Bangkok visa run days
So being in a city never really does it for me these days...so I wasn't overly excited for my time in Bangkok. It's a city I tend to go to for visa runs, and then have to hang around for a few days at a time killing time. This time I was applying and waiting for a 60 day Indonesia visa for Lembeh :) I had planned to try to make it different this time, go sight seeing, see the Grand Palace, go the massage school, really explore it like I did years ago and play tourist. However the reality was that by the time I got to Bangkok I was exhausted of playing tourist. Perhaps even of walking around with a backpack. Constantly moving had taken it's toll and I was just excited to get to Lembeh and start unpacking my backpack in my bedroom, making a home and settling into a routine of teaching yoga :) I also had such a big to do list for the practicalities of being about to go and spend 2 months on a tiny island with no entry or departure except via boat.
I did surprise myself though by feeling a little sad to say goodbye by the time I left. I had stayed in a hostel in Victory Monument which by the time I left felt like home. It was so welcoming and so far removed from tourist spots it was a pleasure to be in the thick of local life. The lady who runs it is amazing, every day asking what you will do and helping you with the most authentic ways to do things. She loved that I took the local buses everywhere and ate the street food and hung out in the communal area instead of the room.... I made acquaintances with a Thai woman who cooked street food each evening for me! She would tell her locals "no no Farang" and point at me, making them wait to be served! I never had any idea what treat she was cooking me, she would just smile and hand me a paper parcel :) I had intended to stay in a dorm room to save back some money that I had spent in Cambodia and Vietnam. But I woke up at 3am each night by girls who had been out partying and lived their lives by throwing the contents of their bags across the whole floor. I quickly decided that this was not the time for me to be sharing my personal space, so I moved into a private room in the hostel and instantly felt happier :)
I spent a lot of time in Bangkok organizing my life. I saw the dentist, I got a hair cut with a crazy cool scottish man in a room above a travel agency, I bought a new backpack (couldn't escape the idea of bed bugs maybe following me, and it stank after Thailand and the Lahu Village bonfire experience), caught up on my journal, wrote postcards, bought stuff to help me through 2 months on a small island with no shops, drank a lot of coffee and watched the world go by for hours at a time and just generally chilled out and caught my breath. Sometimes when you are back packing you are literally always on the move, and although it is an exciting kind of exhausted, it can be super tiring always thinking about where you are going next, hostels, flight, bus or train details etc...
I did a lot of handstands, including asking a random danish family to take a photo of me outside Madam Tussauds! The daughter was so inspired by my 365 day handstand challenge that she jumped up onto her hands as well to support me - awesome :)
The most exciting part of my Bangkok adventure was realizing that my good friend Liz and her husband Brendan were going to also be in Bangkok and for once we weren't at opposite sides of the universe, having missed each other normally by anywhere between 2 hours and 24 hours!! We met up and spent an afternoon bikini shopping, having pedicures, swapping stories and catching up on the last 5 years since I had seen her!! Such a great afternoon together :) Can't wait to try and see more of her in Asia before I leave. Khao Lak just got added to my must visit when in Thailand next list. Awesome :)
So glad I decided to stay in a local area, it made for such a more interesting trip and made Bangkok feel like another new city rather than just a boring visa run... I met some really nice people in the hostel all filled with positive energy for their travels, which I needed as I had started to lose wind and motivation for always moving. It's back again now :)
I am two planes, a car ride and a boat ride away from being underwater again in Indonesia!! Yoga, diving, and chill time with old and new friends in Lembeh :) I can't wait to see that beautiful island again and enjoy the stillness it brings to me every time.
Good times!
So being in a city never really does it for me these days...so I wasn't overly excited for my time in Bangkok. It's a city I tend to go to for visa runs, and then have to hang around for a few days at a time killing time. This time I was applying and waiting for a 60 day Indonesia visa for Lembeh :) I had planned to try to make it different this time, go sight seeing, see the Grand Palace, go the massage school, really explore it like I did years ago and play tourist. However the reality was that by the time I got to Bangkok I was exhausted of playing tourist. Perhaps even of walking around with a backpack. Constantly moving had taken it's toll and I was just excited to get to Lembeh and start unpacking my backpack in my bedroom, making a home and settling into a routine of teaching yoga :) I also had such a big to do list for the practicalities of being about to go and spend 2 months on a tiny island with no entry or departure except via boat.
I did surprise myself though by feeling a little sad to say goodbye by the time I left. I had stayed in a hostel in Victory Monument which by the time I left felt like home. It was so welcoming and so far removed from tourist spots it was a pleasure to be in the thick of local life. The lady who runs it is amazing, every day asking what you will do and helping you with the most authentic ways to do things. She loved that I took the local buses everywhere and ate the street food and hung out in the communal area instead of the room.... I made acquaintances with a Thai woman who cooked street food each evening for me! She would tell her locals "no no Farang" and point at me, making them wait to be served! I never had any idea what treat she was cooking me, she would just smile and hand me a paper parcel :) I had intended to stay in a dorm room to save back some money that I had spent in Cambodia and Vietnam. But I woke up at 3am each night by girls who had been out partying and lived their lives by throwing the contents of their bags across the whole floor. I quickly decided that this was not the time for me to be sharing my personal space, so I moved into a private room in the hostel and instantly felt happier :)
I spent a lot of time in Bangkok organizing my life. I saw the dentist, I got a hair cut with a crazy cool scottish man in a room above a travel agency, I bought a new backpack (couldn't escape the idea of bed bugs maybe following me, and it stank after Thailand and the Lahu Village bonfire experience), caught up on my journal, wrote postcards, bought stuff to help me through 2 months on a small island with no shops, drank a lot of coffee and watched the world go by for hours at a time and just generally chilled out and caught my breath. Sometimes when you are back packing you are literally always on the move, and although it is an exciting kind of exhausted, it can be super tiring always thinking about where you are going next, hostels, flight, bus or train details etc...
I did a lot of handstands, including asking a random danish family to take a photo of me outside Madam Tussauds! The daughter was so inspired by my 365 day handstand challenge that she jumped up onto her hands as well to support me - awesome :)
The most exciting part of my Bangkok adventure was realizing that my good friend Liz and her husband Brendan were going to also be in Bangkok and for once we weren't at opposite sides of the universe, having missed each other normally by anywhere between 2 hours and 24 hours!! We met up and spent an afternoon bikini shopping, having pedicures, swapping stories and catching up on the last 5 years since I had seen her!! Such a great afternoon together :) Can't wait to try and see more of her in Asia before I leave. Khao Lak just got added to my must visit when in Thailand next list. Awesome :)
So glad I decided to stay in a local area, it made for such a more interesting trip and made Bangkok feel like another new city rather than just a boring visa run... I met some really nice people in the hostel all filled with positive energy for their travels, which I needed as I had started to lose wind and motivation for always moving. It's back again now :)
I am two planes, a car ride and a boat ride away from being underwater again in Indonesia!! Yoga, diving, and chill time with old and new friends in Lembeh :) I can't wait to see that beautiful island again and enjoy the stillness it brings to me every time.
Good times!
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