So far on my trip things had been pretty much as expected. I thought I knew about Turkey, I had been there before, at least. As I had traveled east things had become less sophisticated, simpler and more real. India was a shock to the system. There is nothing that can prepare one for the experience of India. To a certain extent coming there after a decent length of time in Eastern Turkey did soften the landing. It was so steeped in ancient history with references to the more recent history of the UK that it was a little like gradually going back in time. Nepal was a similar if more serene experience. It was certainly somehow the simplest of existences too.
The culture shock on arrival in Bangkok was a future shock. It was like being catapulted from the distant past right into the future without pausing at the present day. At the same time the modernity of it all was juxtaposed with ancient religious edifices and fringed with frenetic independent private enterprise.
Let's just pause to credit the previous four months with having been positively fantastic. This leg of the journey was going to be even better. I knew it. I could tell the minute I set foot in the country.
The Clean & Calm Guest House had the advantage of being within a very short distance of the Khao San Road, the main Freak Centre and backpacker hub. It was however far enough away from there too. The Khao San Road was definitely a full on experience with every available inch devoted to the provision of some service or other to the traveler. Bus tickets to anywhere, visas to anywhere, excursions everywhere. Every place was not only an agency but also a restaurant and a hotel. The pavements were end to end with stalls selling everything from fake Levis to bootleg cassettes. Yes, cassettes. This was in the early days of CDs and that technology had not quite taken off in Thailand.
No note is made of any immediate visit to the Khao San Road but I am assuming that we must have looked in on the scene. All my notes say is "Riverside Rest". I recall vaguely eating a meal in a restaurant on the river's bank. I think that the journey from Kathmandu must have been a few hours in duration and there would have been a time difference too so that by the time we had arrived, dumped our packs and eaten it was quite late, local time. We went back to the Guest House and crashed.
