Bangkok, the great city of the Far East impressed me.

Bustling Bangkok

Bangkok was a feast ! We were booked into a very central hotel on the 27th floor. What a view, in all directions one could see the sprawl of the city, with high rise buildings standing in groups amongst miles and miles of older and smaller buildings. To say that Bangkok is a complex city is an understatement, not only is it large, but very populated. Streets are crowded with stalls selling clothing, curios, watches, flowers, much more and a large variety of food stalls.

The many shopping malls are popular with tourists and middle-class locals, as they are air-conditioned. We visited the world trade centre, a maze of malls all in one with a very much western style. Our visit to Panthip Plaza, a six floor computer shopping mall, left us feeling exasperated with the variety and choice of so much software and pc-stuff, in the end we didn't buy a thing !

The real fun is on the streets away from the cool interior of the malls and glitz.

Bangkok is hot, however we were there during a cool spell with temperatures of 30/31 degrees celsius and humidity about 80%. Walking along the streets and alleys with rivers of sweat pouring down your back is the norm, the dust and general pollution added to this, gives one a tacky skin coating within an hour or two.

Shophouses line the streets, with families living as well as working from the same place. People of all ages are seen on the streets, from the very elderly sitting patiently frying delicious pastries to the young looking for bargains in the latest asian and western fashions.

The soi's off the main streets are full of surprises, we ventured into one such alley of markets, with stalls lining both sides of the alley, the alley twisting and turning into a multitude of other alleys, not the kind of place one can rush through. (which we were trying to do). People with trollies of clothing, foodstalls on wheels, elderly ladies walking with bamboo sticks across their shoulders, balancing woven bowels of spices, herbs, tiny bird eggs, bales of silk and packets of goods exchanging hands, people laughing, bargaining, eating, taking short-cuts on office errands,.... and even though the heat/humidity gets to one, the positive attitude and beautiful smile of the Thai people, somehow gives one an energy and feeling of excitement and elation, I have only experienced in vibrant Bangkok.

Bangkok is a traffic jam ! With highways curling away into many directions, one-way streets, roads that are reversed at set times of the day, special buslanes, hundreds of busses, metered taxis, tuck-tucks, motorbikes, trucks. Whilst crawling around in our air-conditioned car around Bangkok, we could see the years and years of grime and dust that collect on building walls, the poor state of sanitary and drainage systems, the dusty faded neglected look of the apartments the locals live in with laundry hanging out of hundreds of windows. One can see that there is poverty, though it is so intermingled with everyday Bangkok life, not like other cities, where poverty is hidden or out of the way.

The incredible new highway and express rail being built, cuts through Bangkok with all the complexity and hubbub of large construction, and even though this new road and rail will give Bangkok greater movement of traffic in the future, it currently confuses and increases trafficjams to unbelievable proportion.

There are new areas and old areas and all mixed together, but things in Bangkok do not retain a look of newness for long, algae abounds on roofs and walls, pools of water stagnate in corners, the canals are muddygreen and littered.

We walked from our hotel at night to go eat, there had been a thunderstorm earlier and the roads were wet and at times we had to cross muddy pools and small rivers. We enjoyed the walk past numerous shophouse style eating places, enjoying the sounds of people laughing and eating together. The people at the thai restaurant were a cosmopoliton bunch and we had great fun watching the katoy's parading up and down the stairs. (katoy's are men in drag, and many of them have have silicon breast implants, they have long hair and wear elegant evening clothes, only when they speak or if you look closely at their arms or way of walking would you know they are katoy's) The fajitas were delicious and so was the cabarnet sauvignon from California.

Bangkok's great market, Chatuchak market, is one of the best markets I have ever been to. We found parking next to the Chatuchak park, a lovely clean park with a no littering and no smoking rule. The sheer variety of stalls and goods amazed me, alleys and alleys of stalls, a maze of a market selling everything you can imagine including clothing, cloth, crockery, glass, spices, herbs, wood, stones, animals, plants, art, pottery, jewellary, books and other objects.

I was impressed with the variety of gardening stones and esoteric shaped woods. The fighting cocks are well looked after by their proud owners, but I didn't enjoy watching the cocks peck each other. There was quite a selection of tropical fish and aquaria produts. I found some beautiful glassware and porcelain, browsed a large bookstall, looked at beautiful furniture including arty cd racks, shelves and stools. Chatuchak is a market too large to describe and should be visited by everyone who visits Bangkok.

Chinatown is in the old Bangkok area, we walked around in alleys very much like those shown in the movie Blade Runner, exotic and eastern in every way, with all manner of fish neatly displayed on trays of ice, goldshops, herbs/spices, people eating,selling,cooking,talking. We entered several chinese shops selling goodluck charms, candles, incense, lanterns, dragon costumes, bells and other chinese cultural goodies. (the incense and candles come in a great variety and size) We were lost in Chinatown for about an hour, and had to backtrack out of narrow roads leading to squalid living quarters at times, the place is big and confusing with many little sideroads. I enjoyed Bangkok very much and we left the city to return home to Ban Chang near Pattaya on Sunday afternoon. I hope to visit Bangkok again and again, and maybe one day use the large express rail currently under construction.

Good luck to the beautiful people of Thailand !

article by Vyg Fynbos 1997