So, I’ve made it to Bangkok.
After a 2 week trip through Laos, Cambodia and a 3-day Affiliate Marketing conference, I finally have a bit of downtime to write about my experiences and share some cool pictures and videos with you…
But first:
Nope, I did not have a freak accident, or danced myself into the hospital again…
I had a LASIK operation (eye laser surgery) to correct my Myopia. For as long as I can remember I’ve had to wear glasses and then contacts. It was a pain in the ass.
Not so bad when you’re living in one place, always going through the same routine every night and every morning. But, when travelling and not always knowing exactly when and where you’re going to sleep, contact lens management is horrible.
Imagine a sleeping bus, sharing a 2-person bed with a random Laotian stranger. The bed is tiny and way too short for me (I’m only 1.79cm / 5’11”, but Asians are small). And then, I have to take out, clean and safely store my contacts for the night…
Yeah, not fun.
But this morning, I opened my eyes and… SAW.
No reaching for my glasses, no having to put in contacts! It’s amazing.
So what’s the surgery like? Scary as hell, I have to be honest. Your eyes are cut open and a laser beam is shooting inside.
Yes, you can see it happening. No, you don’t feel that much, you get anesthetic eye drops beforehand.
But it’s really short, less than 30 minutes and you’re out of there, ready to walk around like a zombie with those eye caps on.
Mere hours later though, while listening to a few podcasts (what do blind people do really? I was bored out of my mind…), my eyesight was already getting way better. So the recovery for me has been really fast, painless and without any real discomfort. I’ve heard other stories though so I guess I’m lucky.
Now I’m going to be walking around with sunglasses for a few days. Nothing new there, I did that anyway, my eyes got really dry with contacts too in this tropical climate.
But I’ve had some downtime here in Bangkok, so plenty of time to think. Wearing crappy old glasses (I had to take my contacts out for a week to prepare) I could barely see anything or do much.
Not that I feel like I’ve missed out on much though, Bangkok really isn’t that great. I may be stepping on some toes here and probably missed out on the one thing everyone loves the most: the nightlife. But really: Bangkok is a smelly, busy and chaotic place. The tourist attractions are quite boring, the shopping malls are the same as anywhere else (and I hate shopping anyway) and it’s really hard to find anything due to the sheer size. Oh and there’s no nature here! Seriously, even trees are sparse, there’s some tiny parks and to get out into real nature you’ll have to travel for hours.
The Grand Palace: me and 10 million Chinese tourists (ugh…)
A few upsides though: nice view while having dinner riverside & riding a bicycle through the more “off the beaten path” parts of the city!
Everything I can think of is just better in Chiang Mai: the food, the people, the size of the city, the access to nature, transportation.
Yes, I guess the nightlife in Bangkok is better, as Chiang Mai’s is really limited and everything closes early. Not really an issue for me though, I like it that way, gives me more time in the morning to be productive and energetic.
On the other hand, there’s Laos & Cambodia, so completely different that I feel like they need their own blog post:
Laos & Cambodia, Two Weeks Was Too Short…
