Freshman Year of College: Bangkok Edition 2 - Making the Biggest Mistake of My Life

Writing about half of my life

I flew off to Bangkok, Thailand, inspired by Kotaro Sawaki.

I was immediately swindled out of 10,000 yen on the first day, and for the next few days, I developed a mild case of distrust toward people, or rather,

distrust toward Bangkok (lol).

Ever since then, I basically traveled everywhere on foot.

Tuk-tuks were a last resort.
Moreover, every time I rode one, I had to start by negotiating the price. I was so desperate not to be cheated again that I would pinch pennies over 50 yen.

I would walk to tourist spots,
looking at Buddha statues and temples,

That was my daily routine, relaxing with a strangely cold expression on my face.

Budget travel involves a lot of time like this.

I basically ate at market stalls.

The now-popular Malatang style is standard in Thailand,

Choose your noodles,
choose your soup,
choose your toppings.

In that way, I would create my own unique bowl.

Cheap. Delicious. Fast.

...However.

On this trip,
I overcame something in the opposite direction that I wouldn't be able to overcome for over 20 years after that in my life.
Yes.

Yes.

I came to hate cilantro.

Its presence was mixed into every dish as if it were natural.

I was fine with it at first, but after eating it every day, the sense of discomfort gradually grew,

In the end,

It reached that level.
Now, I can eat it again without any discomfort, but
back then, if even a little bit was in it, I couldn't eat it at all...
That’s how much I came to hate it.

As for life in Bangkok,

I ate meals at street stalls for about 200 to 300 yen, both day and night.
Even when I had a slightly luxurious meal with drinks, it was only about 1,500 yen.
Lodging was under 500 yen a night.
Even so, when I got a little hungry, I would eat fruit bought at the market.

That kind of life.

And then, the incident happened on the third day.

I was walking that day, too.

Thinking I might go see the giant reclining Buddha,
I looked at the map and saw the destination was 12 kilometers away.

Well, it’s not impossible to walk.

I figured I could just find a cheap place to stay near there.

Thinking that, as I was walking along as usual,

Bangkok at the time had dirty air.
Back then, it was such a dirty city that if you walked around all day and wiped your face with a towel, the towel would turn pitch black.

So, it wasn't really anything to worry about.

I just let out a light fart.

The moment I thought that...

...Huh?

Eh?

Eh???

No.

This.

Something is coming out...

No, it's definitely coming out.

At 18 years old,
for the first time in my life,

I had a major accident while walking.

It won't stop.

Regardless of my own will,
it won't stop, like a broken water pipe.

Soaking wet jeans.
My feet are getting dirtier and dirtier through my sandals...

It's embarrassing.
But it won't stop.

It's too messy to even go into a convenience store.

The loneliest walk of my life... no, race-walk.

While speed-walking, I picked up a plastic bag discarded by a tourist,
and decided to change everything from the bottom up in the shadow of a building.

This is nothing like Kotaro Sawaki's travels.

It's not the Midnight Express,
it's the Bed-wetting Express.

And this battle,
believe it or not, lasted from the third day to the seventh day of the trip.

The cause is obvious.

The local street food I ate without a care.

For my already loose stomach,
Thai food was too strong. No... the market food was impossible...

They say travel makes you grow,
but at this time, I first

My intestines collapsed.

Traveling abroad is unforgettable
because of these kinds of initiations.

It's not just about the cool stories,
but also including these pathetic ones,
that I think makes it a journey (lol).

To be continued.

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