I love the stories of how people meet.

I spontaneously bought return tickets to Naples once I found myself a Couchsurfing host there. Last-minute tickets are never cheap but I bought mine through a Facebook group, and the price was the same as if I were to buy them 2 months in advance.

Even better than that, I became friends with both girls who sold me their tickets. And it’s so happened that both of them love food.

How else Have I ever became friends with anyone ever?

So I woke up early in the morning, walked to the train station and joined Sara and her friends who left from Verona on the train. Two of their parents were photographers, and one of them owns a restaurant.

It was meant to be.

Anyway, we were chatting all the way to Rome, where their destination was. They taught me some Italian and how ‘cazzo’ can have so many different meanings according to the tone and situation it’s used in. They also said, what I have heard a few times already when I told people I was going to Naples, that it’s like a different world.


I continued with the regional train down to Naples by myself. Passing through green fields, buffalo farms and mountains. Until I arrived at Napoli Centrale.

This place was, in fact, a different world.

It’s messy, chaotic, loud, dirty, unorganised, and some places are dangerous and should be avoided as a traveller, or at least hide your camera and pretend you live here. It reminded me a bit of Asia. Street food (mostly deep-fried), narrow streets (that didn’t look very civilised like narrow streets in other European cities), old wooden houses, trash bins, hanging laundry, photographs of relatives who just passed away, motorbikes, motorbikes, motorbikes. Motorbikes (and its black stingy smoke) everywhere.





It was not beautiful nor romantic, but it was different with its own charm. I started to understand why foreigners like to go to Asia.

Staying here for almost 4 whole days, I didn’t even visit Pompeii, Sorrento or the Amalfi Coast. I just walked, walked, and walked around Naples, went into different shops and looked at all the things on display. Seeing children going back home after school, carrying bread from the bakery in their hands and calling their ‘nonna’, people standing on their balconies chatting away with each other.



I would not say I want to live here, definitely not. It was a bit too much for me. But I love seeing cities like this, seeing how people live. For me, it was what I came here for (despite the food, of course), not for the famous squares or well-known churches.

Naples was extreme. One of the poorest quarter (Spanish quarter) situated right next to one of the main shopping streets where you can find Disney Store, Max Mara or Zara shops.

I think we have something like this in Thailand too, I just haven’t seen it yet.

Four days in Naples changed the way I like at South East Asia. It made me want to go and explore countries in our regions as well as the other side of Thailand.