When we travelled to Asia in 2013 the first destination was Bangkok. The city is like a hub to get to most other destinations in South-East Asia. You fly in and have a lot of options like going to the south island, going to the northern cities like Chang Mai or to take a night bus to Laos or Cambodia for example.
I didn´t plan too much before I got there. What I knew was that I would like to go to Koh Phangan next and that I wanted to make my money last as long as possible to get to see as much of Asia as possible. We arrived at nighttime and took a taxi from the airport to Khaosan Road, the famous backpacker destination.
We searched for an accommodation and soon found a really cheap shithole. It was a small room with a fan and a shared bathroom. Cockroaches were also included in the price. But hey - it was cheap!
I´ve heard a lot about BKK before but was still surprised by everything. It is really as crazy as people say it is. Only place that is even more intense of the places I´ve been to, is Phnom Penh in Cambodia.
We ended up staying for a couple of nights before we went to Koh Phangan. Explored the city at daytime and partied hard at nighttime. If I´m completely honest - I absolutely hated it at first.
My lungs were hurting from the smog after only one night, the hangovers from the cheap Whiskey got worse every day and my stomach started to refuse the street food.
I had to go to BKK 2 more times to get to other destinations and got to love it in the end. I will write about it another time.
Thank you for reading! ;-)