These are drafts for chapters of my travel diary ‘The Girl Unsettled’. They’re raw and unedited collections of descriptions of how these places made me feel. Welcome to my Bangkok era.
Feels
The moment I stepped out on the sidewalk, I knew: This feels familiar. It’s loud, colourful and distracting. Madly wired and unstable. Entering Bangkok is like entering my brain. This city is calling the shots. It calls for shots of sweet dopamine, serotonin refills and romantic oxytocin hook ups. You have no say, no direction, the crowd controls. Bangkok serves you a vicious love potion of happy hormones that will get you drunk and make you surrender. It will give you a headache. It makes you hungry for things that are too spicy and thirsty for waters more still. Bangkok is over-stimulation and chaos. It’s far too easy for me to relax into it because it follows my natural attention span (short) and behavioural pattern (weird). So, here’s this city matching my energy. It sure feels like a challenge. This is my Bangkok Baddie Era.
Hauke
This time I wasn’t alone. One of my oldest and best friends who had also fallen irrevocably in love with Thailand had booked a hotel a couple of streets down to conquer the city with me. Hauke and I grew up in the same small town in North Germany. We both had a thing for Hermann Hesse and hung around the school library. Mainly because we were a bit geeky but also partly because we were slightly shy kids with braces. We like the same music. We don’t hate the same music which keeps it interesting. We fuel an intense dopamine addiction and have the skill to romanticise almost anything. Good things happen when our energies collide. Hauke is a giant with a giant-sized heart. Pro: Guys will stay away from me. Con: Guys will stay away from me. Nevertheless, if there was only one thing I could take to Bangkok it would be this familiar face. It’s good to have something that feels ‘home’ amidst all the madness.
The ThongLor, Sukhumvit Neighbourhood
I would meet Hauke at ‘our spot’ in Bangkok every day for four consecutive days. Or for a whole decade of experiences. I had accidentally booked a stay in Bangkok’s hippest neighbourhood. Hauke and I made the crossing at ThongLor station - which was at almost equal distance to each of our hotels - ’our spot’. The place we’d meet in the early afternoons to start our Bangkok adventures. ThongLor was a lucky shot. I booked it because the hotel looked cool and affordable. The Volve Hotel is a cute Soho-House-Style stay with Instagrammers lined up to take a photo of their extravagant Eggs Benedict at the Hotel’s breakie hotspot Herringbone. The hotel is only 6 floors high and features a little rooftop terrace perfect for ventilating your brain with hot and sour Bangkok air. The hotel is far enough to find peace and but also close enough to just about every bar and club you want to step into.
People