I left Bangkok for the last time on 2 June. I've been through this bustling metropolis on four separate occasions since I arrived in SE Asia in late March for a grand total of about two weeks. I heard all the usual disclaimers about the place-- it's just another city, the traffic is horrendous, it's too hot, it's too polluted, it's too big. It's all essentially true, but I still love the BKK and it's my favorite of the cities I've visited on this trip. It's a regional hub and as a result you can find basically anything there, from amazing Thai boxing to great bookstores and movie theaters and incredible food and Ashtanga yoga and of course a buzzing nightlife. I made many single serving friends there, especially at Thai boxing matches, and shared many a beer with my fellow expats. I also did a lot of solo roaming in sweltering heat and took morning mysore classes that were so hot that my glasses would still be fogging up a block away from the studio. I spent my last four days there squeezing in a final Thai boxing match at Lumphini stadium-- fucking amazing! two knockouts-- catching up on stupid Hollywood movies and drinking a few beers at night. It was sublime. My affection for the BKK sums up the paradoxical nature of my travels in many ways and why a lot of folks find my tastes a bit unpredictable, strange, counterintuitive, whatever. What it comes down to is that I love concrete jungles the most and I can only take remote areas for so long before I feel a creeping anxiety rolling up my spine, like first rising vibes of an acid frenzy. It also meant that I had to dodge a lot of travel advice because the prevailing wisdom is to escape the frenzied cities as quickly as possible and make way quiet pictueresque rural areas. Never got off the boat, I say. Absolutely goddamn right.
Next on the menu after I leave Bali is 5 days in Jakarta. All the same warnings I heard about the BKK apply triple strength to Jakarta, and in fact my initial impressions when I spent a few days there in May and June were quite negative. Then I started to read up on the nightlife there and found out it's absolutely world class and it is in fact the clubbing capital of SE Asia, hundreds of clubs and venues and bars spread out over an immense urban sprawl. There's this massive club called Stadium which consists of four separate levels with a gigantic dancefloor nestled at the top that supposedly fits up to 2000 people at a time and is open from Friday night clear through Monday morning at 4 a.m. I can only imagine what goes on in a place like this but it sounds like a can't miss. The music sounds amazing and the idea of happening electronic dance clubs reminds me of that brief period in the mid-90s when it looked like electronic music was actually going to take off in the States, but then it fizzled out and died and it's been ages since I've been to a club with really good dance music. I miss it. Maybe the scene migrated to SE Asia? I'll know in a few days.
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