The Magic of Returning to Bangkok After 10 Years

I’m back in Bangkok. I can’t believe it.

The last time I was here was 10 years ago, in 2011. My first memory is the small area before you reach the immigration officers. There are tables and pens to fill the forms that the officers will ask you for a few minutes later. It’s amazing how memory works. Some small detail like this that was deeply forgotten; now seeing it it comes back and I can see it like it’s happening right before my eyes. Now it’s empty (thankfully). I remember waiting for so long that first time. My cousin was waiting for me at the other end of the Airport. Fede had arrived in Bangkok a few days ago. He took a sabbatical year and was travelling through the world. He was gonna be in Thailand for a month, and told me to join him. In 2011, I was such a kid. I had never left my home, stuck inside playing videogames all day.

I had not seen the world at all. To be fair, I was 100% not ready to go to Thailand. But it was this feeling of excitement, adventure, of the unknown that really piqued my interest. And it was a once-in-a-lifetime chance to go because my cousin was there. I thought he would take care of me. We were pretty close back then, we spent a lot of time together. He’s always been like my big brother; such a big positive influence in my life.

This time I came with my girlfriend, Khanthaly. I met her 6 months ago in Budapest, and this is our first vacation together. She likes to plan everything in advance. I’m the total opposite. When on vacation, I live day by day; I really enjoy “doing nothing”. Waking up and knowing I can do anything I want. Which is not always good, because people who met me will know that on many days I really do absolutely nothing. And this is not good when you are on a 10-day vacation like this time. So I really appreciated to have someone to push me a little bit to do more things and enjoy the days more fully. Sometimes I need a spark, and she is 100% that spark 🙂

Did I mention she speaks Thai? She is from Laos, which shares a border with Thailand. The Thai and Lao languages are very similar. Kind of Portuguese and Spanish. But there is a difference: in Spain or Portugal everyone would notice your accent. In Thailand apparently it’s not the case; no one noticed she is from Laos. She mentioned that there are some words she forgets and then people can tell she is not Thai. But it is not apparent at all.So with my girlfriend being a planner and speaking the local language, we could say I kind of had a private tour guide all to myself. And a very good one at that: she loves to eat, so most of our calendar appointments were to check out this or that other place to eat. I was so happy.

“The” Asian Metropolis

Coming back to Bangkok made me realise how awesome and vibrant it is. It truly encompasses the perfect representation of “The Asian Metropolis” you see in vaporwave videos. A neverending sprawling city full of side streets (called sois). It makes me think of the 1988 film Akira. Heat, neon signs, people cooking in the streets, tuk-tuks… You feel like anything is possible. Especially if you have a foreign salary and can afford most of the nicer things the city has to offer.

Ten years later, it still is nice and affordable.The view from our condo.It is even more incredibly hot, and kind of polluted. You never get direct sunlight, there is always some kind of faint smog over the city. This also contributes to this feeling of being inside an alternate world, a science-fiction dystopia. Most people spend their day indoors. All life happens in condos or in shopping malls. The key is to stay inside to avoid the heat. You can walk around, but like in most of South-East Asia, sidewalks are just not your friends. Just check the streets, you will mostly only see sweaty white tourists walking. We rented an Airbnb in one of these condos inside a skyscraper. It was on the 28th floor, the view was insane. The place was small but modern, well built. That’s something you really don’t get a lot in Indonesia: these modern buildings where everything “just works”. View from our apartment’s rooftop at night The building had everything you can ask for. Private security, a rooftop, a long swimming pool, a gym, a working area… Wow. I could totally see myself living there. But also, I think it could be very oppresive: you have to stay all day inside to avoid the heat. It’s not like you can go to the beach to cool down. The only respite you get is by being staying indoors.

Part-Time Buddhist

Making new friends.One of the funniest times we had was when we went to a local temple. Khanthaly is a Buddhist and let’s just say she is into it. We entered this place and there was some people praying. They have a lot of different stuff, it’s not boring like (us?) Christians. First of all, We bought a little bottle of oil outside the temple. We then entered and she made me pour it on some strange candles. I didn’t understand anything but I felt compelled to follow along. Between the Thai heat and the smell of burning oil, I was getting really dizzy. But it was definitely not the time for me to complain or to ask questions. I just followed her and mimicked everything she did. Some people inside seem very amused to see a tall sweaty farang doing all these rituals. After that, she grabbed some sticks inside a pot and shook them repeatedly, producing a musical-like sound. I liked that part, the sticks made a funny noise. The oil smell was getting into my brain. The dizziness faded into a trance-like state. I kept shaking and shaking the sticks. Hey, this was cool! I was locked in. I started to enjoy myself. What was that oil? Was it some kind of drug?

After that, she wrote something on a piece of paper and pinned it to a wall. I didn’t do this because it didn’t seem as fun and I had no idea what to write. This part was definitely more serious. Some people were kneeling down and crying. When you travel, you have to know your place. Sometimes you join into the unknown and follow along. Other times, you keep your distance and observe from the outside. We reached the end of the process. She gave some money. Me being a born and raised Catalan, you all surely know I also skipped that last part as well 🙂

Eat, Pray, Love, Eat, Pray, Love…

Writing this post I had to think about what we did during the five days we spent in Bangkok. The best explanation I could give is: eat, pray, love.We checked out temples (Wats), ate all kinds of food and of course did couples’ stuff 🙂

The pinnacle of street food in Bangkok has to be Yaowarat. The Yaowarat night market is in the Chinese neighborhood. As far as the eye could see there are stalls filled with all kinds of food you can imagine. There’s almost no place for cars when the market is on. It’s also a hangout place; young Chinese people go there to drink and dance as well. I felt like I was in a different world inside of Bangkok. Definitely a sight to behold if you ever visit Bangkok. Khanthaly told me it has reduced its size because of COVID, so imagine how it must have been before.The majority of the food you find in Yaowarat is Chinese-Thai. It’s very difficult to separate where one ends and the other begins. It’s like trying to determine which region does a better paella in Spain: nearly impossible, everyone will have a different opinion 🙂.

A lot of stalls offer grilled food, especially pork and seafood. What sets those grilled pieces apart from other countries is the sauces they will give you. Each Asian country has similar stalls with grilled food, but the sauces are always different.Tropical fruits are also everywhere. Mango, papaya, pineapple… Every combination of juice you can conjure up is there.There’s very little point in me explaining you everything I ate. Check any episode of Bourdain about Thailand, he’ll do a better job of explaining it.

Friends and Family

Agus

Both me and Khanthaly have some friends living in Bangkok.

My friend is Agus. Agus is Indonesian. I met him back in 2016 when I lived in Bali. He used to organize CouchSurfing events in Canggu. I remember him always surrounded with people. He loved to meet new people. When someone new came to these events, he made sure to spend a long time speaking to them and making them feel welcome. That’s why a lot of people kept coming back to all the meetups. Exactly this happened to me. Even if I lived 1h away from Canggu, every week I drove there just to meet with Agus, Dunnie, Monika and all the usual (and new) suspects.Agus is a smart, well-spoken dude. The first thing you notice speaking to him is his accent. It’s like an English-South-African accent, very strange to determine. He’s lived all over the world, that’s why his accent is so difficult to put a name on. Actually, you can listen to him on his podcast, I recommend it.

We became super good friends during my time in Bali. Then he left, he got a better job in Bangkok. Now he is living the dream, spending his time in a super nice condo in the center of Bangkok.I was very happy to see him again, it was like time didn’t pass. Unfortunately we didn’t take any pictures together. But I’m sure we’ll meet again very soon.

The Imjaiboon

Of all the memories I made in this Bangkok trip, meeting the Imjaiboon family is definitely number one. This encounter made me feel much closer to Thailand.It’s very easy to jump on a plane to Bangkok and explore the city. The problem is that you will probably end up going to where all the tourists go, not seeing the real Thailand. This is common for all travelers wherever we go, and the only way to avoid this pitfall is to befriend some true local people.

Luckily for me, Khanthaly had some family friends living in Bangkok. They invited us to a dinner in a traditional seafood place next to the river. Tui and Phen were kind enough to pick us up at our accomodation.They’ve been together for many many years. During the drive, they spoke mostly Thai with Khanthaly. But they were kind enough to speak with me in English. I instantly liked them a lot, they were so fun. Tui, the husband, was a total comedic genius. You can tell someone is naturally funny when he can make you laugh while speaking a completely different language. I could communicate and understand his jokes just by his facial expressions and hand movements.Phen, his wife, was his perfect counterpart. I thought they made such a good couple. They laughed at each other all the time.

The drive was long, almost an hour. We went really far away from the city. I was literally the only non-Thai person at the restaurant. This is what I want when I travel: to go as deep as possible. The less I understand and the more I stick out, the happier I feel. This is what travelling is all about: to get out of the beaten path, to get out of your comfort zone.In the restaurant we met with the couple’s kids: Aom and Arm. When I say kids, but they were already grown up. Aom (the daughter) was in her twenties, and Arm (the son) was a bit younger. The Imjaiboon family & us.Aom spoke perfect English and her and Khanthaly were in charge of helping translate so we could all understand each other. But to be fair, in these situations, I prefer to immerse myself in the moment and observe how people interact with each other.The food was delicious: all kinds of grilled seafood with a variety of sauces. Also the typical Thai dish like tom yum.The highlight of the night was when Tui and Phen explained their life story. How they met, what they did when they were young. It’s always fascinating to hear people describe the past and reflect on it. In this occasion, it was especially engrossing because their story was set in such a different time and place.

While listening, I was picturing everything flasing before my eyes just like in a Wong-Kar-Wai movie. I won’t lie: as “Khanthaly’s New Boyfriend”, I was the main attraction. Granted I sat in silence and observed a lot. But I also had to answer a lot of questions and explain who I was, how I met Khanthaly, the whole stuff. I thouroughly enjoyed it, they all seemed such genuine, honest people. I felt right at home, a little warmth in my heart that I was at the right place at the right time. When you travel sometimes you go through the motions: eat at this fancy place, drink a coffee at this hipster spot, take a few pics in this famous landmark, etc. But sometimes, just sometimes, there are these unexpected moments when you feel like everything connects and you remember why you travel in the first place. It’s these unexpected moments in the places where you would least expect it.

These are the memories that last forever, no matter what happens in the future. When we said our goodbyes, Phen looked deeply at me and said something that stuck with me:I really hope we see you again sometime.Phen This resonated with me. When you travel you meet people and say goodbye all the time. Usually, you know you’ll never meet some of them ever again. I had the feeling Phen also knows this well. What she truly meant by that sentence is that she hopes that I stay with Khanthaly long enough for us all to meet again. It warmed my heart, and I too, am looking forward to meeting them again in the future.