Two nights in Bangkok is more than enough (I figured out the formatting issues)

I've always believed that Las Vegas has an expiration date. If you stay for more than two nights you either turn into a pumpkin or the city burns you and eats you alive like Godzilla. Personally if I stay longer I just go absolutely bonkers and hole up in my room until we leave.

Bangkok is very much like Vegas. But on steroids. A shitty brand of steroids you could only find at a shady gym in a city like Bangkok.

We left our brothel/hotel downtown to find a  little more friendly accommodations for the second (and last) night I will ever spend in this godforsaken hell of an urban disaster.

We try to go to Koh Sahn (road) where most of the tourists concentrate. We quickly find out, the cab will only take us as far as a Royal Thai Army stand and drops us off with no explanation. Ummmm, shit. So we are standing on the side of the road by the Army with no ride and our giant bags like the biggest farangs around.

 

 

Finally a soldier approaches.

He says to us in perfect English, "ok guys we will take you by the protests, but you must keep going straight to Koh Sahn."

The lizard/journalist part of my brain kicks in. I lie. "I work for the Gazette, I need to take pictures."
 

Journalist?

 
He looks me up and down and must have decided I was wiry and stupid enough to be a journalist. "Ask your driver," he said. Ok, I guess that is that, jump on the back of a bike and away we go.

As we got closer to the madness the drumming slowly crept ever louder. Boom... boom... boom... BOOM... BOOM... BOOM! My heart started to synchronize and I had a death grip on the holy shit handles of the bike.

Finally we drive up to the main protest area, police everywhere, flags the size of your house being waved, tear gas, gunshots and smoke. This is my second day in the country. I am quite close to soiling myself and I completely forget to even ask to get off the bike. Shock and awe does not even begin to describe how I felt. I took pictures of other peoples pictures because I value my eyes and life.
 

 

 

 

 

We get dropped off near Koh Sahn and find a much nicer hotel room for a cheaper rate. I proceeded to slam about three beers to level myself off and ended up meeting another rattled traveler from Switzerland. We hung out at a reggae bar until I tried to kiss her and burnt her arm with a smoke. Yup. In Bangkok I am the opposite of smooth.

I stumbled into bed and planned my escape at first sight of the sun.
 
Police efforts to quell the riots proved unsuccessful. Four people died that day.

Peace out Bangkok,
Daniel Double-u

It begins...

Everything about this trip seemed like it was a part of a chosen path that would soon become a memory before long. This record of stories and adventures will help to preserve those memories for much longer than either of our alcohol soaked brains could possibly manage.

To those that choose to follow us as we trek around this foreign land, my gratitude runs deep for you.

In the weeks and even years leading up to this trip, my hometown of Calgary was softly growing in the opposite direction of anything I wanted to feel or believe in. It may have started soft, but as our departure crept closer the city was screaming at me to leave. In good time my ticket out had shown her beautiful face. I wanted to run on to the tarmac shouting "FREEDOM" like I was about to fight for my independence from the icy fist of the land-locked and money-bound "new west."

 

Of course Thailand has its own issues and problems and I would be naïve to think otherwise. However, this is my paradise and I will make this trip into my mecca if it kills me. I hope to experience as much as possible, and I hope you can take an amount of enjoyment from reading the words and pictures I express.


KHOBKHOON KRAP,Daniel Double-U