Les Go to Bangkok

*These are jus my thoughts thus far. A different side of the story will come soon.*

People say you either love BKK or hate it. Now hate is a strong word and I never like to say I hate places that I’ve traveled to but, I am on the strongly dislike side of BKK. I am currently half way through my 5-day trip and I’ve never wanted to be back to Hanoi so bad in my life. So, Les Go To Bangkok.

Getting Here

The one highlight of our trip thus far has been the hostel. We stayed at Niras Bangkok Cultural Hostel in “Old Bangkok.”

The place is filled with charm and is super old-people friendly. Actually, maybe too much so because it’s so quiet it’s a little lonely. But, from the atmosphere I’ve seen out in them streets, it’s probably for the better.

So, I think me and major big cities just don’t get along. I’d enjoy living in one but traveling to one is a whole ‘nother story. It is too much pressure for me to plan and I feel everything always goes wrong. Starting with this trip. I stupidly booked the hostel to our island stay first before checking return ferry times. Well, as you may guess, the ferry times do not coincide with our return flight. So, I was $90 USD in the hole before I even got to this god-forsaken city.

From the airport to our hostel it was an easy Sky Rail journey that took us on top the city. But, from our stop to the hostel is where it got tricky. Now I know this is going to come off as ridiculous but, I’ve traveled all over the damn world and I can equivocally state with damn near empirical data to back me up that cab drivers are the. worst. Globally. It literally doesn’t matter what country, neighborhood, region, altitude, longitude or latitude, them muthasuckers suck.

So, after arguing with a cabbie who tried to blatantly rob us, we stopped into this hipster, trendy ass cafe that really set me in a happy place. At this point I thought, “OK, I’ll like BKK.”

The neighborhood

After settling in the hostel we began to explore the city. On first impression, our neighborhood really reminded me of Panang, Malaysia. I loved Panang. One endearing thing I noticed is that most of the street dogs wore T-shirts. Not sure to the reason but they looked adorable.

But, as we got deeper into sections of BKK and as the days progressed you realize all of this is made for us, tourist. For the Banana Pancake Trail travelers. And please for the love of Goddess, if that makes me one of them then jus kill me now. Firstly, I’ve never seen so many white people with dreads. Don’t even get me started. Then the fuckn elephant pants. Really? And the sleazy old white men roaming around participating in sex-tourism. I literally can not. And it’s really sad because these people have come into what was probably a great city and brought all their filth. The only reason why there’s got damn elephant “sanctuaries” and fuggin baby limars that you can hold for $1 a pic is because of them.

And yes, we’ve ventured out of those type areas but something about BKK just seems fabricated and lost. For example, where do all the locals and residents live? I swear to you every building is abandoned. Though the streets are teeming with thousands of people, the buildings from the first floor up are abandoned and dark.

I am SO glad that Hanoi is nothing near like BKK. For now.