The 22,000km Trip (6) Bangkok: The City at Night

When people think of Bangkok at night, I'm sure people think of wild crazy nights most likely influenced by movies and popular culture. Of course there's fancy nightclubs, raunchy bars, transgender beauty shows, and all the other exotic things you can think of. But Bangkok at night for local people is a little bit different. It's full of people enjoying a beer or shopping through markets for a friend's birthday or simply grabbing dinner with the family. That's the real "exotic" way to enjoy a night in Bangkok!

SF: Land's End

The one great thing about spending extended time at home is that you're able to really do things that you can't even do when you're living here, such as taking hikes around the city. When you live in San Francisco, you don't really do local trail walks unless you live in that neighborhood and/or have a dog and heck you don't usually even know some trails exist! In the past few weeks I've on a few and they've been such an eye-opener on seeing the different views of my beautiful city and being able to do some moderate physical activity while recovering.

Land's End is a Golden Gate National Recreation Area that's popular among locals and tourists. On this particular day that I went, the weather was just gorgeous; you're just sucked into the view of the ocean and the Golden Gate Bridge. The trail itself is about 3-5 miles and it's not too strenuous; I saw a lot of local walk around with their dogs or just chatting up with old friends as they enjoyed the magnificent views. Then head down to take a look at the Sutro Baths, enjoy coffee at the diner place on Cliff House to recover from the walk, and then head down into Ocean Beach to soak up the rest of the sun before the sun sets! 

Extra tip: there's a Safeway on Playa St so be sure to stock up on water and some snacks before you embark on the trail.

The 22,000km Trip (5) Bangkok: 3.11

Every year since 2011, I tried to do something special to commemorate my family and friends that I've lost in the tsunami. Every year has been a struggle to reset my feelings and emotions that arise. This year marks the 5th year and I've been feeling anxious for the past month or so. A lot has happened in these 5 years and I was getting emotional, distressed, mercurial, all at once. So this year, I wanted to take things easy and calm myself down. What a better place than to take a stroll around Lumpini park. There's so much life and energy in the park that I felt instantly relieved. You see joggers making their rounds, old grandpas discussing about life, ducks swimming around in the lake, stray cats following you around, and serious workouts in an outdoors aerobics class! It was the perfect way to calm me down and be at peace for what had happened and to move on reset for another year to come and pass.

Running seems to be becoming much more popular than a few year ago I was here

Seemed like coworkers running after work

Make shift gym

Interesting workout equipment. Not sure if this is very effective..?

Special thanks to R who spent the afternoon with me

Free outdoor aerobics class, everyone is welcome to join. Everyone seemed to be having a blast

The 22,000km Trip (4) Bangkok: Serenity at Wat Pho

Wat Pho is most best known in guide books as the temple which has the reclining Buddha. While it's a very famous sight, most people get taken aback by the enormous Buddha, take pictures, and then move on to the bars on Kao San Road. What not many people know is that there's a really beautiful garden within the temple grounds. Since R and I arrived there late in the afternoon, we were lucky that not many people were there so we enjoyed the serene scene with the sunset in the background. If you're lucky enough, you may be able to catch the chanting of monks at dusk!

 But as I always tell people that visit that region, don't forget to dress modestly. I know it's hot but it's incredibly disrespectful to show excessive skin at temple grounds. Also don't follow around monks or go up to them wanting to take pictures, and don't certainly tap them on the shoulder or grab them! They aren't really supposed to be touched, and forbidden to be touched by women.

Strolling Around

San Francisco has perfect autumn weather all year round which I really love about it. You can look stylish in your nice coat and boots as well as really appreciate that hot latte. Yet at the same I do miss the sunshine, especially since my Cambodia days. Luckily the  past few days have been fairly warm and so I've been out taking some strolls around San Francisco. It never fails to amaze me how beautiful this city is!

Food truck territory in SoMa!

Beautiful view from the hills in my neighborhood

トラックラーメンって。。。　笑

 

City Hall

Catch up

It seems like I have a pattern of updating for a few days and disappearing for a few weeks. Not to make any excuses but I've been a bit overwhelmed with a few job applications and gathering my thoughts for my thesis. I obviously don't want my blog to sound stressful and full of complaints!

It's been about 6 weeks since I came back home and, well it's great. You can really complain about California, let alone San Francisco except for maybe sky high rent prices but I'm not settling here any time soon so I'm off the hook (hank goodness my parents have a house here).

A lot of people have been asking what I've been up to at home. The short answer is well, nothing much. I've finally recovered from my sickness but I'm just making sure that I'm 100% and fully recharged before I make my way back to Switzerland. And for your info, yes I'm still intending to go back to Geneva as I still have to write my thesis! I will make another post of what exactly I've been up to but basically taking lots of strolls, drinking coffee, spending time with my parents, playing with my cat, reading, and cleaning out my room. Sounds a bit boring, even lazy but it's exactly what I needed. I haven't had a work/school break in over a year and when you're talking about a break in life, it's been about 10 years! I've been constantly on the run, traveling, working, studying etc so it's just been nice to not worry about anything and delve myself into doing crafts or reading. But yes, I do admit sound a bit "grandmother-y"; but I'm loving it!

I'm still editing my picks from my Asia trip so over the next few days and weeks I'm going to simultaneously switch my posts back forth between sharing what I've been up to in the US and my escapades in Bangkok, Hong Kong, and Tokyo from March.  

Who can hate this view? Ah, yes this is home