Bangkok
I thought I might say something about Bangkok.
I flew to Bangkok from Istanbul. I then went up Chang Mai and Pai for a few days. I flew back to Bangkok and then onto Phnom Penh before returning via Siem Reap. I left the city by train to Chumphon on my way to Koh Tao
First Trip
My first trip to Bangkok was in 1985, when I was working for the Department of Foreign Affairs. I travelled to the city en-route to Dhaka in Bangladesh. My travelling companion on that trip is currently in the last month of a posting to the High Commission in London. It is amazing how quick the nearly 30 years have passed since that trip.
I recall that we stayed in the Dusit Thani Hotel not far from Patpong Road. At the time it was the premier hotel in the city.
We had one day in Bangkok and went on quick city tour, that took in the Grand Palace and floating markets. I recall that there were a lot of klongs (canals). These were crowded with boats and there were house built along both side of the water.
Other Trips
Over the years, I have made other trips to the city. These included playing in the Bangkok Sixes cricket tournament in 1987, and stopovers when I was travelling while working with Caltex.
On one of these trips in 1991, I met up with my parents who were on their way to England. On that occasion, we hired a car and drove to Kanchanaburi to visit the Bridge on the River Kwai. As I have previously posted, my father was a POW on the infamous Thai – Burma Railway in WW II.
I also returned to both, Bangkok and Kanchanaburi with my daughter and then wife, in 2009. Those trips ultimately led to our divorce.
Changes
There have been a great many changes in Bangkok over the nearly 30 years since my first visit. Like other successful SE Asian countries, Thailand has experienced significant economic growth in that period. With the exception of the financial crises in the late 1990’s and 2008, this growth has been fairly constant.
Infrastructure
The physical manifestation of the increased wealth of the country and the city can be seen in the buildings and other infrastructure. The most notable of these are the new airport, the trains (Skytrain and underground) and the shopping malls. Some of the shopping malls are amazing, in terms of size and opulence.
A disappointing change to the infrastructure, has been the covering, and in some cases filling in, of the klongs.
Less Raunchy
Bangkok has always been famous, or infamous for its red light districts (e.g. Patpong and Soi Cowboy). These were at their zenith during the Vietnam War when Bangkok and Phuket were ‘rest and recreation’ centres for American soldiers. They were still pretty wild places in the 1980’s.
The Bangkok Sixes, cricket mentioned above, involved teams from SE Asia and around the world. I was in team made up of the foreign services of Commonwealth countries – mainly Australians. I was in the team as a result of someone dropping out at the last minute and being available to travel.
There were over 30 teams in the competition. It was player over a Friday, Saturday and Sunday at grounds including the Bangkok Sports Club.
The after play ‘ activities’ , took place mainly in Patpong. I have never seen such ‘bad behavior’ on such a mammoth scale before or since.
I am not sure if is my age, reality, or both – but is seems that Patpong and Soi Cowboy have lost much of their luster and the city is becoming more conservative overall, in much the same vein as Singapore.
Less Fakes
Another feature of the city has been the outdoor, markets. Certainly in the 1980’s and 90’s, these were full of ‘fake’ goods. These included designer brand clothes (e.g. Ralph Lauren polo shirts), watches (e.g. Rolex) and music and film tapes and later CD and DVDs. These goods are still sold, however, it would appear that have lost much of their appeal for consumers. I suspect there are a number of reasons or this.
One obvious one is that with internet and digitization, you no longer require physical things (tapes and CDs) for music and film. As far as clothes are concerned: I suspect that because the ‘real’ cost of the genuine article has declined so much in the past few years, people simply cannot see the point in buying a fake. As far watches are concerned: I suspect young people, if they want a watch at all (given that phones tell the time), they are satisfied with a cheap Swatch or other cheapo designer brand and are not interested in a fake Rolex or Cartier.
Bike Ride
During my second stay, after being in Chang Mai, I decided to take a bike tour. The web site of the operator is below.
Tour started at Soi 26 off Sukhumvit (a main road). The participants were mixture of Europeans and Australians. One was a Dutch girl called Audrey. She was “half Dutch and half Nicaraguan” and very attractive.
We took back roads and alley way towards the river. As we approach the river, we had to cross a very busy road. Audrey looked to left, and seeing that there were no vehicles, pushed her bike onto the road. Of course the reason that there were no vehicles coming to the left was that in Thailand, vehicle drive on the left hand side of the road. Just as she was about to step onto the road herself, the front wheel of Audrey’s bike was hit by a passing motorbike with a pillion passenger. Amazingly the rider the motorbike managed to stay upright.
When she finally got to the other side of the road, it was discovered that impact with motorbike had caused a puncture to the front tyre of the bike and had put the front forks out of alignment. The guide made some quick repairs and we were on our way to the river.
At the river we boarded a long boat to the Sri Nakhon district on the other side. There was surprisingly little boat traffic compared to what I recall in previous trips.
The ride through the Sri Nakhon district was great. It is a ‘botanic park, but is still used for farming. It is little oasis in city will precious little open space.
Flickr Link Bangkok
Flickr Link Bike Ride
ABC URL
billrider2013 