Reisdagboek #4

A WEEK IN BANGKOK

As mentioned, I was in Bangkok last week. Besides the weekly deadline for Amayzine, there were a few other deadlines and work matters that needed to be done, so I really needed a week of typing in a nice apartment. Initially, the plan was to stay for three nights, but that turned into five. Bangkok is lovely and I must say: I quite enjoyed not being ‘on the road’ for a while and just sitting in an apartment, Netflix evenings included.

A dear friend of mine moved to Bangkok a year ago, so he took me out on Monday night. Eating in Chinatown, gin and tonics on a rooftop (at Above Eleven, a huge recommendation) and cocktails in a secret cocktail bar. As in: a speakeasy. From the outside, you can't see it and you see a shabby phone booth next to an ugly piece of concrete wall. When you press the button on the keypad, a hidden door opens and suddenly you're in a Cuban tent, complete with girls in traditional dresses and toilets where old radios play speeches by Fidel Castro. So incredibly fun. That tent is called Havana Social, just google it if you want to look it up.

Anyway, on Friday I left Bangkok and headed south, to Koh Tao to be precise. A small island a few hours above the Koh Samui that I dread so much, but where the backpackers hopefully haven't fully taken over yet – although you never know. By the way, I'm writing this on the plane there and my plan is to wander a bit between my laptop and the sea in the coming final days, catching some last sun before I fly back to the Netherlands. I will have been away for almost two months, but it really feels like a day. Sri Lanka also seems so long ago, it's strange how that works in your head.

Next week will be the last travel diary, after which the ordinary cold and, as I see it now at least, boring life will begin again. Time to plan a new trip quickly.