Sleepwalking in Bangkok

Trip has been extremely hectic with constant adventures and painfully early starts at 6.30, 5.30 and 4.45! My two days in Bangkok were spend in a state of overwhelmed sleepwalking while looking, smelling, and experiencing which I somehow miraculously managed to do even tho I - at the end of the day - hadnt slept properly for about 30 hours! 

But with Bangkok being a city that truly never sleeps - you obviously just need to go with the flow and throw yourself out into the stream of people, taxis, tuktuks, and the endlessly many noises and smells. 

Every corner was wired up with thousands of black wires keeping the city going - no system whatsoever and it most of all looked like a spiderweb which hadn't been maintained. 

It's quite unbelievable how they manage to make things work everywhere as it seems to be in a state of total chaos. Even the security checks at the train stations were completely unnecessary since whenever the machine started bipping people just kept walking as if absolutely nothing had happened, while we, Europeans, in the beginning took it as seriously as had it been an airport! 

I think what surprised me the most was the transportation systems they had worked out. How do you make a city with 8,2 m people function and run at its best? Apparently the answer is inspired from various science fiction movies with 'skytrains' and highways running high above the city ground. It was so fascinating and surreal to see how the city worked on different levels; the streets of Bangkok, walking bridges, highways, and different trains driving far above the city undisturbed by the tuktuk and street salesmen. 

It's a strange thing that a city in a country where their life philosophy is based on peacefulness and balance in life; it's still so hectic and overwhelming not too mentioned incredibly crowded.

 A nice example is this tiny religion spot probably some sort of temple squeezed in between skyscrapers and highways in the middle of the buzzing city - they mix up the old traditions in this city with traces of the future really. You can't help but wonder how the train system and highways, even the countless of skyscrapers have been built when kids are walking in the streets trying to sell you stuff and the handicapped have absolutely zero chance of making it anywhere in life other than their spot on the corner waiting for charity to live on. 

Right now I'm sitting in Cambodia where we've seen a three large temples, early sunrise, a charity founded school named New Hope, and driven motocross through rice fields. We have to go for a 7 hour long bus drive right now to get to the next city - a local bus that is - so I don't have time to write more unfortunately!