Thai impressions

So your plane starts its final descent and you see all the lights at the window. This crazy network of highways going through the city looking like a big illuminated spiderweb.
You walk out of the plane knowing you are in Bangkok now and soon you will get to know on yourself. As you want to immigrate you are already flashed by the crazy big crowd of Asian people talking loudly and waiting for approval. More of them on one spot than you have ever seen before and all so hectic and discussing.
In the taxi you have to show the driver the address for a couple of minutes so he understands as he does not use any navigation system. After shouting at you that you have to pay the toll fee he then puts on some normal western music and you can sit back and relax. Slowly in a very calm mood realizing into what kind of world you just transported yourself. Everywhere are big advertisements for all kinds of enterprises next to the highway and posters saying you have to respect Buddha.
After you checked into your hostel and finally get into your room you notice an interesting scent, a bit muffy, the humid air causes this and you will smell it more often the next days.
The aircon is cold, but still better than sweating in the hot humid air which even during the night does not cool down.
The next day is your first day in Bangkok and as soon as you walk down the street for the first time you are incredibly surprised and flashed by all the new impressions. This is something you can never experience in western cultures. All the chaotic traffic where it looks like an accident will happen every second with scooters, tuk tuks and fifty year old buses, some unhygienic street food is cooked on the pathwalk, people are repairing a bicycle very improvised and others are loudly talking and everywhere is that muffy smell again together with other scents showing the unclean environment. Rubbish is obviously not sorted and sometimes even just thrown on the street. Everybody wants to sell you something and always tries to talk to you, so you chose their offer. It gets even worse the more you go into the city. Especially a suit is something everybody offers you or a ride in their tuk tuk.
Food is nice and cheap and mostly freshly made, a supermarket does not really exist apart from 7eleven. Everything you eat is either street food or in a restaurant and so very convenient that you never have to cook. You always get offered a massage which is in fact very cheap and incredibly relaxing, apart from sightseeing and shopping cheap crap another way tourists spend money in Bangkok.
The temples show how different even the religion is. Everything is decorated with lots of gold everywhere, has mostly symmetric forms and some massive tops. Throughout the country and city you find hints of Buddhism at many places.
In the south of the country, Islands like Koh Tao have again a different vibe. Still very Asian and you find that street food and scooters everywhere but life goes slower, is not hectic as in a big city and everybody enjoys their time on the beach. Obviously, people here are mostly living from the tourism which is going great on such a paradise place. As a tourist on those amazingly beautiful islands you can let loose from everything that was building up in you and go into a state of total relaxation and happiness. There are many yoga retreats where you can practice together with others and in a communual meditation find back your inner and come to a new state of mind.
The majority of the people is islamic which you can see in many women wearing headscarves and hearing the prayers of the mosque every day.
Islands like Koh Lanta have everything you can ever think of you need for a relaxed life. Beautiful sunsets every night directly on the beach with relaxed bars where you can buy a cold drink.
Crystal clear water you can enjoy for amazing snorkeling or just normal swims. Beautiful jungle and rainforest areas where it is very tropically humid but yet so wonderful nature everywhere.
This beautiful place attracts beautiful people, and so after you spend a few days with a couple of strangers you met very recently, you all become like a big family, sharing so much love. Having the same feelings, enjoying your time all together in this paradise making it feel so perfect that it seems this is how it has been since ever. Everybody is their own individual with unique characteristics, still all connected through the life joy they feel, making each others time nothing but amazing.
All good things come to an end and so even for the perfect time there is a day when the travel plans do not match anymore and you say goodbye. You say goodbye to this incredible time but with the best memories of the best moments, captured on pictures and in your heads forever.
In total it appears as Thailand is so focused on tourism that there is not much left to experience the real culture, at least not at the touristic tourist places on the southern islands.