Of Scams and Stupas

I've been both a recluse and a tourist these past few days in Bangkok. No one would confuse me with Howard Hughes or Syd Barrett; I'm just a traveler taking a break from new the open road. It was merely a combination of travel fatigue and, finally, after five months of pokey service, finding a fast Internet connection.

My hotel on Suhkumvit Soi 10 has free ADSL Internet in every room. With a fast connection I was able to finally able to download video from the iTunes store, notably the end of the third season of "Lost" (more questions, few answers, imagine that), catch up on some internet videos and BitTorrent a handful of recent shows by Ryan Adams & the Cardinals (all recordings sanctioned by the band, for personal use only). Plugged in for a few days felt like being home, like I was on familiar ground for the first time in months.

I also caught up on a few movies. "Transformers" is another piece of wham-bam-thank-you-maam excrement from Michael Bay, but I saw it in the largest multiplex theater in Asia, the 1,200-seat Siam Pavalai. The highlight of the show was when an afternoon electrical storm knocked out power to the entire shopping mall. I also caught an afternoon screening of "Ocean's Thirteen" after watching a bootleg of "Ocean's Twelve" (I don't want to support piracy, but a movie-nut has few options on the road). Both are tart, pulpy and good for a few hours of breezy entertainment. I also watched a fuzzy camcorder-captured copy of "Ratatouille." Pixar and Brad Bird are the best combination working in mainstream movies today. I loved it and can't wait to see it for real.

I took a day out from these personal pursuits to play tourist. The day started with a tuk-tuk ride from Suhkumvit to Khao San Road, the backpacker epicenter of Bangkok. I stayed on Khao San Road for one night in 1994 and recall it as grungy, crowded and cheap. Budget hovels, I mean hotels, and restaurants lined the street, but it wasn't so crowded that you couldn't sit at an outdoor table and watch the action pass by. Khao San Road has expanded over the years and is now a full-blown backpacker ghetto filled with bars, travel agents, tattoo parlors and clothing stores selling the latest in hippie fashion. Signage is everywhere, extending beyond the storefronts and over the sidewalks.

Bangkok by Tuk-Tuk

Khao San Road

Disturbing T-Shirts
But there's hope for the future of Khao San Road. There's a sort of gentrification happening, with a few upscale establishments opening their doors and young Thais, artists and students mostly, moving in. Gentrification is generally regarded as a bad thing. A little cleaning up of Khao San Road could only be good.

Still, the present road has little or me, so I quickly covered its length and left it behind for good. and was very happy to leave Khao San Road behind for good. There are sidewalk vendors everywhere, and touts pitch enticements every few feet. One popular offer is from tuk-tuk drivers: hour-long tours for 20 Baht or less. In reality, they get you in the vehicle and take you to businesses offering ultra-hard sells and outright scams. The tuk-tuk driver gets a commission for roping in the unsuspecting tourist. The general rule of thumb is that if something sounds too good to be true, it's a scam. The Bangkok Gem Scam is a classic example.

I stopped on the way from Khao San Road to the Grand Palace to get my bearings on a map. A Thai man in his thirties asked me where I wanted to go and started offering unsolicited advice. He told me the Grand Palace was closed for the afternoon (a holiday, regular Friday routine, etc.) and said that I should take a tuk-tuk to see the "Lucky Buddha" across town. My guard is up most of the time these days, and my radar was on high alert with Khao San Road just around the corner. So I thanked him and started to walk away, which prompted him to start yelling at me, telling me again that the palace was closed and calling me an "idiot tourist."

Not only was the Grand Palace open, there were signs at the entrance warning tourists to "Beware of strangers offering services." The sign also mentioned tuk-tuks and the lucky buddha. Still, Bangkok has not been overwhelming in the way that Indonesia was. And I've been able to maintain a clear conscience while ignoring the creeps trying to rip me off.

The main attraction at the Grand Palace is not the palace itself, but Wat Phra Kaew, the Temple of the Emerald Buddha. The temple is part of a complex of gleaming golden stupas and ornate statues and buildings. The interior walls of the compound are covered with an extensive mural depicting scenes from Thailand's national epic, the "Ramakian" (derived from the Indian epic "Ramayana"). I don't know the Ramakian from ramen, but was entranced by the paintings. I even found a visual representation of my battle with the flying termites in Ko Lanta. (Full disclosure: I know a lot about ramen!)

Wat Phra Kaew

Family Photo

Battling Bugs

Devotees

After the opulence of the Temple of the Emerald Buddha, the Grand Palace itself was something of a let down. Which is odd, since the Grand Palace is jaw-dropping as well. I think I'd had my fill for sightseeing for the day. Nevertheless, I enjoyed being a tourist again and look forward to Chiang Mai and Northern Thailand. I've had my fill of big, dirty BKK. Time to hit the open road again.

Breathing in Bangkok

In 1994, in transit between Tokyo and Delhi, I spent one night in Bangkok (insert jokes here). I arrived late in the evening and sacked out on Khao San Road, a haven for backpackers from all over the world. I don't recall much from that visit other than a cheap room with thin walls (the couple in the next room put the walls to the test), polluted air and dense traffic. I left early the next day for India and didn't think about Bangkok for many years.

I'm back in the city now, and it's still sprawling and polluted. I haven't returned to Khao San Road though. I've opted instead to go upmarket for a week, booking first into Dream Bangkok, a boutique hotel with all the trimmings, and then Cozy on 10, an affordable "city residence," both located off Thanon Suhkumvit, a section of the city popular with ex-pats and filled with mid-range accommodation. It's been great to settle into a bit of luxury and leave the backpacker trail behind. This is Bangkok after all, a city with a cosmopolitan heart beating behind a chaotic facade. Who couldn't use a few nights sleeping on 300-thread-count Egyptian cotton and watching movies on a 43-inch plasma-screen television?

Dream Bangkok Hotel
Official figures list the population of Bangkok at around 8 million, but the true number is probably double that. This is one crowded city, a patchwork of dense neighborhoods where poverty and wealth coexist, where modern skyscrapers cast shadows over hidden hovels. Beggars line the streets, empty cups outstretched to men and women wearing high-end fashions from European and American designers. It's a city of contrasts and contradictions, a city I haven't begun to understand and probably never will. I just walk the streets and breathe it all in, choking pollution and all.

I believe one way to get to know a place is to visit its markets. I ended up spending my first two days in Bangkok in two different shopping environments. Taken together I think they represent two sides of Bangkok (and Thailand). I first visited Chatuchak Weekend Market, the big Buddha of Bangkok's outdoor markets. I spent the next day at the super-duper upscale Siam Paragon, an ultra-modern shopping complex hawking luxury goods (jewels, furniture, clothing, even Ferraris and Lamborghinis) and visions of the future.

Outdoor market is usually a euphemism for flea market. I was pleasantly surprised to find that Chatuchak, while offering some used good, is a true market. I wandered the aisles, discovering new products around every corner: books, flowers, religious statues, furniture, pet supplies, art, fruits and vegetables, CDs, handicrafts, knickknacks and clothes, so many clothes. Young designers sold their original designs out of tiny stalls, which to me turned an ordinary marketplace into a center of creativity.

I was struck by the range of t-shirts stenciled with clever and attractive designs. I was tempted to buy one with a cat perched atop a stack of amplifiers, but they didn't have a color that I liked. I did, however, buy a set of postcards from a young artist. His expertly rendered drawings of classic Volkswagens (buses and bugs), Mini Coopers and Vespa scooters were too good to pass up. If you are reading this, you may receive one in the mail soon.

Hello Kitty Chocolate Frosty

Chatuchak Clothing Stall

Artist With Postcard of 1955 Volkswagen

Thai Cowboy

Drink Stall (With Matching Blouse)
No market is complete without food. Chatuchak's food stalls are the perfect place to rejuvenate after some serious shopping. Vendors sell soups, noodles and salads from makeshift kitchens wedged into corners of the market. There are also juices, jelly drinks and coffees for sale. I sat down on a wooden bench for a frothy iced coffee and then walked and sipped a freshly-squeezed glass of tart orange and lime juice. Lunch was a a steaming bowl of thin rice noodles with nuggets of chicken and fresh veggies.

Chatuchak is a market for the people. It's down to earth, accessible and welcoming. It's a place where I saw families, couples and teenagers hanging out, shopping and having fun. I stopped and listened to amateur musicians busking for spare change and joined a dense crowd at a makeshift shop selling gold. Chatuchak has something for everyone, even a non-shopper like me.

I was surfing through cable television that night at the hotel while munching on a room service hamburger (you only live once) and came across a segment on a local program about a True Urban Park, a technology-oriented cafe at a mall called Siam Paragon. I hadn't heard about Siam Paragon, so I jumped online and did a little research. According to Wikipedia (a site I trust more every day for facts and figures about Asia), Siam Paragon opened in December 2005 and is one of the largest malls in Asia. The complex includes the obligatory shops and restuarants, but also boasts a concert hall, exhibition spaces, a gourmet market, an aquarium, a bowling alley and a multiplex with the largest multiplex screen in Asia (in the 1,200-seat Siam Pavali, which translates as "The Heaven of God in Siam").

True Urban Park reminded me of an Apple Store crossed with a Starbucks. I learned later that True is a local Internet service provider and the shop a marketing tool. Still, I felt right at home amid all that technology. There is a cafe at one end where clear-plastic lampshades hang from the ceiling and a video screen dominates one wall. The center of the store is dedicated to the latest in technology: computers, mp3 players and cameras are displayed like luxury handbags on a shelf unit. There is a nook filled with books on design and an eclectic collection of CDs. The store is anchored by a lounge with Internet-enabled computers and wide-screen monitors. Prepubescent boys perched played games featuring guns and gore; the girls preferred games in which they taught characters dance routines. And there was wi-fi (why did I leave my laptop at the hotel)?

Siam Paragon Escalators

True Urban Park

Cafe

Tech Wall

Internet Access
I spent the rest of my time at Siam Paragon wandering through the mall, gawking at price tags and musing on globalization and consumer culture. I passed up the aquarium and bowling alley in favor of some quality time at Kinokuniya, one of my favorite bookstores in the world, and was tempted to pick up a new collection of short stories by one of my favorite writers, Haruki Murakami.

In my travels through Southeast Asia I've seen plenty of McDonald's, KFC and Starbucks, which didn't surprise me. I didn't expect, however, to find Bentley, Bose, Mont Blanc and Versace in Bangkok. Call me silly. Call me naive. Call it a learning experience.

What about the food? I've gone four paragraphs without mentioning anything edible. Well, it was a mall. The food court was beautiful, there were luxury restaurants to match the luxury boutiques. I ate a greasy plain plate of Japanese noodles with tempura prawns. I did, however, discover a local ice cream parlor called iBerry, where I was tempted by a scoop of Banana & Cheese ice cream in a waffle cone. I curbed the impulse and moved on.

There is a scoop of Banana & Cheese ice cream in my future. But that's another story. Stay tuned.

Hanging Out at Siam Paragon