bangkok bananas
our plane descended into bangkok on wednesday night with impressive, if not mildly alarming, flashes of sheet lightning intermittently bathing the cityscape below in bright white light. skirting around the "what happens if our plane gets hit by lightning" conversations which we jokingly, if a little nervously, were having we landed without incident, grabbed our bags and headed off to our hotel. as we pulled up in front of the silom heritage hotel we realised we had grabbed an absolute bargain, thanks to the heady combination of low season and the amazing deals to be found on internet hotel sites (thank you agoda). brilliant location in the heart of silom, boutique finishes and, courtesy of a free upgrade, an absolutely massive room.silom is of course home to the notorious patpong area and, after a few moments of feeling smug about our room, we headed out into the night to have a mooch around the market whilst deliberating whether to check out one of the attractions that most contribute to the infamous allure of patpong. the market itself is an experience of sorts, with a parade of go go bars down each side, bored looking thai girls swaying rather than dancing amongst poles to deafening euro techno, sandwiching stalls fronted by pushy touts looking to shift poor quality fakes and slightly more unsavoury delights. to add to our patpong experience the lightning from our flight transpired to be an adumbration of an absolute downpour, a genuine 90 or so minutes of soaked to the bone drenching. after a brief detour for a half hour or so of seediness, flying bananas and an argument with an angry thai madam, we set out into the rain and arrived back at our hotel dripping but with some bona fide bangkok experiences already under our belts.
i seem to recall being quite underwhelmed by the actual sites bangkok had to offer last time around so had relatively low expectations of the grand palace which sprawls across old bangkok, a haven from the horns and tuk tuks that close in around its white walls. this time around i had the additions of vicki (in must take a photo of every speck of dust mode) and, bizarrely, a literal boatload of sailors from the indian navy, happily gambolling around the place, pressing down their brillantined hair, thrusting out their crotches and cheerily (and not in any way in a gay manner) throwing their hands around their mates for dozens of photo opportunities. i'm not convinced that they filled me with confidence for india's security, not least because of the absurd lack of moustaches on display: real manliness lies in a hairy top lip not fake aviators and i think moustaches should be made compulsory for the indian military.
in any event the grand palace was actually a lot better than i remember, the broad sweep of the place not as impressive as the intricate detail which abounded in every corner. this was in no small part due to the diligent, and ongoing, restoration efforts being undertaken. we witnessed in a number of corners thai artisans touching up fading details, but in a tasteful manner which retained the authenticity of the buildings and their numerous artistic flourishes. the same was evident in wat pho next door, with dull bronze buddhas being artfully polished back to former glories.
pausing only for an excellent massage in wat pho, the spiritual home of thai massage, we headed out of old bangkok happy with what it had offered us. a quick word on bangkok touts: as prevalent as in india and, if anything, more devious. we were pretty clued up on the main scams but usually i find that such tricks are rarely actually encountered with guidebooks, quite rightly, puffing up the horror stories of an unlucky few to serve as a warning to remain vigilant. in our few hours wandering around the main sites in bangkok however we got them all; the palace is closed but what about this nearby temple (near my friend's shop), the ticket to wat pho entitles you to go to another temple for free (near my friend's shop), i'll take you to where you want to go for a cheap price (but via my friend's shop). what's more i would say from looking around that we were actually one of the least approached couples, due in no small part to my brownness. bangkok is such a gateway it must be flooded with unsuspecting 18 years olds getting their first taste of south east asia and, flushed with excitement at being away from their parents, off their guard because they haven't yet encountered a squatty toilet and they managed to order a beer on thanon khao san the night before. it is however, much more than i remember, somewhere where due caution must be exercised; there is an obvious direct correlation between how tourist friendly a place appears and the strength of its contingent of scam artists, which is why bumbling along the wilds of sumatra is in some ways safer than being under the ostensibly reassuring flashing golden arches in bangkok.
anyway we batted off the scammers with relative ease and, after a quick detour into the commercial heart of the city in siam square, headed back after a long, tiring but satisfying day out, finishing off with an al fresco drink on the 61st floor. a day to do very little lined up today with nothing, other than more massages, planned. bangkok is still not, i think, a wholly charming city but remains a mandatory initiation into the south east asian scene.
posted by bicrom @ 3:59 am
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