25th to 27th of September 2001, Bangkok
Finally back in Bangkok, after „throwing“ myself around Australia I returned to were it all started. The prophecy of the old man hadn’t come true. I got to the hostel around 1:00 am in the morning and had a very warm welcome. The guy that opened the door for me got a big grin on his face when he saw me and said „Oh you are back!!“ Where have you been? Bangkok very hot now, lots of rain! How true, it had been raining since I got of at the plane in Bangkok. But I liked the atmosphere, the smell and even the dirty streets. I felt like I was coming home. I spend the first day mostly with talking to friends I had met during my first stay. I also visited the office of Richly and went to the Swiss Air Tower to get new flight tickets. At night I went to a very nice Indian restaurant on Khao San Road called „Himalayan Kitchen“. I don’t really like Khao San Road, but this restaurant is definitely a great spot for Indian food.
I got my slides on the 26th and had to face the fact that lot’s of them where rubbish. When I wrote my first report for Worldsurface I promised that I would use my camera till it breaks, I didn’t meant that literary at this time, but my prophecy came true, both, my reflex and my snapshot camera broke down during my trip. Fortunately I was able to fix my 25 year old reflex and continue to take pictures, but the other camera is one of the „hyper modern tiny little“ one and I was not able to repair it. As for the rest of the day, I had to buy a suitcase and therefor visited Siam Square like many times before. I have to admit, Siam Square is my favourite shopping area in Bangkok. if you shop at areas such as Pat Phong or the Khao San Road(both very interesting places) the possibility is very high that you never find this shop or seller again, making exchanges or complainments nearly impossible.
Sometimes you travel weeks around and don’t meet anyone from you home country, and sometimes you meet a bunch of them within one day, the 27th was one of those days. Out of the sudden there where four Austrians staying at the hostel. It was quiet strange for me to use my own language, even my own accent again. I also made a picture tour through Bangkok. My favourite bus #53 goes along all major tourist attractions in Bangkok and I stopped at all of them to take at least one picture.