Khao San Road

I successfully made my way to Bangkok after 2 very long flights on Japan Airlines and a 4 hour layover in Tokyo. I made the decision to come to Bangkok at the last minute, about a week ago, so I found myself totally unprepared when I finally realized just what I got myself into as I sat in Narita airport, alone. I got into the downtown area at about 2am and managed to find a grungy room, about the size of a closet, with a hard-as-a-rock cot to crash on for about $5. I had been a bit worried about places being open or finding an available room, but the streets were packed with tourists, music was blaring, booze was still flowing freely at all the noisy bars and I even ran into some other tourists who suggested I try that particular guesthouse down the road. I was SO excited to finally get some sleep, but was kept up most of the night by drunk backpackers slamming doors and slurring goodbyes to friends as they came and went. This is when I remembered The Beach by Alex Garland (You might remember the movie, which sucked) and his very accurate portrayal of this bustling little neighborhood I'm in,

"Khao San Road was backpacker land. Almost all the buildings had been converted into guest-houses, there were long-distance-telephone booths with air-con, the cafes showed brand-new Hollywood films on videos, and you couldn't walk ten feet without passing a bootleg-tape stall. The main function of the street was as a decompression chamber for those about to leave or enter Thailand, a halfway house between East and West."

Luckily, I met up with my friends Megan, Breanna and Arainn (BAM! Check out their blog: www.theadventuresofbam.blogspot.com) for breakfast this morning and planned to bunk in with them tonight. The "What have I gotten myself into?!" and "Why am I here again?" feelings have finally started to subside and I'm getting a bit excited to check out some sights in Bangkok and see a few things that I missed when I was here a year ago. I'm meeting up with another friend, Doyle, tonight and I'll plan the next step of my Journey from there. In the next 3 months, I'm hoping to spend a few weeks in Vietnam, see a bit more of Cambodia (especially Phnom Penh), do a "Liveaboard" dive trip to the Similian islands on the West coast of Thailand and then make my way to Indonesia through Malaysia. I really want to see Borneo too, after watching Planet Earth documentaries about the caves and wilderness there. The idea is to end up in New Zealand by April to meet up with my best friend, Scott, but I can't seem to plan my life that far in advance, so I'll be playing it by ear for the most part.



For now it's back to wandering the Khao San road and the Chao Phraya river that runs through Bangkok... More soon, I promise :)