Krung Thep Maha Nakhon

Alternatively Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahinthara Yuthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom Udomratchaniwet Mahasathan Amon Piman Awatan Sathit Sakkathattiya Witsanukam Prasit, shortly City of Angels or for westerners Bangkok is our first destination in Thailand. Arriving to the Suvarnabhumi International airport in Bangkok feels as if the time machine fast forwarded and spat us out a couple of centuries in the future. We already felt pink having the opportunity to fly the Royal Thai Airlines hoping for special treatment and the corporation did deliver on our expectations. We felt double twisted partially not having been pampered with the luxuries of the "Western" world in the last three months, on the other hand being very badly mistaken for thinking there is nothing which would outgrow the development, as we know in our Western world.

Though Bangkok is probably too big to label it hyper-modern, having various very different districts, marvelously merging the traditional Asian element with the ultra modern. There is Chinatown with its' buzzing markets selling food we had not even the possibility to guess if they were animals or vegetables, the touristy Banglamphu, where we also ended up for accommodation purposes, or the futuristic Siam Square with its shopping malls and air conditioned sky train. This is our fourth day here and we still have not quite got a grip; as usual, in the first few days we stick out like an exclamation mark for tourist rip-off, than in addition we stumble about the eating having mostly no English menus or English speaking staff and the food does not look like anything else we saw before - though whatever we taste is heavenly. Thirdly, the city is like an open air sauna with over 35 Celsius degrees and so humid that if you are not wet due to constant perspiration then you are because of the moist from the air. Hence we decided to apply some immediate changes: we halved our backpacks and bought a couple cloths on the weekend market matching the climate, which was a hilarious experience with its endless variety of product offered on an incomprehensible size of territory. We stopped eating at restaurants with four times higher prices than the street stands, which are delicious, safe and you just point at the other customer's plate if you like it to be safe with your order. And to scare out the scams from irresistibly smiling and polite locals Tomek instructed me to behave just as unfriendly as I am when I am not especially nice. :))) (First I got offended, but eventually the trick works...)

We paid our visit to Ko Ratanakosin, the ancient royal district with its splendid temples and Royal Palace - which we had to leave due to the royal family's coming-and-going under serious security arrangements and scrolled through the amulet market selling zillions of different artistic realization of Buddha and quite impressing variety of lingams. Yesterday evening we ended up in one of Bangkok's largest shopping malls, the MBK for all the services our rustic honeymoon did not allow us to enjoy until recently; just to name one we spoiled ourselves with a one our Thai foot massage. We crossed the river to visit the Wat Arun with one of the numerous ferry services criss-crossing the water and functioning as one of the most effective transportation means in the otherwise busy, but very decently organized traffic.

After four days out of the "forest" we feel the call of moving on; tomorrow we take a night train to the South to the island of Ko Tao, famous of its clear waters and being relatively off the beaten track.