High Noon, Bangkok

"High Noon, Bangkok."  This is what Diel and Luzi (my dear Swiss/Thai friends – see blog archives Oct 2009-July 2010...hahaha) and I have been saying to each other for nearly two years.  We began joking about meeting up in Bangkok in January 2012 when I was living in Switzerland.  The stars aligned and what started as a joke, as a “wouldn’t-it-be-fun-if...” became a real plan.

We met up in Bangkok with Diel and Luzi and some other Swiss friends who had been traveling with them as well.  We stayed in what’s got to be one of the most touristed (and tourist-y) districts in the world.  The narrow, winding streets were packed with festively light cafes, food stalls, massage houses, street vendors selling everything from fried grub (in both the figurative and literal sense) to knock-off RayBans, and drunken beach-clad tourists who acted like there were on spring break in Cancuun.  In short, very charming aside from the Phalangs (Thai for “white people”).  But, the hotel was nice and the watermelon shakes (blended frozen watermelon...why didn’t I ever do this in the summer before??) at the cafe below were divine. 

While Diel and Luzi spent more time with her family, Lauren and I bopped around Siam Square and visited some of the city’s most stunning temples.  We spent hours wandering around the vast grounds of Wat Po (Wat is Thai for “temple.”  I think it’s pronounced “vot,” but I was with a group of native German speakers, so that might not be entirely accurate.)  By the end of this trip, I will have enough pictures of temples to wallpaper a small house.

Just a Bangkok street view.

Wat Po.

One of hundreds of pictures of the inside area of Wat Po.

Many beautiful Buddhas.

Monks chanting in the evening.  Mesmerizing.

After two and a half hectic days in the city, we flew south to the beach to relax and hang out with Diel and Luzi and Sigal and Daniel. 

Arriving at the airport, trying to figure out how to get where we're going.

It was perfect.  The beach was gorgeous.  You could get watermelon shakes and cold beers at the bar and manicures and Thai massages at the massage hut.  I spent hours reading and lounging punctuated by dips in the water to jump in the waves.  Every evening after we would shower and walk into “town” to have dinner together. 

Low tide at the beach.

Book + Beach = Yes Please

Lovely ladies enjoying an "apero" on the beach.

Perfect ending to a wonderful vacation.

I got to spend another fine (that’s for you Luzi) adventure with Diel and Luzi and make two wonderful new friends, Sigal and Daniel.  They made me miss Switzerland and remember with fondness how lovely my year there was.  I got so lucky to meet the people that I did and, in addition to planning a future trip to China, am counting the days until I can visit La Suisse again. 

And, speaking of getting lucky to meet people, as we were waiting for our luggage in the airport in Bangkok on our way back from the beach, I heard someone behind me say my name.  I turned around to see Lisa, one of my best friends from high school, and her husband Ryan!!  Neither of us had any idea that the other was in Thailand, so the shock (and then glee) rendered us nearly incapable of having a real conversation.  What a delightful stroke of chance!  

In the end, it's a small world.