Being a tour guide

Being a tour guide in Bangkok for a few days was fun. As I've been in Bangkok 4 separate times, I already have a few points of interests I know, a few favorite spots and a general global view of the city. But really not so much, as the city is hugely enormous.

MOCA Museum of Contemporary Art

From Bangkok to Siem Reap

To enter Vietnam overland, I found out on Internet, that it was better to have a visa before getting to the border. So during my stay in Bangkok, I decided to go the Embassy of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam to apply for a visa. On Internet I also found a government website where you could buy apply and pay for your visa. But it said it's only for air travelers. The price mentioned, was something like USD 45 for the visa, and USD 17 for the letter of approval, totaling USD 62. But at the embassy, wanting to pay USD 62 in US Dollars, they told me I had to pay 2'500 Baht (about USD 80). So I went to change my USD to Baht at a nearby bank.

Hua Lamphong Railway Station Bangkok

Tha Din Daeng food market

Every Thursday and Monday, there is a market where half the vendors sell food just opposite of my homestay place where I stay. It is the Tha Din Daeng market. I visited it for the second time with Aaron (and another guest each time). Every time, I try and discover new things. It is awesome, although everything is not always looking very appetizing and yummy.

Mahachai, Thailand

Back in Thailand and back in Speak-Easy Cafe & Tutoring Center plus We Are Backpackers Homestay, we went out to Mahachai. We first took a public bus, then a train where nobody would expect to find a train, except for the sign.

In Mahachai we strolled around with Niddy and Aaron, the two owners of the guesthouse and also Anna and Marcelo. We looked at the products on sale by the Burmese people.

My diving adventures have been put on hold for some time. Let's see how it goes here. Then maybe at some point, find out how it is to work in Bali. But that's a faraway prospect (faraway meaning in more than two weeks, I'm not looking too far in the future currently, so don't ask me where I see myself in five years).

Travel Guide: from Bangkok to Sihanoukville

Once again, it was time to move on. I would have stayed longer if I hadn't had a job awaiting me in Cambodia. But then I probably would have lingered way too long in that metropolis that is Bangkok.

Speak-Easy Cafe lies next to Thanaan Tha Din Daeng, which is a little way out of any proper public transports. I know there are buses, but I never took one in Bangkok. Also, the taxis are pretty cheap. From Speak-Easy Cafe I therefore took a taxi to the closest BTS (Bangkok's Skytrain) station. Aaron and Niddy from Speak-Easy usually recommend arriving or leaving from Krung Thonburi. The taxi driver came to the earlier station and asked me if it was okay to drop me here. I acquiesced and paid the BHT 50 (USD ~1.30) fare.

A Day In Bangkok (video)

2 Days Later

Zuerst ein kleines Video:

3 weeks in Thailand

The plan was to escape christmas and the cold. It worked for the cold, and only halfway for x-mas. Arriving in Bangkok i soon noticed that they love playing x-mas songs on speakers in various places in the streets. There was the odd x-mas tree made of some material or other. I stayed with a couchsurfer at his condo (flat/studio) for 2 days. He showed me the city and temples in it. We ate a lot, chatted a lot and drank a few beers.

After that i went north to Chiang Mai by night train where i met Nina who is traveling for half a year now. There I did a 3 days trek with two couples from Romania and 3 guys from Korea. The Korean barely talked any english. Our tour guide T is a very funny bloke. You never know when he's serious or not. On the trek we saw and washed elephants, swam in waterfalls and slept in a Lahu village on the top of a mountain.