Motorbike Sir?

Well I am back in Bangkok. When I left this town a good 3 months ago, this was the last place I thought I would come back to. But now that I have been here a week, I am glad that I did.

My first impressions of Bangkok back in July were a bit mixed. I loved the food, the people, and the energy of the place but I agreed to a certain extent with some of the common complaints noted by most travelers – the noise, pollution, traffic, and urban sprawl were a bit out of control. When I look upon the city now, with eyes that have seen a fair bit of SE Asia, I find the city amazing. I think that when many travelers first get to Bangkok, it is not what they came to this part of the world to find. I think they come here to see a non-western lifestyle coupled with amazing scenery, whether that be a small hill-tribe village or a pristine, white-sand beach. Without taking time to thoroughly explore the city (as probably most travelers don’t, choosing instead to limit themselves to the backpacker zone of Kao Sahn Road), they miss out on some interesting stuff. I am not trying to be condescending of other travel styles or itineraries (with a time limit I would probably roll out of town as soon as my plane landed), I just wish more people would give Bangkok a chance.

The real attractions here in Bangkok, I find, are the locals. Most people seem pretty well off, happy, and always doing something. It is great surprising Thais with my limited vocabulary, and I find it great when you visit the same people every day. For instance, I always eat breakfast from this lady across the street from the guesthouse who makes a great pork noodle soup. I don’t even have to ask her for it, I just sit down and she knows what I want. For dinner, I eat at the stall next to the breakfast lady. Each night I ask her to surprise me with a new dish; her chicken curry last night was amazing.

Bangkok is a sort of melting pot for Backpackers in SE Asia, and the eye of the storm is Kao Sahn. It is also great heading down to Kao Sahn and checking out action, as there is always a party on hand. For evening entertainment I usually just stroll up and down the street, beer in hand, to observe the interesting mix of travelers, weirdos, trendy Thais, and Tuk Tuk drivers trying to take you to the red light district.

Bangkok does have a strong western influence, particularly in the commercial and shopping districts of Siam Square. Today I stopped by this area on my way back from the US embassy (I needed to vote and get some more pages added to my passport) to indulge in some western pleasures. My first stop was Dunkin Donuts, where I enjoyed a custard filled Bismarck and a ham and cheese croissant. Unfortunately they didn’t have my usual item on the menu – a sausage, egg, and cheese sandwich on an everything bagel – but it was close enough.

Feeling very satisfied I wandered into a huge shopping mall to check out a movie. The last film I saw in a theater was The Terminal with Tom Hanks back in Minnesota. I was hoping to see something worthwhile, but my three choices were Garfield, A Shark Tale, and Resident Evil 2. I opted for the Hollywood action flick (RE 2)a, as the theater was sure to have a pretty nice sound system (I used to install custom home theater systems back home and am a bit of an audiophile), and the movie promised to at least be entertaining. With a bag of popcorn in hand, I headed into the theater and watched some great advertisements for various products ranging from green tea to skin cream. After the previews and before the feature started there was a short film clip played where the audience was asked to stand and honor the king as pictures from his benevolent reign were displayed. As for the film – I wouldn’t say it was good, but if you enjoy a pure action flick with some hot chicks running around shooting zombies in the head, you would probably enjoy it. The audience was made up of mostly young Thai couples heading out for an afternoon date. They were all dressed in their school uniforms, so I guessed they got out of school early on Friday (as it was a 1:30 pm showing). The malls combined with the movie made me forget for a good 4 hours that I was in Thailand.

I am staying back at the Shanti Lodge, where I spend the majority of the day chilling out with the staff members and other travelers. 3 months ago I was a bright-eyed rookie backpacker waiting to start my adventure, picking the brains of those who had been on the road for a while. My role is now reversed; I am now a respected authority on the various places I have been here in Asia.

I plan on enjoying Bangkok for a few more days, taking a day trip to the ancient capital of Siam at Ayuttaya, and possibly heading with the staff at Shanti on a trip to this beautiful lake (I forget the name).

If anyone is in town here, drop me a line.

Neil

Tags: Thailand

This entry was posted on Friday, October 15th, 2004 at 8:24 am and is filed under Thailand. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.