Hanoi to Bangkok

An ash smog clung to the air and shrouded the city as our taxi drove away from the tightly packed buildings through the crawling early morning traffic. Only once cruising over a motorway bridge to the airport did the sky open up as if exhaling a long-held breath.

The radiant walls and feathery atmosphere of the departure hall felt foreign as we breezed through. Nevertheless as our footfalls echoed off the ebony floor we were buoyant to be on the move again. Caught by the tourist board with no reasonable excuses, we obliged in completing questionnaires on our stay and ordered a lunch to go, containing neither rice or noodles.

After months of travelling overland we returned to our starting point of Bangkok on a flight that took less than 2 hours. That said the entire journey still took the majority of the day due to all the additional travel, waiting and form filling required. At Bangkok airport we were greeted with a long-snaking heart-sinking queue through immigration. Tired and bored looks were abound as small children played between the legs of patient faced parents. Time ticked backwards as questions about onward travel and the hammer of rubber stamps reverberated down the line. At least we weren't the man who nearly made it all the way to the front, only to return to the back upon realising he hadn't completed an immigration arrival card...

We avoided Bangkok's chaotic traffic and took the train into the city centre. Where previously we had stayed in an older part of the city, frequented by backpackers and close to the Stray office, now we stayed in the more modern but equally popular shopping district. A concrete mesh of train platforms and pedestrian walkways stretched above the streets, filled with the colours of moving people and flashing advertisements. Rising up from street level and past our eye line were huge multi-story shopping malls, complete with bowling alleys, ice rinks and cinemas, vying for shoppers' attention.

This was to be our decompression chamber back to modernity from the fringes of backpacking life but honestly it had the appearance of Bluewater on acid.Read more