Siam Square – Sunday, October 17

Went to the Bangkok Center for Art and Culture in Siam Square today. I had read about a “national artists” exhibit there and decided to check it out. Some of the art really was interesting – a fair amount in response to the recent political protests here in April and May. Lots of images half in red, half in yellow. But, no photos allowed so I’ll just post a few pictures of the building itself. It’s sort of like the Guggenheim Museum in New York – a big open space in the center, with ramps of galleries all around.

Siam Square really is the nexus for Bangkok – it’s the major retail area and where “everyone” goes. A good chunk of the city's population probably passes through the area at least once every weekend. Two major streets intersect here – Thanon Phayathi and Thanon Phra Rama I.

And the two Skytrain lines intersect here too – if you need to change from the Sukhumvit line to the Silom line, you have to stop at Siam.

Siam is also the intersection of the high-end retail malls – like Siam Paragon and Gaysorn – and the low-end, like MBK. MBK is short for Mahboonkrong and is immense and crazy and absurd. There is an entire floor – the 4th – dedicated to nothing but cell phones. It’s insane. There are computer printouts of the available cell phone numbers – the “luckier” the number, the more expensive. I went in once before and lasted about three minutes. You really have to want to shop to go in there.

I saw this sign on the plaza in front of Siam Paragon. At first I thought it was just a sculpture, until I noticed the ".com" at the bottom and realized it's written in stylized Thai script. Not a clue as to what it says -- I can barely speak Thai and have no intention of trying to learn how to write it.

But while I’m talking about the Skytrains, one thing that I find amazing is how the Thais line up when they wait for the next train. Not sure that it's clear in these photos, but they do.

There are arrows painted at intervals on the platform.

You are supposed to wait at the two sets of angled arrows – those are for entering the train. When the train arrives, it stops so that the doors line up and open at the two straight arrows.

I’ve seen a few people jump the queue, but for the most part, the Thais line up and wait as indicated. Very civilized. Once you’re on the train, it looks like any other train or subway car. Except for the TVs, which broadcast only two things – the name of the next station and commercial for snack foods.

And speaking of snacks, I saw these items in my neighborhood Villa Market. Don’t know how I missed them before, but just in case you can’t read them from the photos, these are three types of Pringles – seaweed, soft-shell crab, and blueberry/hazelnut. All I can say is….really?