As soon as the word Bangkok, Thailand is said in India (I’m sure rest of the world too), giggles happen, frowns go up, long Ummm with wink happens and what not. Even my mom who cannot pronounce Bangkok will always look at me and say `Mein Tenu Phejde ah HONK KONG’, (I’ll send you to Hong Kong for sure, everything in the Asian region for her is HONG KONG). This goes for all the wives and girlfriends, who haven’t gone to Bangkok, to all the colleagues to all the barbers to tea vendors on the street. This also goes to all the B & C cities that really haven’t heard about Bangkok, but somehow `know it’.
All the Travelers from Indian region knows about Walking Street, Soi Cowboy, Nana Plaza, The Reclining Buddha, the cheap malls, the massage and the best street food in Bangkok, which is available only in `China Town’. They have gone multiple times with add-on of Phuket and seeing Bangla road and so on. The trip to Bangkok is well that’s that and that’s to it.
I was looking for tour packages for Beer Bar hoping, Nightclub hoping, Roof Top Bars etc. Not even a single website is offering this…why? They have their own way of judging Bangkok. All the big shots in travel industry/portals provide `Heritage Tours Only’. Pattaya and Bangkok have more than 6000 beer bars; they have world class clubs/discos and the world class roof top bars. Nightlife is an integral part of Bangkok so why close your eyes on one thing and show the other.
I pitched the idea of my website to some investors. I told them the name of the website, MAST YATRI – A Single Traveler. This website is focused on people who want to travel alone. But as soon as the word `single traveler’ and `Bangkok’ is heard all the above reactions happen. Even the most educated will start judging Bangkok and with it the website in question. My website focuses on Single Travelers. A single traveler to travel alone needs a lot of information before he can make that trip with the least no. of screw ups. This website provides free information to `Single Traveler’ so that they can become `Informed Travelers’…but this information was lost.
There are 40,717 temples (WAT as they are called in Thai) and there are around 05 (16 to be recognized) world heritage sites recognized by UNESCO. Thailand has 3,219 kilometers coastline, so lots of beaches to go. 1500 islands to explore and these islands are mainly in Phuket and Krabi. Thailand has 2,130 square kilometers of coral reefs. It’s a paradise for the divers. Bangkok has world class malls (and not just MBK), Just check EmQuartier for a change. Get up in the morning and check the Floating Markets. Also, check the street food markets, there are more than one and not to forget the world best nightlife scene which goes 5:00 AM in the morning.
According to Global Destination Cities Index Bangkok, Thailand is the most visited city with 21.47 million international visitors, beating London and Paris.
The choice of seeing is yours choose to see good and good will come to you…stop judging.
PS: I’m not trying to promote my website…giggle giggle, wink wink!!!
Eccentric Blogger, Traveler and Consultant.
