The Bangkok diaries: A birthday and a funeral

It’s a rainy day in Bangkok. I’m just laying in my bed, the window open, listening how the raindrops touching down the ground… it’s nothing but beautiful. Crazy how much one is happy about a rainy day, when there is always only sun (…and how it is the other way around back in Germany). I think rainy season is coming soon and it makes me aware of the fact how long i have already been in the city. 39 days, to be exact.

I wonder what i have done in all those days, but as i said in an earlier post, i don’t feel like really bored. I mean, of course, the days are similar and nothing really spectacular is happening, but somehow i always find something to deal with. And if it is just a visit to the German Embassy to have me issued a certificate for a visa extension (…just to find out at the Thai Immigration that this is not necessary as all visas are currently being automatically renewed, LOL).

Its funny, i always imagined myself to life in a real metropolis for a certain time and now this wish is coming true somehow. In other circumstances, of course. But still.

I also do have some mates and friends here, who invite me over to their places from time to time, so i don’t get lonely at all. And so much for social distancing… sigh! I even was invited to a birthday party of a friend, which i was very happy about. Visiting and meeting people of my age (well, or lets say similar age, lol) and of similar living conditions are an opportunity for me to get an insight in their private lifes, far beyond the tourist’s perspective.

And what i notice and see again and again: we all are not as different as we might think sometimes. We often have the same hopes and fears, problems and desires. I mean, i see so much of my life in theirs.

I’m not a foodie for sure, but i definitely ate the best homemade thai food at my friends place. And the birthday cake wasn’t bad either 🙂

Anyway, I really dont take these possibilities for granted and it always shows me how priviliged i am to experience this kind of things. And how privileged my generation (and all the following) is, to do such kind of travels in general. The generation of our parents and grandparents would probably never have dreamed of something like that. Or maybe it was just not important for them, because they had other problems to deal with…

That brings me to the second part of the headline.

My grandma passed away last week. Somehow i was aware that this could happen during my trip, because she was old and weak and her mind was further away than i could ever be. And still it feels weird now to be so far away. She would have turned 100 years old next month. And many of that years must have been hard and full of deprivation, i can just imagine. War, banishment and an early widowhood are just a few things she had be going through. I think that generation never imagined or dreamed about a life that my generation is able to live nowadays.

The day of my grandma’s funeral i went to a calm and peaceful place near Wat Arun at the Chao Phraya river and i light a candle for her.

Ignite a light for others whenever you can, because it will also light your way and nobody can find you in the dark.

Mary Anne Radmacher (analogous)

I don’t know, but i feel a bit melancholic these days, as i have the feeling that this trip is coming to an end somehow. I mean, do i have a choice? LOL With this worldwide lockdown there is basically no place to go, except home. But somehow i also still refuse to accept this situation. I don’t want to get on a plane and let everything end up so abruptly. I want to go to the sea again, breath in the salty air and listen to the waves, experience one last adventure on this trip… But each day this lockdown goes on, my hope fade away a bit.

But hope also dies last.