Of Tourists, Temples, and Time Spent at Peace

Just a few hours after landing in Bangkok, Brianne and I were sitting in a tiki-style sidewalk restaurant, gulping down watermelon shakes and sweating uncontrollably. We had just met up with a group of Brianne’s Swiss friends, who were to be our traveling companions for the first week in Thailand. The six of us were catching up while surveying a parade of passing tourists ranging in dress code and sobriety level from “unfortunate” to “straight-up offensive.” These, Diel told us, were the sights of Khao San Road – or, as Brianne and I now call it, the gringo ghetto. We began to understand the impatience of the Thai servers and masseuses working in this purgatory of shirtless Westerners confused enough to think they were minutes from the beach.

My first impression of the city, unfortunately, was highly touched by this uncomfortable relationship between clueless vacationers and hardened locals, which often crops in the heavily touristed areas of Bangkok. Service with a smile, a taxi driver not trying to profit from our ignorance, a sightseer with the appropriate amount of skin covered: these things seemed frustratingly hard to come by.

But given a little time to adjust to the city’s sprawling layout (and stifling heat index), we began to discover the quiet moments hidden in Bangkok’s tucked-away places. Our long city walks brought us (with varying degrees of purposefulness) to artisan ice cream stores, delicious restaurants filled with genuine smiles, and even to Asia’s highest rooftop bar.

And wandering into the city’s countless temples, we found ourselves surrounded by a meditative buzz of prayer, incense, and song. Everywhere we looked there was an intersection of bright colors or a reflection of sun-brushed gold that begged, no demanded that we snap another photo.

Bangkok is, truly, a city that never sleeps. And sometimes I did wish the whizzing traffic, the bored hawkers, and the drunk tourists would put themselves to bed for just one night. But our peaceful moments, snatched from busy streets, showed us that Bangkok is still a city that knows how to pause and breathe.

And really we had very little to complain about. Because we were about to head south, where we would join the Swiss for a four-day stay in the beach town of Khao Lak.

Surely at this point my reader will cease to feel any pity for me as I sipped Chang lagers, spooned up spicy red curries, and took a nap to the tune of crashing waves. All I can say in my own defense is that days of beach picnics and long swims were full of great conversation and new friendships, which I did my best to lay in store for the more intense culture shock to come. With the Swiss wrapping up their month in Thailand, and with Brianne and I just getting started on our Asian adventure, four gorgeous days were more than enough to remind us all not to take for granted the chance to get outside the normal and everyday.