We touched down in Bangkok 48 hours ago after an all-night bus ride from the Laos border. En route, Thai pop blared for the first several hours, and I was uncharacteristically unable to sleep more than fifteen minutes at a clip. Elizabeth got a couple hours, which is, well, better than none. When we boarded the bus for the 12-hour ride, we were both grungy from a trek we'd just done outside Savannakhet (photos to come) and already in desperate need of showers. Upon arrival in Bangkok, we were sensibly given a wide berth. This state was prolonged when after crossing town and collapsing in relief at our hotel, we were not allowed to check in early, and so had to wander the city for five or so hours before we could make contact with sheets or shampoo.
It was all a little hallucinatory.
It was all a little hallucinatory.
This time in Bangkok, we stayed in the neighborhood of Sukhumvit, a bizarre mix of well-paid ex-pat digs, overt sex trade, and perhaps most oddly, orthodox Muslim establishments. (The "Little Arabia" soi, or alley, boasts halal meats, women in burqas, and signage in Arabic.)
The after-dark street life of Bangkok is pretty manic (though nothing compares to the traffic of Hanoi!). Just about every imaginable TV show has been bootlegged and is on offer alongside crude t-shirts appropriate nowhere outside a frat house. While I can't say I was excited to see prostitutes lined up outside the Tony Roma "House of Ribs," I am glad we sampled another side of this very big city. Some parts were depressing, but the neighborhood also has a lot of energy and an eclectic, international feel.
We went a little international ourselves by finding a South Indian restaurant with dosa, bhaji puri, and bengan bharta. We waddled home, stuffed and happy, if still a little bemused by our surroundings, and--finally--enjoyed a good long night's sleep.
ps: Hopefully at least one earth dog or metal urchin got the Hirax reference in the title. The world is a better place with you in it.
The after-dark street life of Bangkok is pretty manic (though nothing compares to the traffic of Hanoi!). Just about every imaginable TV show has been bootlegged and is on offer alongside crude t-shirts appropriate nowhere outside a frat house. While I can't say I was excited to see prostitutes lined up outside the Tony Roma "House of Ribs," I am glad we sampled another side of this very big city. Some parts were depressing, but the neighborhood also has a lot of energy and an eclectic, international feel.
We went a little international ourselves by finding a South Indian restaurant with dosa, bhaji puri, and bengan bharta. We waddled home, stuffed and happy, if still a little bemused by our surroundings, and--finally--enjoyed a good long night's sleep.
ps: Hopefully at least one earth dog or metal urchin got the Hirax reference in the title. The world is a better place with you in it.
That all sounds exhausting. I'm glad you found some good food at the end of the day.
ReplyDeleteI'm actually kind of fascinated by the extent and quality of pirating over there.
The t-shirts, I just don't get. They are made for tourists, no? What must they think of Americans? I shudder to consider it.
We'd have to take this conversation off-line to adequately describe the t-shirt selection. It doesn't get a PG-13 rating and four out of five Islamic republics would decry the influence of Satan were it to be more widespread.
ReplyDeleteOn a totally different note, Google in Vietnam doesn't have a "news" function. Oh, and the pirating is what might best be described as wholesale thievery... on 'roids. What are you looking for?
Whew, it was exhausting. And apparently I simply cannot take naps, even after an adventure like that.
ReplyDeleteAll I can say about the t-shirts is that it is not just Americans wearing them. Plenty of Europeans repping rudeness.
The pirating is pretty extraordinary. It's hard to find a guidebook, as one example, that isn't a copy from end to end. Oddly, some of the copied books have glaring typos -- must be some kind of character (non)recognition scanning going on.
Haha. Those t-shirts sound...entertaining. Maybe a picture? Just for me?
ReplyDeletere: pirated DVDs
Thanks for asking, but I think I prefer not to have pirated ones. The quality is often really bad. It's funny, before Twin Peaks was released on DVD, a friend got me a Chinese hack job. It looked like someone had videotaped their TV. I'm not kidding. I guess the technology is better now, but...
Oh, and OCR programs often make many mistakes, which is why a fluent human is necessary to proofread. Thus, the guidebook errors.
I am just fascinated. I wish I could go poke through those booths...
I'm jumping in late, but I like pirated movies made by aspiring auteurs in dark theaters where you can here their commentary and watch the people in front of them get up and walk in front of the picture.
ReplyDeleteNot really. But if I did, Rob's sole African-American male coworker would be the auteur du jour...way to represent, buddy!
Offline, people, offline! As cool as I think Salman Rushdie is I'm trying to avoid a fatwa here.
ReplyDelete