BKK, How do I love thee? Let me count the ways ... - Always Pack a Runcible Spoon

December 20, 2004

BKK, How do I love thee? Let me count the ways ...

Any recounting of the whys and wherefores of my love for Bangkok could run on and on ad nauseam. For the sake of conciseness, I will restrict myself to mentioning the latest reason for my crush: namely, a group of break-dancing teenagers grooving outside the MBK Center this evening.

There are few places in this world where one can alight from a mass transit system and be greeted by the sight of a massive public stage thrown up at one of the city's busiest intersections and festooned with banners saying "Oishi Green Power!!", "Green Tea Project I!" and "Green Combat!!"

On that stage, kids dressed in silver and green superhero-style costumes are thrashing around to a hit parade of western pop music, waving large primary-coloured flags, and bopping aerobically through the condensation being belched out by smoke machines. This is all conducted with an intensity and fervour to rival anything you've ever witnessed.

Every so often, they band together and shout "OISHI!" (like it's a kind of "Shazaam!") before continuing to jump and prance like Olympic gymnasts on speed.

It was like Tae Bo meets The Incredibles meets Karaoke's Greatest Hits. So campy, so unbridled, so ineffably Bangkok.

And, if today's turn out at Chatuchak Market was anything to go by, the marketing is working - people were guzzling the stuff down like nobody's business.

I myself can particularly recommend the Honey-Lemon flavour :)

Posted by Tiffany on December 20, 2004 10:07 PM
Category: Asia is easy to love, Thailand

Comments

Tiffany, firstly your travel musings are utterly delectable, please keep it up...secondly, just for the record, as you probably know already 'oishi' is Japanese for 'delicious' and while it is quite a good word to mutter towards the end of the evening in a Japanese restaurant, why are the breakdancing Thai infants shouting it in the streets? Another imponderable Eastern mystery?

Posted by: JFK on December 22, 2004 09:38 PM

And so begins my education! No, I didn't know that 'oishi' was Japanese for 'delicious' .... And yet, while that makes it explicable that a green tea manufacturer has named its product range Oishi, I think you're dead right about imponderable (and wonderous) Eastern mystery when it comes to the question of a sound-stage filled with thrashing youngsters in lycra costumes. Or maybe I'm just betraying my naive farang status when it comes to matters Thai :)

Posted by: Tiffany on December 24, 2004 01:33 AM

You're a wonderful writer, Tiffany. Thanks for sharing both your adventures and your gift. (I'm new to Boots. Why did I open your blog on my first visit? In a word, "runcible." I may try a blog post titled "Some honey and plenty of money" and see if readers swarm...)

Lori Hein
LoriHein.com
Ribbonsof Highway.blogspot.com

Posted by: Lori Hein on December 26, 2004 03:13 PM

I'm very worried about Tiff and Andrew - the last I heard before the tsunami was that they were in Bangkok - I don't know how close they are to the beach or if the city itself was hit. Does anyone have any information?

nick

Posted by: Nick Ingoglia on December 27, 2004 12:16 PM

Hi Nick, Thanks for your message and your concern. We are both totally fine, and had moved to the north of the country the night before the tsunamis arrived. Even being in Thailand right now, the news is somewhat surreal - but devastating. We will keep you posted. Love, us.

Posted by: Tiffany on December 27, 2004 09:25 PM

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