Travel Day 1081 – Bangkok, THAILAND
Considering that I couldn’t wait to get up and eat some Pad Thai, I had a really hard time to even wake up and leave the bed today…
Shrimp Pad Thai in Bangkok, Thailand
After all the months in India and Nepal, I was so used to going to bed early and getting up at 6 am, that my 2.30 am arrival at the hostel in Bangkok had completely thrown off my rhythm and I actually felt jet-lagged even if there was no significant time difference between these countries. On top of that I felt completely overwhelmed by being just out of the monastery and even more so while finding myself in this crazy modern and clean country…
Thailand literally seemed galaxies apart from Nepal and the big modern airport machine in Bangkok was the first shock I had to get over yesterday. The ride in the space taxi was the next Culture Shock and since I was sharing the ride with a fellow traveler from Nepal, we were both in awe staring out of the window while taking turns in saying: “look how clean everything is outside”. To us it seemed literally crazy that the streets were clean, the air was clear, the buildings were new or well maintained and there were street lights everywhere. Not only the fact that there were lights seemed crazy to us, but even more so the fact that electricity was available…
Original Pad Thai, wrapped in Egg
After one month of on and off rattling generator power, Bangkok just appeared as a fake and unreal world that was set up merely for the purpose of sheltering you from what was actually going on behind the curtain in the real world. I really couldn’t get over this strange Culture Shock and as I continued to feel spaced out from my jet lag, the strange world around me even enhanced this feeling. I couldn’t even quite pin down if coming from Nepal was really the issue or coming straight from the monastery was, but in the end it was probably a combination of both…
In any case, when I finally managed to make it out of my comfortable, clean bed and out of my air-conditioned spacious room into the bathroom, I couldn’t believe how clean that was as well. There was a modern western style toilet, a shower with hot water, the light was working and even toilet paper and shampoo were provided. It was really unbelievable when one was used to taking cold showers to the shine of a dangling flashlight while looking out for cockroaches on the floor…
Veg and Tofu Pad Thai in Bangkok
When I then walked down to the reception, the next sensory overload was happening as there was music playing everywhere and people were running around, talking loudly. I really couldn’t all take it in and continued to feel overwhelmed for the rest of the day, but especially the loud talking on the street kept irritating me. It was not only the fact that especially the women had a more aggressive way of talking, but also the sound and pitch of the language that was really hurting my ears…
Since everything on this Arrival Day just seemed too much for me to handle today, I decided to simply let the culture shock of this day pass while sitting down and enjoying a lot of great Thai food such as shrimp Pad Thai, original Pad Thai wrapped in egg, Pad Thai with vegetables and tofu, sticky rice with mango and Cha Nom Yen… : )
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