A Glimpse of Bangkok

chillibreeze writer — Nidhi Raichand

If the world is getting smaller, so, it seems, is the collection of words used to describe it. Check out any travel show or magazine and you’re bound to come across the words ‘vibrant’, ‘dynamic’ and ‘colourful’ within the first five minutes. It’s as if any place with a somewhat high population and a couple of shopping malls qualifies as vibrant and dynamic. Unless, of course, it’s a small town. Then it’s ‘idyllic’ and ‘laidback’. (Also noteworthy is the cliché ‘the world is getting smaller’ that I’ve used so cunningly here to illustrate my point.)

But back to ‘vibrant’ and ‘dynamic’: two words I came across constantly while researching my upcoming trip to Bangkok. It was a long overdue “foreign” holiday my husband and I had been planning and soon we landed in the land-of-smiles with pamphlets, dollars, summery clothes (we went in November – winter in Bangkok when the temperature dips down from the usual sweltering to just hot) and ‘vibrant’ and ‘dynamic’ knocking about in our heads.

It was at about 7 in the evening that we found ourselves in a cab on our way to the hotel. I poked my head out of the window to get a glimpse of the Thai capital. Not bad, I thought, it’s got a fairly modern feel about it and check out all those imported cars! Ah and that must be the sky train I’d been reading about. Oh and look at all that beautiful tall building. Nice.

Twenty minutes later I’d counted all the floors on the beautiful tall building, heard what seemed to be a 20-minute long Thai song on the radio and memorised the faces of the people in the cars next to us. Dynamic? Doesn’t dynamic involve some sort of actual movement? The only movement was of us shifting about in our seats due to the numbness our posteriors were facing. Had I left the traffic jams of Bangalore to come a bigger, slower jam in Bangkok? And on top of everything, I really had to pee!

Clearly, my bladder was far more connected to the traffic gods than the rest of me. Suddenly the entire scene came to life, traffic started moving and within 5 minutes we were at our service apartment on Soi 11, off Sukhumvit Road. “You see,” Lalit, the driver told us cheerfully, “it not faal at all. Only tlaffic at this time velly bad.”

Tlansation: “It’s not far at all. Only the traffic at this time is very bad.” The Thai tend to substitute the letter “R” with “L”. There’s this hilarious story involving a laundry bag that the lady kept calling lolly bag and…well, you had to be there to get it!

Lalit’s cheerfulness as well as that of the entire staff - the Thai are really really sweet people - helped up our spirits as well. And once we’d checked in and freshened, we were back to being a happy-young-couple ready to take on Bangkok for all it was worth - on a budget.

We started by exploring Soi 11, a narrow little street barely half a kilometre long, packed with clubs, restaurants, hotels, massage parlours, banks, convenience stores and even what seemed to be a really posh, really pricey apartment building. Right outside our service apartment was Happy Massage, one of the many massage parlours in the area, and the girls sitting outside gave us a smile as we stepped onto the street. I returned the gesture with a tentative half smile of my own, not willing to commit by appearing over-friendly. But my cynicism was misplaced; the warmth was genuine. And although we never once went in for a massage, the smiles continued for the rest of our stay there.

The nightlife of Bangkok is impossible to describe in one sentence. There literally is, something for everyone. If you’re foodie, you’re in heaven. From fine European cuisine and tasty Indian khana to American fast food and pan-Asian fare, restaurants come in all shapes and sizes and for every budget. And while in Bangkok, you have to try the tasty and always interesting street food. We ate at a lovely Italian and Thai restaurant called Contrazi with beautiful interiors, fabulous food and wine and superb service. On one of our adventurous days we tried some chicken thingie with sticky rice from a street vendor. He was also selling what appeared to be batter-fried dragonflies but we were, er, too full from our chicken to try that. Maybe next time!

Bangkok is famous for its swanky clubs, and rightly so. It’s where you’ll find the rich and beautiful people of the city, dressed in ultra fashionable designer wear, dancing to the latest tunes from across the globe. We went to Bed SupperClub, a cool tube shaped building done up completely in white, with beds to relax on and enjoy your evening. We also tried out Q, which had a younger and darker appearance and an equally chic guest list. Be warned though: these clubs charge an exorbitant cover charge and you should be well dressed or you might end up feeling a bit frumpy. One tip to save money: on weekends the cover charge kicks in around 9 p.m. so you could save on that if you go in a little early. Of course these places really pick up around midnight so you’ll probably end up spending the same if you hang around late.

For a slightly quieter, yet fun evening try the absolutely delightful open-air restaurants with live bands. We fell in love with Rosabieng, which means ‘train dining car’. The bar was a converted train car and we had a great time downing endless bottles of the local Singha beer and listening to the live band. Close by is another such gem called Zanzibar, set in lush greenery with a sexy female crooner entertaining the crowd. Her English was highly accented and some songs we’d never heard of, but who cared! The wine and the ambience was more than enough to put us in really high spirits. What struck me most about these open-air restaurants was that although they were bang on the main road, the traffic sounds were negligible. That’s when I realised that in Bangkok, the capital city of traffic jams, nobody honks! Maybe someday in India too…

If you like your entertainment on a somewhat larger scale, don’t miss the great shows Bangkok offers. We went for the Calypso Cabaret, performed by the famous Lady Boys of Thailand. Although none of the songs are performed live, it’s a great show, full of energy, colour and humour. You’ll be clapping and cheering over the antics of the absolutely stunning women on stage, finding it hard to believe they’re actually men in drag. It’s a great evening for the entire family and one I highly recommend.

But hey, in the midst of all the entertainment and dining, we didn’t forget we were in Bangkok – the hub of shopping. So one night, we took off to the night bazaar at Patpong, otherwise famous as the red-light district of the city. This is where you get all sorts of stuff, from fake electronics, watches and clothes to home decorations and local artefacts. It’s also where we honed our bargaining skills and got some things as cheap as 50% of the telling price.

There really is no end to the shopping at Bangkok. We spent one afternoon marvelling at stores at the super slick Siam Paragon mall. While I lusted over designer clothes and bags, my husband went nuts clicking pictures of the international cars on display there. What also had me green with envy were the naturally slim and highly fashionable Thai women, strutting about on their tiny little well heeled shoes. With my own size 6 feet I felt a bit like Big-Foot! It was probably a good thing nothing fitted though – these international fashions came with equally international price tags.

To take a break from all the tiring window-shopping, we moved to the Gourmet Gallery, or food court, of the mall. The only way I can really describe it is WOAH! For as far as the eye could see the giant gallery was packed with mini restaurants, bakeries and delis. Each one was decorated so prettily that I spent about 15 minutes just taking pictures. Deciding where to eat was the problem here, with each little restaurant as inviting as the next. Some of the prettiest displays were of the ice creams and cakes…sigh, there went my resolve to go on a diet.

The mall was directly connected to a Skytrain station – the quickest way to travel in Bangkok. We caught the Skytrain and got off at a station that lead us to another popular shopping area called MBK. This is more like an air-conditioned, slightly more expensive version of Bangkok’s street markets. I suggest a quick round for shoes, fake bags etc and a quicker exit to escape fainting from the lack of air and crazy crowds.

But the mother of all crowded crazy markets in Bangkok is undoubtedly Chatu Chak, the weekend market that takes place on the outskirts of the city. It’s this gigantic, humungous maze of shacks that sell everything under the sun. Designer (fake obviously) and local apparel? Check. Home accessories and jewellery? Check. Samurai swords? Plants? Live chicken? Check. Check. Check. I suggest comfortable walking shoes, sunglasses and extreme shamelessness for bargaining. By 5 when you’re on the Skytrain, tired and laden with stuff you’re already regretting buying, you’ll see several other tourists equally exhausted and you comfort yourself with the knowledge that you’re not the only sucker around.

While the Skytrain is the most efficient way to travel around the city, it stops operating at 12. That’s when we tried out the tuk-tuk, or Thailand’s version of our desi auto-rickshaws. Neither the tuk-tuks, nor the cabs seem to believe in meters, so you have to be careful about fixing the rates with your driver. You can be sure he’s trying to con you; he just does it in such a good natured and harmless fashion that it’s quite inoffensive.

Besides shopping and eating (isn’t that enough?) we also got a bit of sight seeing done. We took a tour of the Grand Palace with our guide, Mr. Ping Pong. It’s a beautiful building with intricate work and a lot of interesting similarities to Hinduism. Although having seen so many Indian temples, we weren’t quite as dazzled as the westerners.

By the end of our five days, we’d experienced a lot and discovered that there was still so much left to see. But our tickets were booked and our money had run out. So off to the airport we went and caught our flight in silence, full of happy memories of the land of smiles and its warm people. Back in Bangalore, when my brother in law asked me, “So, how was Bangkok?” I enthused back, “Oh it’s a fabulous city. So colourful and dynamic and vibrant!”

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Nidhi writes for Chillibreeze.

A Glimpse of Bangkok

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