SE Asia: Here we go Again

At the end of the epic trip to SE Asia last year where I was blown away by the temples of northern Thailand, out-of-this-world Cambodia, and the paradise Thai islands of Phi Phi in the south, I left thinking that I’d like to go back to the Thai Islands possibly the following year but with more time to explore. So when the opportunity to go back came up, I took it without thinking…

It was hard to believe that we were already back in Thailand. Even though I’d said the year before that I wanted to go back the following year, I didn’t actually think I would. It didn’t seem like that long ago, and everything felt so familiar.

As this was our second time in Bangkok, we made this a quick stop. I could’ve even skipped it, but it’s the gateway into the country and SE Asia and a good stopping point to rest and get good sleep before starting the real trip. We tried to go to new places this time around.

First mandatory stop was Ko Sahn Road: It was so different seeing it another time. I remembered the initial thrill I got the first time around with all the sounds, loud music, and strong spices hitting you head on. This time around, it was Monday and it was lively even then.

We really wanted to do the floating markets properly, as it was the one thing we didn’t really get to do last year. As it turned out, it just isn’t that easy. Most of them are a bit away from the city, open only in the weekend. Unfortunately, it was Tuesday so there went that.

While having lunch at the hotel, we once again made the same mistake we’d made the year before: thought we had so much time to kill that we overdid it and we were then stressed while heading to the airport, very worried that we wouldn’t make our flight to Vietnam. How did we not learn from the same experience the year before? Expected travel times in Bangkok should be doubled to be safe.