Day 18 – Homecoming
I have been to Bangkok before, a four day visit back in the
late summer of 2003. But I feel like I haven’t been to what Bangkok now is. A
lot can change in nine and a half years, and in Bangkok, a lot has. Then again,
in nine and a half years, what I look for from a city has changed, and Bangkok
has everything I want from a city. I accepted that because of my tight schedule
that it made sense to limit my time in Bangkok since I had been there before,
but I haven’t really been to this
Bangkok before, and now I’m quite sad that my time here is so short.
The day started early, as my flight from Phnom Penh was
early at 8:30, and the distance between the Mad Monkey and Phnom Penh
International Airport is not that close, while the traffic makes it worse. Phnom
Penh International Airport is fine, but a shade below Dalat (who’s fanciness
still astounds me), but right there with HCMC airport. This was my first
experience on Air Asia, Asia’s premier budget airline. Asia works basically the
opposite of the US, where the normal airlines are luxurious and the budget
airlines are, well, budget. Air Asia tries to squeeze as much money from
extraneous sources as they can, charging to leave the airport on layovers,
charging for food and drink, charging for seats that have slightly more
legroom, charging to enter the plane first. In the US, the budget airlines like
JetBlue and, before it grew so big it forced the major’s hand Southwest, are
the only place to get any sort of luxury in US aviation. Asia doesn’t work that
way, at all. Air Asia was no frills (they charge for water), and it shows.
Thank God the flights that I am going on Air Asia for are all less than two
hours.
I arrived at Bangkok’s old main airport (Don Moeung), the
place that was the main access point into Bangkok when I came in 2003, which
was a nice sense of nostalgia. The old airport has one extremely cool feature,
as it has a golf course in between the tarmac and the runway – a playable golf
course, but the rest of the airport seems old, nothing like the fabulous new
airport. The old airport is best left in my 2003 memory of Bangkok, in a way. I
had to suffer through Bangkok’s other nuisance, its laborious traffic, for
about 45 minutes to get to the Mac Boutique Suites, tucked into Soi 7 off of
Sukhumvit Road, the main road in central Bangkok. I decided to take a break and
relax and wait for my mom to come back from shopping, lapping up the high, high
power of the Air Conditioning. When she got back, I was starving, both for food
and to experience Bangkok again. I was slightly disappointed by the food, which
I probably had set my expectations too high, but more impressed by city itself.
We were headed to one of the major shopping complexes that
line Sukhumvit Road, off of the BTS, Bangkok’s elevated Sky-Train subway. The
whole Bangkok Subway/Sky-Train system is modeled heavily after Singapore – the subway
is almost a facsimile – which is not a bad thing, as Singapore’s mass-transit
system is about as good as I’ve seen. When we exited at Chit Lom station, I was
immediately besieged upon by large, towering, glassy complexes, all in that
main area with covered walkways from the BTS to the entrances. These complexes
are quite staggering, towering 5-8 level buildings with large open concourses.
The first one we went to was called Siam Paragon, aptly named because it was
also the grandest that we encountered, containing every high-priced brand that
I know of. It also housed a massive food court on the first basement floor.
This food court wasn’t for me, though, because it contained gourmet restaurants
of every cuisine outside of Thai. There was also a row of higher priced
sit-down restaurants, still with few Thai options. This place was called ‘The
Canal’, due to the man-made ‘canal’ in the middle, where many of the
restaurants had man-made on-the-water seating. In the end, we got some snacks
at one of the few Thai restaurants in the food court, but it was still just astounding
to walk around.
We then walked through two more of these complexes. All the
ones in this area – between the Siam and Chit Long BTS stops – are accessible
through the walkway that connects the two stations. We walked through ‘C World’,
which was a large box with many more moderate stores and craft shops. There, we
bought dried, spiced, flavored shrimp and crab by the pound. Right across the
street was the large ‘Center World’, which is actually a complex that itself connects
three or four towers. The mall there is in-between the other two, with ample
middle to upper level stores, and a food court on the top level. There we had ‘lunch’,
at a place called Nara Thai. In a way, this isn’t the most exotic Bangkok
experience. Bangkok is known for its sprawling open restaurant stands, where
they cook meat/fish/seafood in the sauce and curry of your choice. The problem
is that these places are no cheaper, and sometimes more expensive, than the
sit-down restaurants in these complexes. So, it is hard to justify sitting in
the hot air eating food that is more expensive than that at the sitdown
restaurant. The food at the restaurant wasn’t the greatest, and didn’t match
what I remember the quality of food from my last visit, but was still pretty
damn good.
After our two-part lunches, I returned back to the hotel,
wanting to get some rest and finally get to use my real computer after three
weeks with a tiny little impersonation. I’ll give the tiny little impersonation
(a Samsung Netbook) some credit, as it does have a fantastic battery life, it
is extremely portable and I was using it to do way more things (torrent, watch
movies) that it probably isn’t best used for. Either way, I was quite elated to
be able to go back and use a computer with a large screen again. Our plan for
the night was pretty straightforward: a show showcasing the Cultural History of
Bangkok – you know, one of those stage shows that most cities have. The
difference here was this stage show, as I would find out, was really, really
good.
We left for the show around 6:15, and it required taking the
above-ground BTS and the sub-ground MTR. Both systems in Bangkok are clean and
efficient, but the one criticism I would give them is the two aren’t connected –
to take the MTR required taking a different ticket. When we reached the Thai
Cultural Center stop on the MTR, we emerged in a slightly different, but no
less impressive, side of Bangkok, one with wide streets and plazas, but the
same large, glass complexes lining the streets, and walkways above. We tried to
walk the .75 km to the place where the show – called Siam Niamita – was housed,
but were quickly lost in the maze of streets, so we gave up and hailed a cab.
The complex where the show is stages has a giant parking lot that was filled
with large tour buses, making me feel quite confident that this show would be
good. The entrance to the complex is filled with the usual tourist shops, but
behind is an open courtyard filled with life and excitement, including but not
limited to , elephants, the large beasts that would be a fixture of the night.
In the courtyard was elephant rides, dancers and other fun
elements that we didn’t have time to peruse because of the dinner buffet that
we were going for before the show. The buffet wasn’t great, but was probably
better than what one would imagine when you picture a buffet at a place and a
show like this. There was ‘European Food’ which is a fancy way of saying ‘American
Food’, and Thai food, and the Thai food was limited to fish and chicken, but it
was all tasty enough. The show experience isn’t about the food, but it is
affordable and convenient.
We then took our seats around 8:00, and were first asked to
stand right back up for the National Anthem of Thailand, played to music set to
images of the King working and appearing with the commoners. The anthem is
quite good, and a great introduction to the show. The show is really three
different performances that are all similar in style, large dance routines
staged in front of changing sets. The first is cultural dances showcasing the
history of Thailand, from the ancient Lanna people, to the infiltration of
foreigners from other parts of Asia, to the rise of the Khmer Kingdom, and
finally to the establishment of the Ayutthaya people in what was then called
Siam. All of these are interesting and different enough to establish a pretty
good balance between knowledge and entertainment. What really stands out, and
continued to do so throughout the show, was just how good the sets were. I
haven’t seen a set that has so many moving parts, so many set designs, so many
uses for the same buildings as this on Broadway. The best part was starting in
the Ayutthaya segment and continuing to the rest of the show, the foreground of
the stage is revealed to be water-filled, essentially making a river in the foreground
of the stage. It takes a while to even believe that it is there, but it is used
to great effect. The show really revolves around the multi-purpose use of the
stage, which, again is to a level I’ve barely seen on Broadway.
The second and third acts of the show are first about the
three levels of after-life in the Thai culture (Hell, a fantasy forest, and
heaven), and then a few looks at some cultural festivals. Both of these parts
were very good for all of the reasons the first part was good. The whole show,
really, is just excellent, a really good time and a great way to spend an evening
in Bangkok. Even though this was my only night in Bangkok, I am glad I spent it
at this show. When the show ended, the whole lot of us (probably around 1,000
people) emptied out into that courtyard, where we could take pictures with a
few of the performers from the show, which of course we did. Then we left, got
a cab back to the MTR station, and headed back into Bangkok Central.
My Mom and I decided to go to a rooftop bar (less exciting
than it sounds – as far as a fun club atmosphere sense) on top of ZEN, one of
the buildings that is tangent to the Central World. ZEN has 20 floors, and
floors 17-20 are rooftop restaurants/bars, the top two still under
construction. We went to the bar/restaurant on floor 17, which is like most
rooftop bars that anyone can imagine. On top I really saw the advancement in
Bangkok, a city now with moderately-tall buildings, all lit up nicely in a
clear sky. At the bar I had a Gin and Tonic – Tanqueray Gin, so chosen because
of its use of Stringer Bell as its spokesman – which was a great way to relax
my way through the night in Bangkok. We returned to the hotel around 12:00, and
I was ready to have a good night’s sleep. Bangkok is a beautiful city, more
modern than I think people realize, and my second visit to Thailand’s capital
definitely raised my perceptions of the city.
