Chai's Guesthouse...My humble abode for the two weeks I spent sweltering in Bangkok. What an unexpectedly great time. First, Chai's is nestled in a quiet little corner of BKK, close to Thammasat University, canal boats, and everything you'd actually want to do in BKK without being exposed to the big, grimy, impersonal side of the city.
Second, Chai's is full of awesome people! Most of the time when I enter a big city, I don't really expect to fall into a close-knit community such as what exists at Chai's. Also, Koreans tend to travel in packs, that is pack(aged) tours, with their curly haired moms, only eat Korean food, and basically embody wholeheartedly just about every negative stereotype associated with tourists.
Not so at Chai's, this hidden enclave of K-boheme. I fell in with 40 year-old tattooed musicians, office workers who'd quit their jobs and sold everything, people who repeatedly worked low-wage jobs in Korea just long enough to save enough money to travel for a few months, spend all their money, and go back and do it all again, middle-aged men taking time off from their families, several other cycle tourists, single female travelers, and just about every other atypical traveling type you can imagine. Doubly interesting because they all came from Korea, where people tend to be much more reluctant to deviate from society's preferred course than in most western countries.
What I didn't find were too many young kids, either on gap year or just out of college, traveling on their parents' dime, which is the typical western traveler, and an obnoxious reality at that.
At any rate, a great time was had at Chai's meeting some really interesting people, and here are some portraits of them.
Hyun-seung hyungnim.
Ji-hye, who's traveling in India now, doing meditation courses.
OK noona, one of those who works just long enough to save up enough money to go traveling again.
Our esteemed guesthouse owner, eponymously named, cuts lightning bolts into a patron's hair, for fun, on the street outside the guesthouse.
All the cycle tourists staying at Chai's (+1 non-cyclist).
Mingyu the shaky.
Frisbee is still kind of a new thing for most K-ppl.
Jinhi just before she takes off to scuba-dive in Egypt, all by herself. Way to go!
Second, Chai's is full of awesome people! Most of the time when I enter a big city, I don't really expect to fall into a close-knit community such as what exists at Chai's. Also, Koreans tend to travel in packs, that is pack(aged) tours, with their curly haired moms, only eat Korean food, and basically embody wholeheartedly just about every negative stereotype associated with tourists.
Not so at Chai's, this hidden enclave of K-boheme. I fell in with 40 year-old tattooed musicians, office workers who'd quit their jobs and sold everything, people who repeatedly worked low-wage jobs in Korea just long enough to save enough money to travel for a few months, spend all their money, and go back and do it all again, middle-aged men taking time off from their families, several other cycle tourists, single female travelers, and just about every other atypical traveling type you can imagine. Doubly interesting because they all came from Korea, where people tend to be much more reluctant to deviate from society's preferred course than in most western countries.
What I didn't find were too many young kids, either on gap year or just out of college, traveling on their parents' dime, which is the typical western traveler, and an obnoxious reality at that.
At any rate, a great time was had at Chai's meeting some really interesting people, and here are some portraits of them.
Hyun-seung hyungnim.
Ji-hye, who's traveling in India now, doing meditation courses.
OK noona, one of those who works just long enough to save up enough money to go traveling again.
Our esteemed guesthouse owner, eponymously named, cuts lightning bolts into a patron's hair, for fun, on the street outside the guesthouse.
All the cycle tourists staying at Chai's (+1 non-cyclist).
Mingyu the shaky.
Frisbee is still kind of a new thing for most K-ppl.
Jinhi just before she takes off to scuba-dive in Egypt, all by herself. Way to go!
