Day 3 begins of my first vacation in nearly 4 years

I have never been a guy that goes on vacation all the time especially once I moved over to South East Asia and all of my life basically became one really long vacation. Sure I had to work and make money and pay bills and all that but since I have no children and I have lived somewhere that most people would consider to be a place that they want to go on vacation I have never really felt as though a "break" was really needed. There is also the question of me not really enjoying travel because I enjoy the convenience of having all the things that I need in my day to day life all in my condo. I find it really annoying when I wake up in the middle of the night thirsty and with chapped lips only to realize that my hotel room is out of water and never did contain any lip balm.

Therefore, I can be a bit of a whiner when it comes to going on vacation and for the most part, try as I may to avoid it since one of my oldest friends is here with me, that is basically what I have been doing ever since I arrived in Bangkok.

I'm in Bangkok and this was a poor place for me to choose to start. I hate big cities, I hate noise, and I hate crowds. That being the case it is my own damn fault that I am not having a good time because Bangkok is probably one of the worst places in the world if you dislike all of those things. We were finally able to find a place that my friend knew about that is rather iconic though and although it took us absolute AGES to get there we finally arrived at Jack's Bar, which so I am told is a rather famous place right on the river here.

Looking at that entrance you might not even understand why this place is famous but according to my buddy who lives here this used to be a spot way back when that journalists would gather in Bangkok. It also became a spot for travelers in the past as well. I have no idea if that is true but there was a sign on the wall commemorating the place as being rated as one of the top bars in all of Bangkok which is quite the accomplishment when you consider that this city has 10 million or more people in it and has bars of every type that you can possibly imagine.

The interior is certainly nothing to get excited about but for me there was one thing that really stood out about the place. It was quiet and there wasn't a ton of people inside of it. This is something that I am yet to experience anywhere in this city and it was a really nice break. The prices were higher for food and drinks in here than I am accustomed to after years of living in Vietnam but that realm Vietnam kind of breaks you as far as prices are concerned. EVERYWHERE seems expensive once you have lived in Vietnam.

Looking around Jack's Bar it is difficult for me to imagine how this place remains popular because there really isn't anything to it. It's just your usual Thai lean-to establishment with plastic chairs. We had a few beers here and then wandered off to an artsy part of town that I will showcase later.

Jack's Bar was an interesting experience but I can't really recommend that anyone who finds themselves in Bangkok go out of their way just to go to this. I think the reason that it is rated as a top choice for bars is based solely on the history because while the quiet is good, it is quite far away from any train and the streets along the river are some of the older ones in Bangkok so you are basically guaranteed heavy traffic at all times of day.

So, I've been a bit of wet blanket during this trip so far because I have not been enjoying myself here. We move on to the beach area of Pattaya today, and I am going to be complaining about that as well because it is a tourist trap nightmare. None of this has been my choice so far but a day or two from now hopefully things will change as I intend to head down south to the quieter parts of this country.