Bangkok’s left me buzzing

(The Water Festival)

At first this huge, sprawling and daunting city felt too much like hard work. I have rose tinted glasses for Cambodia, (and Cambodian people) and I realise that’s not Bangkok’s fault. And it’s not Bangkok’s fault that I just experienced my first bout of real homesickness. Nor is it the fault of this immense city that I can’t navigate my way because to me “Siam” and “Sa Yam”, two completely different underground stops, sound exactly the same. It’s busy, it’s polluted, and it’s noisy.

Thing is, left to my own devices, Bangkok turned out to be such an adventure. I wandered off without a map (although I quickly bought one on day two) and strolled for hours in search of coffee shops and parks (anything to keep me out of trouble and away from damaging my “budget” (ha) any further). I’m not sure whether it’s a good or bad thing, but I haven’t been acting much like a tourist. I’ve barely looked in any guidebooks or done much prior research since I left England, preferring just to walk, observe and find things out as I go. In Cambodia I didn’t feel like a tourist because it became a kind of home for me. Now I wander across the crazy streets with no sense of direction, spotting something on the skyline I like the look of (much like Katie and I have been known to do at 6am in London after a good party).

This is how I found Lumphini Park, engulfed by skyscrapers in the middle of the city, complete with big roaming lizards (iguanas are they called?). It was like an oasis in the middle of Canary Wharf. I’ve walked right into people before when staring up at the huge, glass buildings in London. I think they’re gorgeous. These big skyscrapers and sky trains and raised walkways dominate the huge roads of Bangkok.

I went to Chatuchak Park and the weekend market, which is huge and reminded me of the Russian Market in Phnom Penh. It has little places to eat nestled within it and even a whole art section. I visited Co San Road and went drinking there, being told it has “some of the best bars in Thailand and the world”. I’ve been a little obsessed with Banana shakes throughout Asia and here I discovered the only way to improve on a foamy, cool Banana shake …add rum. Isn’t “add rum” always the answer?

I saw Harry Potter (everyone had to stand up at the beginning while they showed a short slow motion, black and white film of who I presume is the King doing “good deeds”. I wonder how many popcorn and drinks cartons would be thrown at the screen if they tried to do this in England.) I wrote and read and drank tea in places with little snowflakes stuck to the windows.

I met a Thai guy (Surapong, nickname “Ram”) in a Temple, who invited me to go to the Water Festival with him and his daughter that night. He also said he wanted to take me for dinner. So I jumped on the back of his motor bike and the three of us went to the river. I find it hard to understand, as a cynical westerner, why a Thai stranger would be so nice to a foreign tourist…(only then did my new life in the Bangkok prostitution trade flash before my eyes). (NOTE: Mum – this is a joke, I never felt in any danger, he is a lovely family man).

The Water Festival is simply to say “Thank You” for all the water you have used in that past year. You take a wreath-type-thing of beautiful flowers, a candle and some incense, and you light the candle and drop the wreath to float with this little light down the river. This happens all down the Chao Phraya from Chaing Mai in the North, right down to the sea. It never, ever occurred to me that we should say “Thank You” to the water. I mean, without it we’d be totally screwed. So I lit my candle and said thank you on behalf of everyone I know, for the thousands upon thousands of gallons we’ve all used in the past year.

The Water Festival was very beautiful. People had sparklers, and let off big lanterns into the sky and there were so many fireworks, up and down the river in massive displays. All the boats were lit up and there was lots of music playing. This is a Buddhist festival which happens right throughout Asia. I just read that in Phnom Pehn there was a terrible disaster where more than 330 people were crushed to death on the riverfront. This was where I was originally intending to spend the festival. (My friends are all safe by I am so sad for this tragedy to happen in such an amazing city which such lovely people.)

I went for dinner with Surapong and his daughter “Jam” too. We eat in a sprawling restaurant where you had tickets for food (delicious noodles and fish) and there was Karaoke and a raffle (“Jam” won a stuffed baby that looked like a giant marshmallow.)

This is my third visit to Bangkok now but it was definitely the most special. I’ve already seen the temples, the gold reclining Buddha, the floating market and done a lot of the tourist spots. This time I contented myself mostly with walking and watching life and loving every part of it. (Note: If you want to stay somewhere grand in Bangkok the Millennium Hilton is so LUSH. I wondered in there and pretended I was staying...I can dream). I took a boat down the river. This is the exact same trip that gave me my first ever taste of Asia. At the age of nineteen I remember thinking; this world is insane.

I had a sort of “epiphany” too, although I don’t feel suddenly “enlightened” or anything. Surrounded by Thai businessmen in suits, with laptops and strong coffees, I sipped my tea, curled on a sofa and watched a busy, Bangkok intersection outside. In a chaotic mass of colourful bikes and people and rush and noise, I sat behind the huge glass, raised up above it all, in prefect stillness. I had a moment of compete clarity about where I was and who I was and what was important. I think so much as been happening I haven’t had a chance to just sit and process it all. I won’t say any more because I know a few people reading this will be rolling their eyes right now (I know who you are), but whatever. While I sat there in this moment of complete happiness, having my little life-changing moment, I felt very thankful to be alive. Yet another thing to thank the water for.

Me at The Water Festival

"Jam" and Surapong

Bangkok intersection of busy roads and sky roads

Lumphini Park