“Bangkok has them now”

As Tatoo Joe famously quoted in the Hangover; “Bangkok has them now…and she’ll never let them go”. Thankfully for us, our story didn’t quite go like that. For a moment I thought it did, but alas I write now from the safety of the airport, waiting to board the flight, aiding in our escape from Bangkok.

But our day was not all lost in the wild maze of streets known as Bangkok. I did tick a few to-dos off my bucket list:

Visited millions of different markets. Check.
They were selling all sorts of goodies from local sweets, jewels, flowers, and odd forms of meat. I was offered a cooked scorpion, but decided to add that to my bucket list for when I return to Bangkok so that in the case that I become violently ill, I’ll be heading home anyway!

Ride a tuk-tuk. Check.
And what a highly eventful and exciting ride it was. With five of us squished ‘safely’ on board, we managed to dodge both scams and protesters (although at one point it felt as though we had joined the mob of motor-bikes flying past with flags and whistles). What better way to get in and amongst the culture…

Ride a boat on the river. Check.
As if fate, we wandered upon a jetty just in time for the boat to arrive. Boarding the already packed vessel, it was almost impossible not to start up a conversation with the unfortunate person who was to be squished up next to my sweat-covered body for the remainder of the trip. The trip that was to become more of a monopoly – a confusing mixture of attempting to see a sign on the approaching jetty through the crowd, finding that jetty on the map, and then working out where we were and where we wanted to go…a journey which ended up with us just jumping off at a jetty and hoping for the best.

Seeing someone I know. Check.
Catching up with James and Michael was lovely. Seeing familiar and fresh faces is always good, but the fact that these two had been away for so long made it double the fun. Plus they were able to impart some much needed wisdom! Have a safe flight home, boys!

And to finish the day off, we had a lovely taxi driver to the airport, who expertly dodged traffic and the protest, and just when we thought he was leading us off course in some sort of scam, he melted our hearts when he had to stop off at a petrol station for a quick pee stop!

See you in the morning, Chiang Mai!

E x