When I was bored on the departing flight, I tried to write something on my phone to record the daily life during the journey, and what I ended up with is this title.
By the time I started writing this, I had already submitted my resignation, and as the title mentions, the long vacation was just about to begin.
On the day of departure, it wasn't too cold in Beijing. To avoid carrying heavy winter clothes, I only wore a short-sleeve shirt and a light jacket. After landing in Bangkok, it was hotter than expected; this is said to be Thailand's winter.
Bangkok#
I stayed in Bangkok for seven days, changing hostels every day (the same in Chiang Mai later). The prices ranged from 60 to 200 baht. An interesting phenomenon was that some hostels had a noticeable majority of Chinese guests, while others had hardly any Chinese people at all. The former were mostly popular on Xiaohongshu.
I met a few American guys at the hostel (they looked older than me) and chatted with them. I could mostly understand their English, but when they spoke among themselves, I could only catch parts of it.
Another interesting phenomenon was that after getting a few tattoos in Thailand, most people I met at the hostel said:
"Is this a new tattoo?"
"Cool"
"It's funny"
The reactions from colleagues at work were:
"Why did you get such a simple one?"
"Did you do it yourself?"
"You even went abroad to get a tattoo?"
😑 Back to the topic
After taking a tour of the museum, I found that the Grand Palace was nearby, and there were dress code requirements to enter (many temples have them). Shorts were not allowed, but there was a simple counter at the entrance to purchase appropriate clothing. I bought a pair of long pants for 200 baht. I didn't buy from the street vendor who was selling them for 150 baht, and after finishing my visit, I found another vendor selling them for 100 baht further away 😑.
The entrance ticket cost another 500 baht, and there were a lot of people. To be honest, the experience wasn't very good.
In addition, I spent a lot of time wandering through different shopping malls. The malls in Bangkok are enormous, and the prices aren't very cheap. After walking around, I was exhausted and had no desire to shop. The vintage market DD Mall offered no choices.
Traffic seemed to be perpetually congested, and I mostly took motorcycle taxis, which were cheaper. The drivers were skilled at weaving through traffic, making it faster. During my few days in Bangkok, due to severe air pollution, public transportation was encouraged, and the subway and buses were free. I didn't take the bus, as it was often late and just as congested, and the subway lines weren't very extensive.
I visited the red-light districts NANA and Soi Cowboy, and it seemed just as I expected. There were quite a few people, but perhaps I didn't delve deeply enough to understand it.
There are many Chinese restaurants in Bangkok, or Thai dishes themselves, which tend to be quite heavy in flavor for me. The mango sticky rice was quite good.
Aside from the unbearable hot weather, it's a very interesting city, worth spending more time to experience slowly, but the suitable weather is probably only from December to February of the following year.
Chiang Mai#
The transportation in Chiang Mai is somewhat better; there are virtually no buses, and indeed no subway. To get to slightly farther places, I rented a motorcycle, but I didn't have an international driver's license, nor even a motorcycle license. I was prepared to be stopped by the traffic police, and sure enough, the next day I got a ticket. However, unexpectedly, when I returned the bike, I got another ticket for parking in the wrong place.
I stayed for 8 days, and the expenses weren't high; most hostels were priced between 50 to 100 baht, many of which also provided breakfast. Street food costing around 10 baht per meal was surprisingly delicious, though hygiene standards were not to be expected.
Overall, it felt like a small town but very vibrant, and life was quite convenient; you could almost buy anything you needed for daily life.
The North Gate Jazz has performances every day, and no tickets are required. The same goes for a jazz bar in Bangkok; the quality of the performances is quite high. You can just buy a bottle of beer and sit there listening, but there are always many people.
In addition, there are many coffee shops, most of which are nearly empty.
Temples are almost distributed throughout the urban area, and the dress code at the entrance often prohibits wearing shorts, but no one enforces it. I even asked, and wearing shorts was fine.
If you go a bit further, the outdoor scenery is definitely worth spending some time in. Riding a motorcycle for less than an hour, the climate in the mountains is much cooler.
I got two tattoos, one in Bangkok and one in Chiang Mai. The price in Chiang Mai was only half of that in Bangkok, but the former was quite painful 😖. It wasn't enough to make me scream, but it was tough to endure. Fortunately, it was done quickly, and I gritted my teeth to hold on, but the final result wasn't as good as the one from the shop in Bangkok.