Bangkok

An inquiry about which direction to take on the Sky Train quickly proves a surprising encounter: Miriam Kuck, student of journalism and political science from Leipzig, is on her way to see Bangkok’s sights.

“I’m taking a three-week break between my final exams and beginning my thesis,” she explains. An acquaintance talked her into travelling to Southeast Asia for the first time in her life.

“I didn’t realize before how huge Bangkok is – over twelve million with the conurbation area,” says the 26-year old on looking at the panorama from Golden Mount, an impressive Buddhist temple with an outstanding view of the vibrant city. Traffic is really crazy; now she can understand what a Thai acquaintance meant who jokingly remarked that the country ought to be colonized briefly just to put it in order.

Otherwise, the holidaymaker looks forward “every day to the great food,” is astonished that the city only really starts moving in the evening and night time and that in addition to the countless skyscrapers every corner boasts a small or large temple or a shanty and at the serenity and the smiles of the Thais even in the densest crowds. A special highlight of her journey was participating in a Buddhist ceremony, during which the monks were not perturbed by the presence of a few tourists. “I also had to smile at the warning in the US travel guide, the Lonely Planet, about the strong Thai beer.”

“For us Germans it’s just normal beer,” continues Kuck, who plans to travel over the next few days to the north of Thailand, Laos and Cambodia and the huge temple complex of Angkor Wat via the Mekong River as well as the island of Ko Samet in the south of Thailand.