Last Week’s Travel Story
If you missed last week’s Travel Tuesday blog post, you can read it here. I wrote about a food tour that I took in my first week in the city. I also shared about how this experience was one of very few positive ones that I had in that city.
This is why I’ve been struggling to write about my trip although I’ve been back since early August!
One of the few good things about that country was the food. And in my first week only, I gained two kilos! Although I was walking a lot daily (like a lot) but the food is so rich and so good that I gained weight so fast.
Looking back, discovering my favorite Thai dish (Pad Kra Prow) was one of the few highlights of that 25-day trip. I actually plan on making Pad Kra Prow at home tomorrow! You can read about this famous Thai street food dish in last week’s blog post.
My Expectations of Bangkok Versus the Reality
Being a fan of Asian culture, food and lifestyle, I assumed that Bangkok would be a match to my personality. I guess I didn’t realize that it’s just another big city, like Dubai for example.
In my first week in Bangkok, I stayed at a luxury hotel in the central/commercial downtown district. I’ll share more about the hotel in another blog post. Basically, the hotel attracted the typical mix of business and tourist guests. It was a chain hotel and close to all the famous, new shopping malls in the city. The vibe was mostly pretentious and not friendly really.
I remember one day, as I was heading out the hotel, one of the Concierge guys asked what my plan for the day was. I shared about wanting to explore a place that I found on Instagram and that promises to be the art district or something (it was another mall and it was a very outdated and dead place so I left immediately).
What was interesting in that brief conversation with the hotel Concierge is that he immediately suggested that I visit Emsphere and followed it by saying that it’s the newest mall in the city.
I eventually went to Emsphere, more than once. I was in Bangkok for around two weeks with a break at a coastal town (more like city) in between the two weeks. I’ll share about the coastal town and why I didn’t like it either in future blog posts.
Now Emsphere is a cool mall, don’t get me wrong. So are all the malls in Bangkok. Packed with people but they’re great if you appreciate big city life. Think over 11,000,000 people kind of big city vibe.
But for someone who has been living in Dubai since April 1, 2010, visiting another mall isn’t exactly my definition of a vacation! LOL
If someone told me that Bangkok is very similar to Dubai, but in Asia, then I wouldn’t have booked that trip in the first place. And that’s why I was disappointed in that trip and was even reflecting on why I booked it in the first place towards my last few days.
What adds more irony to the wrong expectation is that in my first week, I explored a few places in a neighborhood far from where my first hotel was. But that hood seemed to have a Bali vibe.
The crazy part about this story is that my second Bangkok hotel was located in that neighborhood (a mostly Western expat hood with a non-commercial vibe) and that’s when I felt hopeful that my second week in the city would be spent hopping from one cool, independent spot to another (just like I do in Bali).
Not only did I not have an experience with a similar Bali vibe, looking back, I also didn’t meet any Western expats! LOL
So in my first week, while staying at the pretentious chain hotel where the Concierge suggests that I check out the newest mall, I somehow ended up going to the neighborhood where my second hotel would be and feeling hopeful about the second part of my Bangkok stay, where I would have a totally different experience.
In fact, in my second week, I got sick with a cold that took around four weeks to recover from (when I was back in Dubai). I also had an issue with a credit card fraud through my Apple app account (I no longer have an account linked to a credit card).
So my disappointment with the city continued until my last day, even though I stayed at a mainly expat neighborhood. But of course, I made the most out of my trip and I visited so many art galleries and exhibitions. I just tried to create my own Bangkok itinerary but staying away from the malls was impossible!
The thing with Bangkok is that it’s so widespread and huge that you can’t possibly know where to go without researching online or asking people. All the places are so spread out and disconnected.
What I love about Bali is that you can walk down any street and know what’s happening, what places are available, what vibe each spot has, who’s out and about, like everything is happening right in front of you.
One of the few places that had a bit of a Bali vibe (and English speaking Baristas!) was a coffee shop that I went to once. The place is called Karo Coffee Roasters and I visited the Pridi branch.
This coffee shop trip was when I was staying at the first hotel and it’s what made me feel hopeful about my second week in Bangkok. I felt like cozy, intimate places exist in Bangkok and that I would spend most of my time in my second week hanging out at these types of hidden gems.
But although I stayed in a non-touristy neighborhood that had more smaller malls and cozy spots, the Bali vibe or soul simply wasn’t there.
What I encountered in the second hotel neighborhood was actually the opposite of Bali vibe. At a famous mango sticky rice shop, a sales woman was being rude and abusive with me and this is one of the stories that I’ll never forget from my Bangkok trip.
I’ll share about this specific incident in a future post.
I know that many people love Bangkok and I find it strange. Maybe if you’re a city person, then it’s the perfect place for you. And if you don’t mind the crowds everywhere, the packed trains at the peak hour, the long queues at the malls, then maybe you will like it.
I honestly had a totally different expectation and what I experienced in my 25 days in the country was not memorable. It was a disappointing trip to say the least.
I’ll end the story here and share with you two photos from the coffee shop that gave me hope for my second week in Bangkok. And the last photo is a random picture that I took at Emsphere.
Let me know if you’ve been to Bangkok and what you thought of it as an Asian city.
Love,
Leela
