Hejorama’s SE Asia adventure – part 3

The night train to Bangkok was actually quite enjoyable as I had time to read a lot and meet the people on board. For about 25 euros I had a comfortable berth at night and a decent seat during the day part (the trip was 20 hours total). If you ever have to take it, I suggest you ask for a lower berth though, as they are wider and you don't need to climb to go to bed. The guy at the ticket office didn't offer me the choice so I had no idea but you can ask for it. They might be the first sold out though.

I arrived to Bangkok around 11am and had to make my way to Lub D in Si Lom, a hostel that was recommend to me by my friend Dwight. This was fairly easy actually using the train system of Bangkok that is easy to navigate. I was welcomed with a large Chang beer that literally knocked me down until the night where I joined the other guests for a club night. While the Route 66 club where we went isn't my typical night out, it was great to meet the awesome people (hosts and guests) from Lub D for a very fun night out. I was very surprised that the club closed at 2am but for the first night that was alright. After Berlin it's quite a change...

The rest of the week isn't going to be very interesting to tell you as I spend most of the time catching up with work after 10 days of semi-vacation. However I did the following things:

- Went to the weekend market and hate some weird stuff but didn't buy anything.
- Went to see a movie just to verify that it was true that before the movie you have to stand up for 3 minutes while listening to a song glorifying the king.
- Went to Khao San Road, the backpacker hot spot, and pretty much hated it. This event sparked a strong desire to find the cool places of Bangkok and show an alternative to this area where travelers end up by default. It has became my main mission for this trip.
- Met some very cool friends of Anne from Prêt à Voyager that confirmed that there's a lot more places to hang out than Khao San and pointed me to some cool things that I have yet to test.
- I met with Charles and Siugi for an afternoon of classical music in the Lumpini Park and an orgy of food for dinner.
- I went to Koh Samet. But that's for next weekend's episode.

Alex