New Views – August 31, 2010

I am in Thailand on a non-immigrant visa B, which requires me to leave Thailand every 90 days and then get my visa stamped again when I return. So I need to keep track of how long I’ve been here and it turns out that last week I passed the two-month mark. Seems incredible that I’ve been here that long already!

One of the many things I’ve learned about Bangkok in that time is that , in order to really enjoy being here, you have to slow down and pay attention to the details. On the surface, Bangkok is big and noisy and crowded and, like in any big city, it’s easy to just keep your eyes forward, focus on where you’re headed next, and to just plow past the small charms of life in Bangkok.

Most mornings I go walking in Benjakiti Park. The quickest way to get there is to go across the canal near the apartment complex, then down a short residential street that parallels the canal, and onto the park. It’s a weird little street – totally out of place and left stranded on its own by the development that has happened all around it. The first time I walked down the street I felt a bit like an interloper – like I was intruding on a private place where a “farang” (foreigner) shouldn’t be. Most of the homes struck me as poor – run-down homes that didn’t appear to have air conditioning, made of mismatched wood, and with laundry hanging from the upstairs porches. And I was struck most by the fact that this street is, literally, in the shadows of the sleek, modern high-rise condominiums and office buildings all around it.

But since then, I’ve been down the street many times and realized that it’s not the sad, poor street I initially took it to be.

Now, as I walk down I notice that most of the homes have satellite dishes, that there is a beauty parlor on the street, a place to get your computer worked on, a small restaurant, and a convenience store.

In the mornings, I see the same kids heading off to school in their uniforms and the same families on motorcycles heading off to work. (I would love to take a picture of the kids in their school uniforms or the families balancing three and four to a motorcycle, but that seems rude.)

And I've noticed that the homes are decorated, with gardens and small statues. It’s a neighborhood.

Art Galleries in the Silom Area – August 29, 2010

One of the things I’ve missed about not being on the Cape this summer is not getting to go to any of the art gallery shows in Provincetown. It’s a big part of what makes Provincetown Provincetown – especially in July and August. So, I downloaded a copy of BAM! – the monthly Bangkok Art Map – and decided to check out some of the local art galleries. A number of galleries were in the Silom area, and since I’ve never been to that part of town, that’s where I went.

In all honesty, the art was a bit of a letdown. For starters, not all of the galleries were open – a number of them were closed because they were exhibiting at an art exhibit in Taipei. (The BAM! neglected to mention that.) And those that were open were exhibiting some rather tormented art. So, I didn’t linger and decided to head down Silom Road to the nearby Skytrain stop.

Walking down Silom Road was interesting. It’s in the old part of town and there were a few buildings left over from the late 1800s with some interesting details.

Further down Silom Road was the Kathmandu Gallery, which had an exhibit of photographs of small shops in Bangkok – where the business and the living quarters were blended together. The photographs were interesting, but the Kathmandu Gallery itself was even more interesting because it was an example of that type of combined space too. The first floor had lots of photographs and books for sale. Then, you walked through the kitchen at the back of the shop and upstairs to the gallery.

From the gallery, another staircase led up to what I assumed were the owner’s living quarters. (It was roped off, so I couldn’t go up and take a look.)

And, out of dumb luck, the Sri Mariamman temple was right across the street. I had seen a picture of it when I was at the Bangkokian Museum a few weeks ago and had planned to make a visit at some point. It is a Hindu temple built in the 1860s by Tamil immigrants and is covered in wildly colored statues of deities and animals.

You aren’t allowed to take photographs inside the temple grounds so I snapped a few from the 7-11 on the corner. (That’s one thing about Bangkok – there is ALWAYS a 7-11 on the corner.) And outside the 7-11, vendors were selling garlands for worshippers to leave on the altars of the temple. Lots of color everywhere!

And here is one of my favorite pictures from this part of town ---

This is one of the few remaining canals in Bangkok, but above it is the Skytrain and behind that are some of the modern high-rises from present-day Bangkok.

Sunset Over Wat Arun – August 28, 2010

I took Friday afternoon off this week and headed down to the Chao Phraya River area – the original, old part of Bangkok. I’d been to this part of Bangkok earlier – when I went to the Grand Palace and Wat Pho. This time, my goal was to see the Museum of Siam and then to have a drink on the terrace of the Arun Hotel. The Arun Hotel had been recommended to me as a good place to watch the sun set behind Wat Arun – one of the quintessential sights of Bangkok.

(On a side note, I feel like I’ve made a lot of “progress” since the last time I visited this area. To get there, you take the SkyTrain to the Saphan Taksin stop and then the ferry to the Wat Pho stop. The first time I did this, the vendors at the Saphan Taksin pier recommended I buy a one-day pass on the ferry. It was 120 baht (about $4) so not a big deal. But this time, I knew that I could just buy a ticket on the ferry itself and that it would be a lot cheaper. So, when the ferry pulled in, I jumped on, found a seat, and waited for the attendant to come by. And I was pleased to be able to say “Tha Tien” as my destination and to understand “sip see” as “14” when she told me the price. Felt like a regular local.)

Took the ferry to Tha Tien pier, walked past Wat Pho, and found the Museum of Siam. The building is from the late 1800s – which seems to be a theme for this part of town. The focus is on the history of Thailand, and in particular, how Bangkok came to be the capital. Turns out that the original center of Bangkok was laid out to mirror the layout of Ayutthaya – the original capital further to the north. And, for some odd reason, there was also an exhibit on the “mod period” in Thailand.

This part of Bangkok is becoming my favorite part of town to visit. The Sukhumvit area where I live and work is filled with sleek high-rise buildings, over-the-top shopping malls, and high-end restaurants. All the conveniences of modern living and it certainly makes living here in Bangkok easier, but it’s almost all contemporary and it’s hard to see any remnants of the original Bangkok. But, in the areas along the river there are still small buildings and shops and it’s easier to get a sense of what life was like before Bangkok became a modern metropolis. The scale is more personal, more intimate, with lots of small businesses crammed with products.

After the museum, I found the Arun Hotel – it is literally right on the Chao Phraya River. It has a restaurant on the first floor and then a rooftop bar, both with great views of Wat Arun across the river. Fortunately, you don’t have to be a hotel guest to have a drink at the bar. There were a few other people there as well – all come to watch the sunset. Based on their accents, I’m guessing there were Australians, Germans, and Italians. That’s one thing I’ve noticed – very few American tourists here. Not sure if it’s the distance or the political protests earlier this year, but I’ve not seen or heard many American tourists in Bangkok.

Here are a few pictures of Wat Arun as the sun sets.

(By the way, one of the things I noticed when I first got here was that the sun seemed to set very quickly. I thought I was just imagining things, but I recently googled “sunset near the equator” and it turns out that, in fact, the sun does set more quickly near the equator. Not sure I understand the details, but it has something to do with the angle of the sun in this part of the globe versus, say, in New England. Basically, the sun is up and then it’s down and there really isn’t a twilight here.)

Breakfast Anyone? – August 25, 2010

Like I’ve commented before, I am convinced that no one in Bangkok eats at home – there are way too many restaurants and street vendors and food courts. And they are all busy, all the time. I mentioned this to Puk and he said that it is because many people who work in Bangkok have long commutes so they don’t have time to eat breakfast before they leave for work or to make lunch to take with them. And the fact that much of the food is inexpensive adds to the convenience.

So, with that in mind, I decided to snap a few photos of places you could grab breakfast on my way to work this morning. It’s only a short walk – maybe 15 minutes – and I certainly didn’t take a photo of every place that I came across, but here are a few to give you an idea of the options.

For starters, you can pick up just about anything from a street vendor – coffee, grilled fish, or fresh fruit. Even fried eggs.

Or maybe you prefer corn on the cob?

(And I think the reasons why some of these vendors wear masks are because many of them are cooking over smoky, open flames, and because they are standing alongside busy Sukhumvit Road, with cars and buses and motorcycles going by all day long.)

Or, how about a waffle? (Though even the vendor doesn’t seem too excited about them.)

And if the push-cart approach isn’t appealing, you can always go the brand-name route with Puff & Pie. Or Dunkin’ Donuts.

Or maybe you prefer something sweet – like a cake, or some candied fruits?

Or maybe one of these, which look sweet, but I have no idea what they are.

And, if you’re none too thrilled about being on your way to work, you may want to try your luck with a lottery ticket from this woman. (Okay, I realize she's not selling food, but she was hard to resist.)

But my favorite was this woman. She is rocking that pink dress and seems quite pleased to be doing her part to make the Bangkok street scene so entertaining.

Neighborhood Sois - Saturday, August 21, 2010

The plan this weekend was to go to Vinamek Palace in the Dusit area of Bangkok. This area has a lot of government buildings from the late 1800s and Vinamek Palace is of special interest because it is made almost entirely of teak. But, there were political protests planned for this weekend in that area so I decided to postpone. There wasn't any risk of violence – like in April and May of this year – but traffic in Bangkok is never good and with road closings planned in that area, traffic would have been a nightmare. (In case you’re interested, the protests have to do with the Preah Vihear temple, which is on the border between Thailand and Cambodia. The Cambodian government has recently made moves to claim the temple as its own, while the Thai government feels strongly that it belongs to Thailand. The “red shirts” – who oppose the current Thai government – were planning to stage protests to force the Thai government to do more to resolve this issue in Thailand’s favor.)

So, rather than head off into that, I decided to spend an afternoon exploring the sois (streets) in and around my neighborhood. I borrowed a bicycle from the front desk, since I had seen other people doing that, figuring that would enable me to cover a lot more ground. (Getting the bicycle was an adventure in itself. They brought one around for me, but the seat was way too low – I’m much taller than most Thais. I tried to make that clear to the fellow who had brought the bicycle, since he didn’t speak English and I haven’t yet learned the words for “too low.” But I guess my pantomime skills aren’t all they could be because he road off and came back with a second bicycle, with an equally low seat. Eventually, I got him to just bring me a wrench and raised the seat myself.)

There are large roads that run through Bangkok – in my neighborhood, the main streets are Sukhumvit and Asoke. Off these main roads run a maze of smaller streets – called sois. The odd-numbered sois are on the north side of Suhkuhmvit and the even-numbered ones on the south. The larger sois have names but many do not – just numbers. Some of the sois connect to other sois, but others just dead-end – either the soi itself just stops or it comes to a stop at a canal. But with a little backtracking every now and again, I was able to wind my way around for quite a distance.

A lot of foreigners on assignment and expatriates live in this part of Bangkok. The neighborohood is definitely a jumble. In my neighborhood, sois 3, 5, and 7 are strongly Muslim – you see many women in burqas in the supermarket. But cross Sukhumvit and go down sois 12 and 16 and there are good French restaurants that cater to the “ladies who lunch” set. Soi 18 has a Lexus dealer on the corner and, 20 yards away, a low-rent Chinese noodle shop where we often go for lunch. Sois 23 and 31 have a lot of neighborhood restaurants – mostly Thai, but also Italian and Indian. Sois 49, 51, and 53 are more up-market, with lots of antique and furniture stores. By the time you get to Soi 55, you have crossed into the Thong Lor neighborhood, which has a strong Japanese presence.

The sois are where much of the smaller-scale, personal life of Bangkok happens. And the homes are on the sois are smaller and individual – once you get off the main drags, the large, condo/apartment towers end and you see individual homes set back from the soi behind large gardens.

At one point, I ended up on a soi that dead-ended into a Buddhist temple. Very ornate and complete with monks in saffron robes.

The street was just an average neighborhood street... but, in true Thai fashion, there was retail everywhere.

I am convinced that no one in Thailand has a kitchen in their home – there are small restaurants and street stalls everywhere – and someone has to be eating all that food.