkok. My ears & nose were constantly accosted by a melange of so many, too many things. Street pad thai, motorcycle engine rumbles & exhaust, chicken kabobs, peddlers yells to passerbys, car honks, pineapples & bananas, incense, prayer bell chimes... And yet they were never at odds with each other, somehow blending & harmonizing together to create the unique atmosphere of the city. I found it to be sweet & spicy, an observation that may be inspired by the cuisine.

I arrived in Bangkok to a warm & humid afternoon. I stumbled off the plane, still a bit tired & dazed from the lack of sleep that had started to add up. But I was still determined to start my Thailand adventure strong, so after navigating the public buses, and after a brief check in & break at my hostel, I went exploring. My first mission was to buy a bus ticket for the following evening to Chiang Mai. Unfortunately, the cheap price of my hostel translated to not-so-ideal location, and I was inconveniently far from the city center & the northern bus terminal. But thankfully Bangkok has a very intricate bus & metro system. As I've found with all public transit systems in the major Asian cities, the bus and train lines exist in a chaotically organized & efficiently tangled system. To a foreigner, they seem impossible to navigate, but through them you really can get anywhere. Just as long as you take the right train or bus and know where your stop is. In China and Vietnam, this information was extremely difficult to get from anyone, and I expected such difficulties in Thailand. To my wondrous surprise, this was not the case at all, thanks to the willing helpfulness of the locals.

Which brings me to the people. The people of Thailand were some of the friendliest that I've ever encountered on my travels! They were smiling, approachable, lively and seemed very happy. Any time I asked for directions, at least two people would jump to help me. And when they couldn't help me, or when they couldn't speak English, they would ask someone else nearby or in some cases call a friend! Even when I didn't ask for directions, whenever I stood on a street corner to consult my map, multiple Thais would offer assistance getting to wherever I was heading. Once, a guy even escorted me to my destination, even though it was a full 25 minute walk out of his way! It doesn't stop with helpfulness either. I had so many random, friendly conversations with Thais on my first day in Bangkok than I had in total during my first 2 months traveling abroad! Yea, I LOVED the people.

So with the help of a very kind Thai woman, I got to the bus terminal and bought my ticket. I explored the nearby area and I got to a huge, well-known night market called the Chatuchak (or J. J. to locals) market, located near a like named park. Over the next week, I discovered that night markets are the bees knees in Thailand, and J. J. is one of the biggest with 35 acres of over 5000 stalls & vendors. There were shops for everything- mugs, keychains, shoes, remote controls, custom shirts, sexy jean cut offs, you name it! It was a maze, crowded with people & the air was full of delicious smells of street food!

The next day, I walked and walked and walked! It was tiring but wonderful! My first objective was to buy a new camera battery charger, as I had misplaced mine somewhere in Japan, and I absolutely NEEDED one for the enormous number of photos I anticipated taking. I was pointed in the direction of Pantip Plaza. Pantip Plaza can best be described as a wonderland of electronics. It was 5 stories of huge floors, crammed from corner to corner with shops & stalls, selling everything from computers to hard drives, wireless mice to SLRs, etc. It was a pretty impressive and flashy sight, and I wished that I was more of a tech geek to truly appreciate the electronic mecca.

Seeking AC shelter from the heat, I then stopped in Platinum Fashion mall, where I made friends with a tranny named Kisses. She really was one of the most beautiful and delicate girls that I had ever seen. Needless to say, my self-esteem points dropped dramatically. It took me a while to get used to her very low & masculine voice, but she was great company, very sassy, sarcastic & funny. She gave me a dress from her clothing stall as a parting gift because she thought I was "as cute as a chipmunk". I got lunch with her & some other travelers, and they spent a large portion of it trying to guess what ethnicity I am. I got Japanese, Thai, Japanese-Spanish, & Chinese. I'm really starting to think I'm adopted.

Parting from them, I continued my wanderings. In between stretches of urban streets and daily life, I stumbled upon Wat Saket Phu Khao Thong (Golden Mount Buddhist Temple) & the Giant Swing. Wat Saket was awesome! It was a vision of white & gold with an impressive spire on the top; it was a distant mirage in the warm & smoggy haze of the afternoon. I climbed to the top by a staircase that spiraled up, bordered by fountains and greenery. On top, the view was amazing. I stayed there for almost 2 hours, enjoying the break from hectic city streets below. Looking down, that madness seemed so far away and I briefly entertained the idea of hiding out there for the rest of the day. Eventually, I climbed back down to wander some more, later running into the Giant Swing.

That night I hopped on my night bus to Chiang Mai. I felt like I was on the Knight bus in Harry Potter, just short of a chandelier on the ceiling. It was a bright purple double-decker, inside and out, with squishy seats that transformed into beds! And the driver was pretty crazy as well. Yea, I kind of geeked out and was so sad that I couldn't do so with any of the other passengers. Womp.