On my first night in Bangkok, I was very eager to sample some authentic Thai cuisine. I walked to CentralWorld, a mall near Four Seasons Hotel and Resort Bangkok, hoping to have dinner in a Thai restaurant. Walking around the mall, I saw many Japanese, Korean, and Italian restaurants but no Thai. After an hour of searching, I gave up and headed straight to McDonald’s.

McDonald’s in Bangkok is pretty expensive. The Big Mac meal with medium fries and drink costs 147 Thai Baht, roughly in 196 in Philippine Pesos. To be fair though, their Big Mac had very juicy patties.

That same night, I parked myself in front of my laptop and started going through the pre-work for the training. Seeing that I was logged in, my mentor messaged me and asked what I was doing online on a Saturday night in Bangkok. He urged me to go out and explore the city’s night life.

After a quick refresh and change of clothes, I was ready to go. I withdrew money then went straight to the Ratchadamri BTS Skytrain station.

Without knowing where to go, the next station seemed to be the perfect choice. The train was not packed yet I chose to stand. The distance in between the two stations wasn’t that far and I arrived in Sala Daeng in less than five minutes.

Again, I had no clue where I was going. Aimless would be the perfect word to describe my path that night. The night market was interesting, with vendors selling a wide variety of products ranging from clothes to watches to toys (if you know what I mean).

Things took a weird turn when I found myself in Patpong, Bangkok’s red light district. Men were handing me laminated sheets of paper with photos of scantily clad women.

“Show, you want show? Hot ladies!“, the men said.

Scared, I rushed to the BTS station and headed back to the hotel.

That was quite an adventure, I thought. After a quick shower, I went straight to bed. I was looking forward to the day ahead where I’d explore more of the Thai capital.