Without a single baht, I wandering in the Suvarnabhumi International Airport in Bangkok, On my small notebook, it wrote things I must do in the first place: to withdraw money from ATMs, to buy a local SIM card and call my parents, to get the map of Bangkok and finally to take the airport bus to the guest house. I had prepared myself to encounter travel agents who wanted to get me into an expensive taxi; yet luckily there was few. With only five passengers, the almost empty airport bus started its way into the downtown of Bangkok and my journey finally began.

      Surreal as it was, I found myself in Thailand. Having considered to travel overland from China to Laos, Cambodia and then Thailand, I gave up the plan at the last minute, convincing myself that I could hardly make it on my own. One thing I was certain was that I felt I had to travel to other places or I would regret one way or another. Thus, Thailand became my only travel destination simply because of its highly developed tourism and the welcoming attitude towards tourists.

       Uncertainly haunted my heart the moment I boarded the bus. The freezing air-condition cooled down my passion and my nuts seemed to slip away with the fading day light and the retreating scenery outside the window. The night fell and artificial lights lighted up the whole city, dust in the air covered while the active night life highlighted. Nonetheless, none of them cheered me up, since I could barely understand the Thai taxi driver’s English accent and I had no idea where I was and how much more time it should take to arrive. Navigating between noisy and busy streets, two more people got off the bus, the remaining three all backpackers. That was when talking was first heard on the bus and where I met Manan from Chicago. I was just arriving in Thailand and he was actually at the end of his five-month trip. Further, we booked the same guest house near silom Road and we ended up living in the same 8-person dorm, me the upper bunk, he the bottom one.

       All the uncertainty and fear was all shattered up in a moment. After settling down, Manan asked whether I would like to go to the Lumpini night market with him to buy gifts for his friends and I replied with a delighted yes. Thus, I ended up walking at night about five blocks to the night market with a friend I just met. We were walking through a seemingly normal busy street, when suddenly it took off its mask and revealed its true nature. Some men standing besides turned out to be pander or pimp, trying to get us into certain sex shows; others would just show up in front of you, with pictures of girls; even one Tut-Tut driver wanted to take us to watch a sex show. Night life in Bangkok was really crazy and you never know what was really going on underneath. 

 
        I don’t how many night markets I have been to, but the bargaining experience in Bangkok is among the crazies. The reason is simple: we were foreigners in Thailand, who were supposed to have much money. Due to the language problem, people in many cases bargained over calculator, one offering the original price, the other arguing back. My new friend seemed to grasp the art of bargaining and a diversity of bargaining skills: playing hard to get, pretending to be from India and skills to get away when the price seemed unsatisfactory. Fake but well-made goods were also sold openly, watches imitating the mode of Casio, Rolex or handbag resembling LV, etc. We managed to bargain over a fake “Rolex” from 4500 baht to only 1300 baht, realizing that the price was not paid for the fake brand but the delicate art immersed with the handcraft.                                                                

        Looking backwards, I found myself lucky to encounter an amazing travel partner the first night in Bangkok. We walked probably two hours in total on the night streets of Bangkok, talking and exchanging experiences. It reminded me of a film named “Before sunrise”, where two people met in the train and decided to get off together and walk for the whole night before the sunrise. 

       The beauty of traveling alone consists in the wonders you will encounter, never knowing where fate is leading you, whom you are going to meet, when you are going to depart or what is in store for you. It’s all fate and chance events.

        We departed the next morning, me visiting the Grand Palace and then leaving for Krabi, him flying home.

        It was an impressive night, indeed.