A Day in The Life of a Nomad: Bangkok

This is a continuous series of posts about random, nonspecific but typical days in the life of my nomadic lifestyle method. –view all days

* BANGKOK, THAILAND

5:51 AM Boom! Booo! Boom! Boom! Within complete darkness, I hear the heavy bass from the club. Boom! Boom! Owww! No, that’s not music at all, it’s the pounding of my menacing headache. I open my eyes and realize I’m not in a club but on the roof top of a building unfamiliar to me. Shirtless. Jet lagged. Hungover. Perplexed. Welcome to Bangkok.

6:04 AM I just landed 7 hours ago and while it’s my 4th time in Bangkok, the craziness never ceases to amaze me. Needless to say, I can’t recall the last few hours. Las Vegas has nothing on Bangkok and I know, I used to live in Sin City… Now to find my shirt.

6:29 AM The table I passed out on had my iPhone, wallet and sunglasses on it so I wasn’t robbed. There are no scars or cuts on my body so my organs weren’t removed to be sold on the black market either. At least I’m on a rooftop with a view. Hmm, time for a selfie.

6:44 AM As I open the door to go downstairs, I see Maya passed out on the stairs as if she’s passed on to the next life. Right before attempting to wake her, she moans half dead “I need to go pee pee please”. I laugh then shudder in pain from the booming headache.

7:54 AM Still unsure how we got to that rooftop and walking the streets of this part of Bangkok without a shirt, I sweat profusely from the Thai heat. We look for a place to buy a shirt but it’s 7 in the morning, every things closed. Instead, we have Pad Thai for breakfast.

9:31 AM “Massage?” “You want massage?” You haven’t experienced Bangkok if you haven’t been asked that incessantly. I never obliged before, but Maya and I were hurting so we went for it. They even gave me a shirt. Traditional Thai massages are not relaxing and relatively painful, but the end result makes your body feel like silk. An excellent hangover remedy.

11:59 AM It’s extremely rare to not see a tuk-tuk constantly on the streets of Bangkok so when we saw one, we got in it. Not to go anywhere specific (because we didn’t think that far ahead), but so we can have a place to sit while the wind blows fiercely at us while shaded from the fiery sun. Riding tuk-tuks in South East Asia is one of my favorite things to do.

1:32 PM We’ve been riding in this tuk-tuk aimlessly around Bangkok for an hour and a half and it’s awesome, like we’re in a couch that can move. The tuk-tuk driver doesn’t mind as it’s a big fare and Maya and I know how cheap that fare will be.

3:04 PM We arrive at our hotel wide awake and ready for more of Bangkok. First, we get cleaned up and put on some fresh clothes… I text a few locals and decide to meet up with Serene and her friends – all Thai with only Serene able to speak English.

5:56 PM Maya and I hop on the BTS Skytrain and head to some new part of Sukhumvit to meet them for dinner. The restaurant is some sort of fancy Thai place, I didn’t know that existed. Presentation was superb but I still prefer the taste of street food.

8:49 PM After countless Singha and Chang beers, I start to recollect the previous 24 hours, but then the bill comes and my train of thought diverts to calculating the cost of what the each of the 9 of us needs to pay.

9:16 PM After all that eating and drinking, we never even discussed what to do afterwards. So while outside the restaurant looking for 3 tuk-tuks, Serene says she’ll surprise us to a “cool awesome spot”… One by one we all find a tuk-tuk and start driving.

9:42 PM We finally arrive to a very familiar site; a semi-closed off street filled with blinding lights, street vendors of all varieties selling god knows what, the smells of wonderful foods cooking fused with the stench of the overflowing sewers and the intoxicating wild party atmosphere… It must be Khaosan Road.

9:50 PM Khaosan Road is like the ‘Times Square’ of backpacking. Touristy yes, but I love it for what it is. On a good night, the entire street is an insane block party, like tonight. We dive right in, like entering a nightclub.

11:32 PM Bug eating, dancing, mingling, drinking, performing and laughing is what we did walking up and down Khaosan Road.

11:40 PM After reaching the end of Khaosan Road, we decided to try Levels Nightclub, which also happened to be close to our hotel. Having woken from a slumber and being awake since 6 in the morning, Maya and I were losing steam. I blame the jet lag.

12:11 AM Well what do you know, both Levels and Bed clubs are closed. Possibly a raid. It’s still early so Maya, Serene, Sy and I start walking to Nana Plaza, the popular neon lit prostitute street filled with bars and entertainment. I’m with 3 girls mind you, it was their idea. Besides, it’s hell a fun and just going for the drinks and shows… A couple of drinks in, Maya suggests we see a Ping Pong Show. I’ve already had the displeasure of it, trice. So that was a no go.

12:54 AM Serene and Sy leave so Maya and I start walking back to our hotel. A 5 minute walk takes almost an hour, we didn’t get lost (okay maybe a little), just detours of random interesting streets and alleys – Bangkok’s filled with them.

1:43 AM Still unsure how I got on that rooftop hours before, I pass out on our puffy king size bed happy knowing that I won’t be waking up half dead on a wooden picnic table. Maya never made it to the bed, she crashed while taking off her left flip flop. Zzzz…