Maybe it’s not quite accurate to say that Bangkok exceeded expectations because I’m not really sure that I had expectations to begin with. What I did have was a few comments from friends saying you only need a couple days, a wildly exaggerated depiction of the city from a couple of movies, and a completely erroneous idea that because it is a developing country and has tuk-tuks, the chaos in Thailand’s cities (and Bangkok in particular) would resemble those of India or Sri Lanka, the closest comparisons I can make based on experience.

Order

The first misconception to burst was that the city would be chaotic like Delhi or Colombo, with scooters, tuk-tuks, cars, trucks, and buses doing basically whatever the hell they wanted in their quest to get from A to B the quickest, lane lines, traffic signals, and ear drums be damned. To our (very pleasant) surprise, the traffic was…orderly. And quiet. Germans will honk at you if you haven’t accelerated in the first microsecond after the light has turned green; Sri Lankan buses have horns that will play three full measures of music at 120 dB if the driver lays on it for long enough, which many do; Bangkok, in comparison, is tranquil. It’s rare to hear a honk. Instead, most of the noise comes from the high-pitched engines of the army of scooters underway, or the throatier growl of aftermarket mufflers very amusingly fitted to most tuk-tuks. And even then, only when the lights are green.

The same order applies to most everything else, too. They queue up like pros, keep the streets cleaner than in Berlin (admittedly a pretty low bar, though Berlin wins by a mile when it comes to clean waterways), and generally have their shit together. Awesome.

Culture

The other part of the pleasant surprise was more based on the culture and the character of the city itself. Despite being a city of 10 million people, it feels big but not imposing, every skyscraper is balanced out by a temple (or ten – there are Buddhist temples everywhere), and residential areas with two or three story buildings, connected by networks of narrow back alleys which seem to function as roads, porches, and business fronts. People are incredibly friendly (though this wasn’t a surprise). Food is everywhere and is everywhere delicious. 

Thailand has religious freedom but is overwhelmingly (over 90%) Buddhist, and according to the interwebs, Bangkok has about 400 of the over-40,000 Buddhist temples in Thailand. Like churches in Europe, they are all variations on a theme, with some being more impressive/important/intricate than others. One notable difference was the almost theme park-like atmosphere around the bigger temples (at least those we visited). You can buy flowers, incense, and candles, or gold leaf and gold blankets to put on Buddha. The atmosphere was loud and energetic, not quiet and reverential. Fascinating.

I won’t belie my ignorance by commenting on the religious teachings themselves, though the core tenets seem to line up relatively well with most other religions: don’t kill, lie, cheat, steal, earn profit from harm, etc. If, unlike for the Abrahamic religions, the story ends there, I’d say two thumbs up.

Gen-Z

Most skyscrapers have rooftop bars, and the first evening we went to a bar called Gen-Z. It was filled with kids doing TikTok dances, posing for Instagram photos, and generally not talking to each other except to comment on someone else’s social media post or to complain about how unfair it is that they have to work to pay for things and how they should already be managers.

Meanwhile we struggled to download the menu from the QR code on the bean bag chair, complained about high taxes, inflation, immigration, and the speed of the service.

Friends

Close friends from home home joined up with us, which is great. Dylan is probably even more immature than I am, so with our powers combined, we annoy our better halves to no end. It’s probably no surprise then that Kelc and Vera retreat to each other’s company. Works well ;)

Oh, and because I can’t really wrap this into the flow here, would I recommend Bangkok? Yes, absolutely. I’d love to have had a full week here, but alas, the beach was calling.