Bangkok, Thailand

I made it into Bangkok around midnight last night. The 7 hour flight from Tokyo was a struggle but i caught a second wind when i jumped into a cab to the hotel. The cab driver was lovely and indulged me by letting me use my Thai phrase book. The poor man just laughed and nodded as i massacred his language.

The hotel is amazing. Owned and run by Thai's and away from backpacker central in Northern Bangkok. It's called Reflections , and doubles as an artist complex.
Each room has been decorated differently by a local 'artist' with different themes. Something went wrong with my booking so i am having to swap rooms every night. Fine by me as i get to stay in 3 different rooms. Last night 204, tonight 202 and then 210 with Lucy. Wait for the pictures on Flickr coming soon.

Lucy arrives tomorrow and i'm really looking forward to seeing her. I love to travel solo but there is nothing like sharing your experiences with someone. Reflections is definitely a place i want to share and can't wait for us to check it out together.


Now i am in an internet cafe after spending the morning at Chatuchak weekend market. It is huge, the largest in the world i think. A mass maze of narrow connecting alleys where you can buy everything from silk wraps to pork belly on a stick. It's around 84 degrees here but in the alleys it feels like 104 with all the food vendors and thousands of people. I was expecting it to be quite touristy but i have only seen a handful of westerners and no sex pests in sight. Well, nobody that looked like one anyway.

Loving to shop as i do it was difficult to walk past so many amazing things but the most difficult part were the animals for sale. I would not call myself an 'Animal Lover' but i like them a lot, enough to not even like pet shops in manhattan. So seeing baby bunny wabbits stacked in mini flourescent cages 10 high had me running for the exit. I know it was much worse further on but i couldn't bare to go see it.

I've been quite overwhelmed all morning by how i feel about Thailand and all the other parts of Asia that i have visited. I absolutely love the place. I love the customs, the people, the food, the culture and the adrenalin rush of being here, travelling on my own again. I was going to say that i am completely out of my comfort zone but i don't think i am. It feels like i've found a piece of me i lost somewhere along the way to being a grown up. This is just what i needed after a shitty few months.

Moves watched: Dan in Real Life
Listening to: The National - All Albums. 3 x over.