One of these days I will leave Bangkok!

One of my ideas before this trip was to travel slowly and to spend more time in one place. So far I'm doing good, after almost 3 weeks I am in Bangkok where I started..

Hanging out with locals gives the possibility to experience the city in a different way, beyond the crazy Kao San Road where all the backpackers hang out together and where I spent my time in 2007.
I went to several local markets with great food where they let you try everything, a good concept to get to know the Thai cuisine. One of the markets was a floating one where they sell and even cook the food in small boats when they are passing by.

I did a full day trip to a huge complex outside of the city called the Ancient City, where they built the most important sights and buildings from all over Thailand. For Dutch people: it is like Madurodam but with all the buildings in real size and you can walk into all of them. Quite impressive!

Because the food here is so cheap, there is no reason to cook. Even the locals eat outside most of the time. I went to a big German restaurant with live music, people dancing between the tables, good Thai food and a delicious Weizen beer without any tourists. It reminded me of an Octoberfest, but with more dancing and less drinking.
Bangkok is also famous for the rooftop bars. My host and I went to one at the top of the Hilton hotel. The cocktails cost 10 euro, but you get an amazing view over Bangkok for free!

Last week I finally left the city to get to the tropical islands Ko Kood and Ko Mak, a couple of hours east of Bangkok. Small beautiful islands with good nature and nice beaches. I had my own bungalow with bathroom on the beach. There was no WiFi, but who needs it if you have a good restaurant, fun people, hammocks and a bar on the beach in front of you :-)

So now back in Bangkok and I changed my plans already so many times, but I'm quite sure that I will be leaving tomorrow to do some diving at Ko Tao!