Bangkok smells exactly as I remember: slightly rancid. Sour milk comes to mind for some reason, or something else unwashed. Although of course it depends which alleyways you wander down. In the more bohemian quarters of Khao San, incense wafts alongside an array of Indian-esque tunes, which is music to my ears compared to the hideous blockbusters blaring at top volume from various cafes next door; ones I will never visit. Then there are the food smells: Pad Thai sizzling on hotplates all along the main touristic drag, or deep fried stick insects behind the temple area where I'm staying. And as soon as you step onto the roads of course, you can't escape the exhaust fumes fighting to be sniffed. Most people learn to assertively charge on across the road, otherwise they'd be waiting there and getting tuk-tuked at for a looong time.
After a longwinded, sleepless journey (two plane rides separated by a layover) I am refreshed almost straight away by an incredible hour long massage from a place right next door to my guesthouse (how convenient!). For a mere 8 bucks (200 baht) it feels pretty damn swell, and it hits me that I have ARRIVED. Finally! I had been feeling somewhat anxious on the plane and perhaps purposeless, wondering whether or not it was enough for me to just drift in Asia for a while. Now that I'm here I know that my answer is... YUSS! And not even purposeless, but opportune and a perfect chance for me to get back into yoga, meditation, papaya juices and all the other things that make me my strongest bestest self, but that for some reason or another I have neglected over the past few years (all my own doing I might add).
After my massage it strikes me I haven't eaten anything since my questionable in-flight dining experience of lentil and potato mash, so I decide to wander down the drag to see whether May Kai Dee's vegetarian oasis is still running from the same premises. After all, some things do change in seven years - there is no longer a free internet cafe on the corner, although the sign is still there and when I enquire about it, an Israeli dude from a travel agency gives me free internet anyway, bless him. But back to the story - I am in luck! At May Kai Dee's the food is even better than I remember and I'm soon too full of a carrot salad with an unidentifiablly delicious dressing and a coconut, seaweed and seitan (mock meat) curry. Yuuuummmm! Along with a papaya, guave and watermelon juice mix it pretty much tops my day off and I venture back to the Bella Bella Guesthouse almost ready for bed to find out it's only 4.30 Blimmen jetlag...
So I think I'll go to Ko Pha Ngan tomorrow on the night bus and beach it up for a spell. After another massage of course - the best 200 baht I could think of spending. Already my body is thanking me after a couple of years of being pretty much ignored! So bring on the health kick... although I am tempted by the cafe fridges full of Chang beers, they will just have to wait. Yoga, yoga, yoga...
xxxx
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