In The Path of Going Nowhere

People say it's normal if you feel lost, don't know what to do in your life, when you're 20! Because you're still young!

That's what happen to me right now, feel lost, don't know what to do in my life, I don't even feel that my life is meaningful, not for society but for me. In a way my life is boring!

Maybe because I'm 20? But after all this time, 20 years, I think I should have been done something good, at least for myself. I did some good things for my own, but I don't think it's enough! Well, yeah people can't get enough, always want more and more.. That's why being grateful of what we have is the best thing that we can do to appreciate our life.

God has bestowed me with a lot of wonderful things. People tell me that I have many talents inside that I should discover and develop. That's why some of them expect me to do great things. But I'm not as great as they think. I don't even know what my real potential is! I've been learning a lot of things, good at some of them, but still I can't tell my real potential! Am I stupid? And moreover, I feel like I don't have any plans nor visions for my life. Sounds so desperate, eh? But my very good friend, Ed, said to me, "when you plan your life, you will never have a chance to grab different and good opportunities."

Now I'm in the path of going nowhere, where I have to choose where to go. I don't know! Am I stupid? Sorry for being so emotional, but that's what I feel right now. :/

But I believe, I will find the answer soon. I will! Because I don't want to end up being nothing! And the most important is I want to be happy and live my life. :)

So after all said and done, I know I'm not the only one

Life indeed can be fun, if you really want to

Sometimes living out your dreams, ain't as easy as it seems

You wanna fly around the world, in a beautiful balloon

(Life - Des'Ree)

Life is About Choice

Sometimes choosing is not soooo easy. We have to know what we really want, really need, or anything. It's all based on our primary, secondary, or any other needs, like desire, dream, so on.

Just today my friend asked me to go to the place which I think it's gonna be my next destination after I graduate. He said there's a very big event going on there, a hindu pilgrimage. And that pilgrimage occurs four times every twelve years! I really want to go there! I really do!

But then I remembered that I have many things to be done here. So I have to choose.

Then my choice for now is, I will stay here, finish everything, and then go to that place! I'll see. :)

Life is about choice. Sometimes we have to postpone (just don't give up) the most interesting thing to do in our life for something more important.

And nothing's wrong with that. :)

Change of A Lifetime

Life changes, people change, places change, and everything changes. But how do you know that they change? How can you tell that they change?

Recently, I’m back to the place where I’ve been two and a half year ago. Here still looks the same, well maybe some changes here and there, but only small changes. But I know, this place –after I left some years ago­– has been witnessed many things; people who came to this place; events that were held in this place; everything. But the place stills the same. Same!

And I meet the family who lives here. I still remember them, seems like only yesterday when I first knew them. But now, they don’t even remember me. Because too many people come to this place, interact with them. Even after two and a half year, they still look the same! The mother looks the same, maybe only the little girl; she is taller now and calmer. But the rest, same!

Same like me, same like you. Have you ever looked at yourself in the mirror and asked yourself, what have changed in me? Maybe your hair is longer or shorter, maybe you’re getting taller or bigger, maybe your skin complexion is more black or white, maybe you have scar now, maybe you wear glasses or braces now. You can tell that easily from your reflexion that you see in the mirror. And if you meet people from the past, they will only tell your changes in appearance! Nothing more! Though maybe over all you still look the same.

But if you ask yourself again, do I change? For this, you need to relax and let your memory back to the past to recall what you have been through, what you have learnt. Those things might change you from inside. You might become smarter or dumber, more wisdom or more reckless, more open-minded or more narrow-minded, anything. Or might be you stuck and feel the same because you still dwell in your past? What side are you on? You choose! Your life is in your hand.

But if you know how good it is to experience things –good and bad– in life, you would like to have it. The more you experience something, more that you can learn. And how you react for every situation depends on your life background, your frame of reference, your knowledge, your environment, and your experience in the past. Because of that, no need to be afraid or worry about what will come in the future. You can predict it from your present, but life is a big surprise. Just embrace what comes toward you.

Though if you fail or make mistake in your present, it’s normal. You would never learn if you never make mistake and you would never know how it feels to be success if you never fail. Same like, if you always success, you would prefer to die if you fail. It’s cliché, I know. But it’s true.

Don’t be afraid of failure or to make mistake, even it’s painful. Every pain can make you stronger. Sometimes maybe you can’t stand the pain, it’s only because you never experienced it before. That’s why you don’t know how to deal with it and handle it. And like Queen said “Pain is so close to pleasure.” And every pleasure can make you feel grateful for everything that you have in your life (unless you become snob instead, hehe).

So look at yourself again, ask yourself, “What have changed in me?” It’s only you who know the answer, the right one which comes from inside.

Traveler's Hangover

Traveling is addictive. If you like it also, maybe you would say, "I never want to stop!" Same like I do.

For me, I really like the feeling of away from home, away from my routines, away from the system. Sounds pretty coward, eh? But well I'm still alive even I'm coward. hehe.. It feels strange to be home again after all. Strange! But I don't feel sad, and of course I don't feel happy either. Sometimes I just don't know what I supposed to feel when I'm home. All I know I just want to travel again. So mostly the feeling of going is more frightening than the feeling of leaving. Though adapting with home's circumstances is not that difficult, since adapting is the thing that travelers always do.

When I talked about this with my friend, Roberto, he told me, "So do not travel again." I was shocked, why he told me like that? He's away from his country as well. But then he explained to me that I should not do what makes me feel unhappy. He said I like traveling, but I don't like to be back home. But I should go home. So everytime I'm traveling, possibly I would feel unhappy after it.

I couldn't say he was right, but he was not fully wrong either. And everytime I ask myself why I travel? I can't find a satisfying anwer yet. I know I'm looking for something, but I don't know what. I'm looking for something I don't know (like ED always say also). Envy them who can answer this question already.

But all I know I feel happy when I'm traveling. But yeah, not when I have to go home. It's all about what's in my mind. My mind is more free when I'm traveling, but not at home. Seems like there's a conception in my mind about home and what's inside it already and I can't change it!

Though I can't change it, I have to change my mind about it, change the way I think about it. So it could change the way I react with that. I should enjoy myself wherever I am. Because in the end, (maybe) it's the same to here or there. And the most important is that I -and you also- should be happy. Because why would we choose to be unhappy?

Nice to Meet You

I love traveling alone, but in fact I never be alone. Because I always meet new people when I'm traveling. I love to meet both locals and tourists.

My traveling experience is not that much yet. But from that I already learned a lot that makes me want to learn more and more. A friend told me, "Maybe one day you would experience this. In the end it's the same to be here or there, to travel or settle down. What makes it different is the people. People you meet, people to share with, people with a good heart who want to be friend with you not because you're a tourist, but because you are you!"

The last 4 weeks when I did my Thailand and Vietnam trip, I met some wonderful and awesome people who made my days more beautiful. :)

Pai

Phine, Georg, Christian

They were very nice. And it was funny, because they were the last people who knew me and Ed as a couple, and they also the first people who knew that we were no longer couple anymore. ;)

Rickard

I supposed to take pic of him with ukulele, instead of this tobacco.

He was Ed's old travelmate, they met up coincidentally in Pai.

Paul

This guy is fucking tall! Even taller than any other westerners.

Aom

She's a singer. Her voice is unique. She sings beautifully.

Ladissa

She's a good dancer. She also can sing!

Martin

He looks like Chris Martin, eh? Crazy guy!

Bangkok

Roberto and Diego

They're a great team. They always complete each other. And they know how to value someone, they have beautiful souls inside. People with good hearts.

Tiap and Nii

Hard to tell that Tiap is not a girl, she's pretty. Nii is an artist, she's wonderful!

HCMC

Christophan

He and his friends showed me HCMC around within a day. From upper class to working class.

I don't know her name. I met her through Chris. She can't talk because she has mental depression. So I used sign language when I talked to her.

Damian

Stayed in the same room in dormitory. He's very talkative. He always have something good to talk to.

Liesl, Lisa, Laura

We did a lot of walking, talking, and eating. Because of Spanish Bar, Cu Chi Tunnels, and oreo creamy shake.

Patrick and Ronan

Paddy's motorbike was cool! But police pulled me over when I was riding this motorbike. And Ronan loves small cute dog. ;)

Hopefully see you again. Someday, somewhere. :)

More picture from people I met.

Tomorrow Never Knows!

My last stop was Saigon. After that I had to go home. I was only away for four weeks, but when I had to go home, I didn't know what I supposed to feel. I didn't feel happy, but I didn't feel sad either. I just didn't know. It's strange to go home, and well, it's sad because it means you stop traveling, though only for a while. And like it or not you have to face the real and daily life back home.

I like the feeling when I'm away from home. Everything new, different, it's interesting. And when I don't know something or make mistake, everything is pardoned. When I have problems, I have to handle it by myself. There's no one that I can count on but me. I learn how to be tough, to think clearly, to spend money wisely, to adapt with new circumtances, to observe people behaviours, to understand and appreciate differences. It really is a good feeling and traveling is addictive!

Well, tomorrow never knows and life is a big surprise. Life back home is another adventure though. So I have to face it as well. I just have to stop for a while then soon I'll go again to new places! Wait for me! :)

Budget Travelers Should Not Complain!

Well yeah it's true. Since I was traveling on budget, so I must not complain. But I can't stand not to tell these stories.

When I was about to go to Chiang Mai, I took another tourist bus! Cheap, yes! But very bumpy, even the road to Chiang Mai was boring, high way without any up and down or sharp curves. And it was fucking cold inside! Like in the fridge! Hell no!

And on my second time in Bangkok, since I was alone, so I chose to stay in a cheap guest house. I got it, 150 Baht/day. But but the bed was really hard like a stone! Every two hours, I woke up, slept again, next two hours woke up again. It hurt my back too much!

So the next day I decided to move to another guest house with the same price, but with a better bed. But yeah budget travelers should not complain, because my new bed... few ants on the bed! Jeez!

In Ho Chi Minh City/Saigon, two nights I stayed in $10 room. Not that expensive actually and I got everything, AC, big and comfy bed, hot water, fridge, TV, wardrobe, even towel and toilet paper. But for budget and solo traveler, $10 was expensive. So I moved to dormitory, $7. Still expensive though, but cheaper. hehe.. And because I stayed in dormitory, I got some new friends. :)

Well, still had a good thing over not so good one. ;)

Saigon? Ho Chi Minh City? Whatever!

First time I arrived in Ho Chi Minh City/Saigon, this communist country. Communist sounds scary, eh? But it was all right there. :)

First impression was good. On the bus, I didn't have no idea where Pham Ngu Lao was, the backpacker area, so I asked old couple on the bus and they kindly told me everything they knew. And when I had to pay, I didn't have small money, so there was a lady who paid for my ticket. :)

I was alone. I missed Ed and my friends in Bangkok. But yeah, when you travel alone, you never be alone. I met some people just some hours after I arrived. They showed me almost all Saigon within a day. They took me to the upper class restaurant (yuck! I didn't like it!), to the Spanish Bar (fucking good!), and to the place for lower class and yeah budget traveler. hehe... They told me to move from Saigon, five days in Saigon was too much they told me. But I didn't like to move to one place to another without knowing anything about it. I don't like to just have a look, I want to see, to know more, to understand.

When I moved to dormitory, I met Damian, my room mate. We did lot of walking, talking, laughing, eating (oreo creamy shake was very good!). We also met Lisa, Liesl, and Laura through Kirsti. I told them about the Spanish Bar and we wanted to go there. But stupid me, I didn't know where it was, I didn't even remember the name. So we did an adventure to find the Spanish Bar. Walked down the street, asked people, with map in our hands. But still we couldn't find it! So we ended up at Sheraton Hotel! On its 23rd floor! It was good there, but our outfits were totally didn't fit for that place! We wore t-shirts, shorts, and flip-flops! hehehe...

Tour? No More!

Cu Chi Tunnels and War Remnants Museum must be two of the relic of Vietnam War. People there always asked me, "have you been to those places?" I answered, "not yet", "why not?" they asked me back. Ooh! So I had to go, eh!? I didn't feel like going, but ok because my friends wanted to go to Cu Chi Tunnels, so I joined them. With a tour! Jeez!

I think it would be the first and the last time I took a tour. I felt like stupid following one guy instruction to do this, to do that! No way! Cu Chi Tunnels was interesting actually. But since we went there with a tour, so when we were crouching the tunnels, we could only crouch straight heading to the hospital bunker. Along the way, there were many other ways, left, right, I really wanted to turned left or right, but I couldn't! Oohh....

I didn't go to War Remnants Museum, haven't got time. Well, next time maybe. But I think next time, I want to do Vietnam trip from south to north... I'll see.

Crazy Traffic!

I thought Jakarta's traffic was the most fucked up! But then I found out that Saigon's was even worst! Horrible!

Too many motorbikes (but many Vespa LX there). They didn't follow the rule. They went wherever they wanted. Sometimes they didn't even stop in the traffic light! Crossing the street would never be this challenging, 0r most suitable word, frightening! hehe.. Two thumbs up for them who can ride motorbikes and handle the traffic there. :p

So Damian and I wanted to hit the traffic! Damian's friend, Patrick, just bought a motorbike. So we wanted to do test drive, quite reckless though, because we didn't use helmet, didn't have driving license and paper motorbike. We rode down the street trying to find the Spanish Bar, but we couldn't find it. We found a Cathedral and a big park instead.

In front of the Cathedral, there was a Mother Mary statue and people were kneel in front it, praying in the night! Wow! Real life of Saigon aside of the backpacker area. :) But I kinda regret haven't got the chance to enter the Cathedral. It looked magnificent and I never entered churh before. hehe..

But we were lost. We didn't know the way back home. And it was hard to ask for direction, because almost nobody spoke good english. :( We tried our luck, but the police pulled us over! I told you we were reckless. They didn't speak good english either. Before they wanted to take the motorbike, of course we couldn't let it happen! Patrick just bought it 30 minutes ago! So after some bla bla bla discussion, they asked for money, 500.000 Dong! We didn't bring so much money at that time, we only had 170.000 Dong. We showed them all the money that we had. And they only took 100.000 Dong and let us go. We even asked them for direction before we left. hehe...

After that accident, we laughed all the way home... And it was my last night in Saigon.

More picture from Ho Chi Minh City

I Left My Heart for Pai

Before my itinerary was Thailand, Cambodia/Lao, and then Vietnam. But when I came to Pai, I knew that I would spend some times here. From the beginning, I fell in love with this place already. It was true, most of my traveling time I spent in Pai. I stayed there for two weeks.

Pai is a little town in the big valley located in Northern Thailand, between Chiang Mai and Mae Hong Son. So the view from the town is mountain, so beautiful. But too bad when I was there, the leaves were not green, maybe because it was not the season. But still beautiful. :) The place was so relaxed, good place for laid-back people. And the spirit of Pai itself, I think, was hippy. It was cool! And the weather was also nice. Though during the day it was very hot and in the night it was fucking cold! People there were nice, they didn't treat me badly like in Bangkok, though they still thought that I was a Thai girl.

It was a touristic place, both for local and foreign tourists. But still nice. It was not as crowded as Khaosan, for sure. And it was not that expensive there. We stayed in a private bamboo hut for 150 Baht/day.

In the center of the town, normally activities started in the evening. The walking street turned out to be a shopping area. People sold many things, from food to accesories. Pai also had many bars and restaurants, and they were all cool! Always had live music every night. Even they played music in the street. Awesome! Moreover, I love wooden stuff, and almost all the bars and restaurants there had wooden decoration inside. Splendid!

When I was there, I didn't go to any tourist attractions like elephant riding, jungle trekking, and etc. I only went to the river to had water massage, to the canyon to saw it by myself, and to the hot spring to relaxed myself. It was funny when we were about to go to the hotspring, we almost ran out our petrol. And way to the hotspring was so challenging, up and down, and from the main road, it was pretty far. We were afraid we couldn't make it and already prepared ourselves to sleep in the jungle, more challenging though. hehe.. But we made it!

Like I told you before, in the night time, it was fucking cold there! That's why we need campfire! Never in my life I saw campfire inside the bar, but you can find it in Pai. ;) And there was one bar, Bamboo Bar! That place was cool. People only came there around 2 am - 6 am. There were three campfires inside the bar. But the music -sometimes- was cheesy. Sometimes people brought their own guitars there and played it, but they didn't turn off the music! Errr.... But that bar was cool! Really cool! I spent most of my nights there, drinking, talking to people, or just sitting around the campfire. And if I wanted to have the real live music, I could go to almost every bars. Because every nights they had live music. My favorite was duo Aom and Norbert. Aom, a hippy girl with unique voice, and Norbert, an eccentric guy who played his guitar excellently.

When I was there, there were two parties. One was in the art gallery, hippy party. The other one was reggae festival. Awesome! I liked both of the parties. In the art gallery, first time I saw fire show. It was incredible! And because the ticket for the reggae festival was expensive, so we didn't get it. But we had fun outside the venue, because people were jamming there, dancing, drinking... Fuuuun!

When I was about to leave Pai, I felt so sad. It was the longest time I stay in one place when I'm traveling. And it felt good. I was sad because I had to leave when I already knew the people there, when people knew me already, when I felt so attach to the place. It was sad...

Even I'm thinking to stay in Pai for good. Well I'll come back, sooner or later. :)

Meet and Break!

Well, now I'm going to tell you about my love life. Feel free if you want to skip this part.

This traveling was somewhat like a couple holiday. Because I had a long distance relationship with my ex-boyfriend and we didn't meet for two months. So we expected this holiday would be nice.

But life is really a big surprise, eh? Instead of felt happy about our met up, we broke up after 10 days together! We broke up in Pai and I didn't know why. I really left my heart for Pai. Pai gave me both good and bad memories.

Actually couple holiday is boring. And no one would talk to couples! So when we were together, altoghether three weeks, we spent only two of us. And somehow we both couldn't do like we always did before when we traveled alone. It felt not the same. But I still happy. I was happy because finally I could meet him again. But might be he was not feel the same way. I didn't know.

He introduced Pai to me. He has been there three years ago. And it was awesome he said. But when we were there, everything was not the same anymore like three years ago. And I knew he felt disappointed about it. But things are changing, we can't expect everything to be the same forever! So I thought when we were there he trapped in his own memories with Pai three years ago. It was so painful for me. Because he was there, but I couldn't even feel him! I knew his mind and his heart were not there with me.

After we broke up, it was very hard at the beginning. I didn't have someone to talk to and I didn't want to ruin someone's holiday by whining about my love life. So I kept it by my self. I had to be strong! I decided to stay together with him for the next 10 days. I knew it was gonna be painful for me by choosing to still stay together with him. But on the other hand, I realized maybe it would be the last time we met in the real life (well I hope not). So I wanted to spend it as long as I could. And since then, I started to feel jealous with another couples! Because they looked happy with each other, they seemed to be ok. Why we couldn't be like them??

Well, now I know next time I would never ever traveling with my boyfriend anymore! Ever!

Hitchhiking, Addictive!

I tried my first hitchhiking in Pai. It was fucking awesome! I got addicted to it.

My very first hitchhiking was a motorbike, only for short distance. Since then, altogether I hitchhiked three times in Pai. And the most cool hitchhiking experience ever until now was from Pai to Chiang Mai!

We decided to hitchhike because I wanted to experience the real hitchhiking. So we walked out of Pai. Some cars stopped by but they couldn't take us in because they didn't go to Chiang Mai. After almost half an hour walking, finally there was a car heading to Chiang Mai. So we got our ride, a cool pick-up!

At first, I was a little bit sick, because I didn't get used to it. But after some times, I could sleep good on the back. :) If we took bus, it took around four and a half hour from Pai to Chiang Mai. With hitchhiking only two hours. Better, faster, and cheaper it was for free! I want to do it more...

More picture from Pai

More picture about Meet and Break!

Life in Bangkok

I never been to any countries but Indonesia. In Malaysia, only transit. So Bangkok was the first country outside of Indonesia where I stepped my foot in.

Bangkok! Home?

After stopped in Kuala Lumpur for a while, took another flight to Bangkok, finally I arrived in this elephant country. I had to wait for Ed at the airport. We almost couldn't meet each other, since he thought I was already gone to Khaosan. Since we arrived at midnight, so we decided to wait at the airport until morning comes. Suvarnabhumi Airport was a really nice place, sophisticated. Even we considered to spend our days in Bangkok at the airport, because you can sleep there, eat there, drink there, even take a shower there. And it provides you with almost everything, AC, benches, restaurants, toilet, book store, and music! hehe.. But we didn't do that, no worries.

In the morning, we went to Khaosan Road by tourist bus! Not so easy to find a hotel around Khaosan Road, especially we arrived there before 12 pm when normally people haven't checked out. So we walked to one hotel to another asking whether they still have room. And we got a hotel with discount! Not so bad.

Bangkok was pretty much the same like Jakarta. Typical of big cities. I didn't really like it. Almost same city, same buildings, same traffic, even people looked the same. Well not so interesting. And since we don't like tourist attractions, so we didn't go to any of them. We wanted to go to floating market or jatujak market, but then we had to wake up in the morning and it was far, outside Bangkok. So laziness won. :D

And Khaosan Road and around were like another shopping center. You could find almost everything there. It was good. But then it made that place fucking crowded!

Are You Local?

What the difference does it make when I leave my country just to see the place which is almost the same like home? Where people also think that you're local and give you the same label? Well, actually it's nothing wrong to be locals, especially when you can get local price. ;) But since I was there with my ex-boyfriend, and he's a german (farang in Thai), so people would think that I was a local girl with a farang! And yeah, there people always thought that I was a Thai girl and always tried to talk to me in Thai! Jeez!

Don't get me wrong, it's all pure my opinion. I think in touristic places, local people do not treat local tourists as well as they treat foreign tourists! Same like in Ubud, same like in Bangkok, same like in Saigon, everywhere the same I think! But until now, Bangkok is the worst, well especially Khaosan Road and around.

You know in every tourist places, there must be street sellers. If you recognize it, you would know that they rarely offer their stuff to local tourists! As if they do not exist! Though sometimes it's good, because mostly street sellers are annoying!

I told you already that for me the worst until now is in Bangkok. One time I was eating with my ex-boyfriend in the restaurant, but he didn't eat. He just accompanied me. After I finished my food, I asked for the bill, and the waiter gave the bill to my ex-boyfriend instead of me! Hey I was the one who ate here, did you think I couldn't afford my own food!?

Another local-look-alike experience, also In Bangkok. Mostly in every touristic places, hotels do not allow local people to get inside the room. Once, after worked and before we ate, my friends wanted to take a shower. So they must get back to their hotel. So together we went to their hotel and when I was about to get inside the hotel, the lady there asked about my id, and she asked me in Thai! Errrr... So my friends had to explain to her that I was not a Thai. She didn't believe it, so she asked for my passport. Here, you can keep it! Err I was fed up!

The funny thing was when they knew I was not a Thai, they treated me well soon after that. Funny.. So funny!

Back to Bangkok!?

I spent most of my traveling time in Pai. When it was almost close to the end, I had to go to Saigon, because my flight back home was from there. I could do overland to Saigon, but I only had 10 days left. And if I wanted to do overland, I had to pass either Cambodia or Lao, and both needed visas. It would be more expensive. So I decided to take plane, but then I had to go back to Bangkok. Oh my God!

At the beginning, I thought my another 4 days in Bangkok would gonna be soooo boring. We arrived in the morning and we directly went to Khaosan Road. Ed left for Penang on the same day, spent maybe two hours in Bangkok before leaving. After he left, I was officialy alone. I supposed to feel happy because eventually I was alone. But no, I was not so happy, because I knew I would miss him so much the next days.

One thing I really missed about Bangkok only the street food! Noodle soup especially. So some hours after Ed left, I went to one of the best street food stall in Rambutri Soi, near Khaosan Road. The noodle soup didn't taste the same like the last time, but it was still good. After I finished and wanted to smoke, then I had to roll the cigarette. Oh yeah this rolling thing, I coulnd't find Sampoerna A mild there, I don't like Marlboro, so the only choice left was rolling tobacco. I couldn't roll, I always messed it up. When I was trying to roll my cigarette, for maybe 5 minutes, then the guy next to me asked, "Do you want me to roll?" Oh thanks God! hehe... ;)

I didn't realize before that this guy would change my stay in Bangkok into an unforgettable one. Oh, his name was Roberto. First, we talked about cigarette, and he told me I could buy Sampoerna here. WOW! So in the evening, I met him in his work place, a club (but the club was fucked up)! There he introduced me to his partner, Diego. So we three went to find Sampoerna. But we couldn't find it. :( We went back to the club and they introduced me to their friends. But because these two guys were good looking and people rarely saw them with a girl, so many people looked at me jealously. Moreover, they must think that I was a Thai girl, ooh made everything more perfect! :|

Even a lady boy wanted to hit me at first, Diego told me the next day. Jeez! The midget always looked at me from head to toe. Another girl always looked sad everytime I was with them. People changed their behaviours to Rob and Diego when they were with me. Ooh I felt bad because of it! but they assured me it was not my fault, but they made fun of me telling I had to be careful because people might do harm to me.

So next days I tried to be friend with their friends. And it worked! Day by day, things were getting better. :) So soon my second time in Bangkok was very good! Rob and Diego have been there altogether three months, so no wonder they knew a lot about that place. And thanks God, we didn't have talk like most of tourists do, like "have you been to...?", "ah.. I've been there before, and it was...", "my plan is, I will go to..." I didn't like it. I never make plans, go with the flow. I don't have any Lonely Planet books. Everything more fun and challenging.

So did Roberto and Diego. We talked about life and people instead. Why they did like this, like that. Why they dressed like this, like that. It was a little bit funny, when sometimes I saw some people were very stylish. I didn't know whether it was the real them or not. Me myself when I'm traveling always try to be as simple as I can. So then I can carry less stuff. Another interesting thing was they even told me to distinguish between real girl and lady boy, straight guy and gay guy, hehe.. :D

Since I spent most of my time in Bangkok at Khaosan Road, soon I knew the place was crazy! Totally crazy! Even some said it's a heaven for backpackers, regardless the rate of violence which happened there. Many drunk people, people fought in the street. And for tourists, they cannot hit local guy and girl, if they do so, they could end up in jail. But they may hit lady boy.

I didn't stay in Khaosan Road though. I stayed in Phra Atit road, it was cheaper. And if I wanted to go to Khaosan Road, there was a shortcut to Khaosan Road from Rambutri Soi (the street next to Phra Atit Road) from the back door of Israeli place. There were two Israeli places and both provided free internet service and the food there was good!

When you eat something, even they give you chop stick, they must give you spoon, because it's impolite to eat without spoon. And oh yeah, Thai food was very delicious! Soooo tasty! And do not forget to try foot massage!

If you notice this, Thai language always put "cap" for men and "caa" for women at the end of every sentences to show politeness. Men always say "cap" firmly, while women say "caa" with long and low intonation. And mostly Thai people say the letter "R" not clearly. People who can speak the letter "R" clearly considered well-educated.

In Thailand, do not dare to say anything bad about The King if you don't want to end up in jail! Thai people love their king so much. Even in particular times, there will be a song being played and all Thai people will stand up to show their respect to The King.

In the end, I liked Bangkok because of the people there. They were awesome! :)

More picture from Bangkok