The king and co.
Reporting at immigrations I got my first taste of the homecoming that awaited me in Thailand. The officer snorted in surprise when I handed in my blue Indian passport and took a second good look at my face. “You look like Thai”, he finally exclaimed while stamping me in. This was to become routine everywhere I went. After spending years in the south end of my home country explaining “I am an Indian from the North Eastern parts and yes that’s why I don’t look like you”, it was a fair change to explain “yes I look like you but I’m an Indian from the North Eastern parts and so I don’t look Indian”.
As we left the airport in a comfortable a/c airport shuttle bus I couldn’t help but notice how everything around seemed to be a cleaner better version of how any major Indian city can be. For one the ground crew were prettier and seemed to fit into their smart short skirted suits better than their Chennai airport counterparts and there weren’t any touts heckling passengers. But I did spot an extremely agitated Indian gentleman rushing around frantically looking for the fastest means of transport to Pataya. As I was to find out later, Pattaya is the closest place to Bangkok for all the illicit carnal pleasures that have indelibly marked the country since American GI’s made Thailand their favourite R&R playground during the Vietnam War. Something made me guess our gentleman was in a big hurry to make best use of the weekend ahead.
We got down near the landmark Democracy Monument in Banglamphu, an area popular with travellers for the cluster of cheap lodging around. Bangkok’s equivalent to the main street of Anjuna Beach lies here. Khao San Road is unavoidable at times for the conveniently located ATM’s, FE’s and department stores but that’s if you can stomach the garish tourist black hole it’s become. Rows of street stalls selling clothes, quick bites, fake IDs, CD’s, tattoos, hair braids and dread locks fight for space with bars that spill into the street each blaring out bass thumping crappy electronica or the heard one too many reggae or rock numbers and not to forget the hoards of tourists that seem to continually march up and down this seedy stretch. But that said Khao San is inescapable on the tourist’s itinerary for the sheer incongruousness of this least Thai part of town.
The Democracy Monument looms large on the huge Ratchadamneon Khlang (Road) that holds it. It was built to commemorate the transition from absolute monarchy to a constitutional one in 1932. While the size is imposing I kind of expected something more elaborate from the Italian designer behind it. But the four prongs of this structure remains a favourite ground for political rallies demonstrations, the most infamous one being the one that left more than 50 people
dead in 1992; the most recent being the PAD (yellow shirts) anti-Thaksin protests that held Suvarnabhumi airport hostage for two days before making way for the new PM, the rather handsome Abhijit Vejjajiva who in yesterday’s paper was accused by opposition of being too western and far removed from the rural majority after publicly sharing his appreciation for the new Guns and Roses and Oasis albums. The same article also listed Arctic Monkeys and the Killers as being some of his favourite current bands.
Bangkok was for business and shopping was business. After a couple of hours sleep I was introduced to a fraction of all the excesses that this city seemed to offer. First was the food. There was food everywhere. Countless little roadside restaurants with plastic chairs and restaurants and street corner trolleys with everything from sausages to frappe, fresh fruit, sushi and smoked dried squid seemed to line every street. Then there are the shopping zones. Apart from the upmarket mall infested areas around Pratinum and Siam Square there are flea markets galore. Morning markets give way to all day long street markets after which with dusk the night flea markets slowly colonize pavements around the city.
When people talk of Bangkok as shopping paradise believe it. The Pratinum Siam Square area is famous for the behemoth shopping malls that it houses. Thais love fashion and there is a huge industry to cater to every whim and fancy of changing trends. Mini-shorts were the latest thing in for the moment and it seemed that every self respecting Thai girl withany clue of fashion had to have a pair. There was no dearth of legs on view. Work meant spending many days walking the vast expanses of these colossal glitzy buildings till we finally hit nausea point. I’ll not elaborate on the days spend on selecting, designing and refitting garments for this years collection nor on Bangkok’s dizzying consumerist coddling side but to give a petite picture, they actually have skywalks interconnecting different shopping malls so shoppers can mall hop without stepping into the humid Bangkok air.
Apart from the hedonistic and materialistic side of Bangkok, a majority of its residents are extremely devout. The roofs of numerous wats and phrangs are very much part of the Bangkok skyline as are skyscrapers that flaunt the economic flatulence (may I use this word?) the city seems to enjoy.
So this is a bit about the Bangkok that overwhelmed me during the first week of my stay without getting into the bits about the proliferation of prostitutes and lady boys that have always been a rather incomprehensible part of Thai culture. While a little unsettling I have to add that I have yet to see anyone being rude or vulgar with a street walker. There’s one whose turf is the street outside our hotel and I’m happy to say receive the same courteous treatment as she does while drinking coffee at the café down the road.
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