I went to Thailand for my cousin’s wedding. 40 bleary hours on three flights — Chicago to Doha, Doha to Bangkok, Bangkok to Phuket — and after a taxi ride and a ferry, it was lunchtime on Koh Yao Yai, and my body couldn’t have told you what month it was.
After a few days with my family (and a really nice wedding, congrats Mark and Mariesa!), I veered off to visit Phuket and Bangkok. In mid-June, with heat that sizzled off the asphalt, I did most of my exploring at night. And Bangkok is a hell of a place to explore at night: I went to a different market each evening, eating everything and buying anything that I could stuff into my one carry-on bag.
During the day I visited temples and floated in the rooftop pool at my business hotel, always the only one there. I didn’t know anyone in the city, though Americans are loud and tend to find each other, so I made a handful of five-minute friends. Bangkok was a good place to be alone, to weave through crowds, to walk home through a city park late at night, listening to conversations you don’t understand.