sa wa dee ka bangkok!

Bangkok! Bustling, crazy, hectic Bangkok.

Can I just express again how much I adore my friends? That’s the beauty of having grown up as an international kid- having connections in virtually every city in the world. Jon, my friend from New York via International School Bangkok, hooked me up bigtime. In a city where I knew not a soul, I somehow managed to feel like a local. The morning I left Manila I didn’t even yet know where I’d be sleeping that night, but by the time I reached Bangkok I had an airport greeting party (thank you Aman & Pawan), a luxury hotel accommodation (thank you Vishal), tour guides & party planners.

Vishal made my hotel arrangements at the President Solitaire , which apparently is owned by a friend of theirs (& thus a nice friendly discount). My jaw dropped when I saw my room.

I soaked my over-partied, over-traveled self in the hot tub, I watched bad teen movies on the 30-inch flat screen TV, I slept for 12 hours in the king-size bed, & I marveled at the bird’s eye view of the city from my windows. I felt so undeserving. Although now I am thanking my lucky stars for that last taste of luxury before this simple life in Chiang Mai (more on that later…).

With only 2 days there, I didn’t expect to do much & was absolutely not in the mood to rush about & join the hectic Bangkok fray. Instead I tagged along with Pawan & Keren during the day while they scoured the electronics malls & ate at Pizza Hut. They apologized for taking me to an American food chain as my first taste of Thailand, but no worries, as I am sure to be thoroughly sick of Thai food by the end of my very extended stay here.

Besides, the hectic-ness happens at night. Behold Bed Supper Club:

I had a video, but internet here is painfully slow so I couldn't upload, but you get the idea. Besides, too much Sambuca does not make me a good videographer. Sambuca is gross by the way. Crazy Thai people.

3 hours of sleep then off to the next episode.