BANGKOK : Part 1
 

So, Bangkok. One of my favourite cities. It's huge, messy, noisy, dirty, colourful, creative and stylish. Perched on the precipice between wealth and poverty. Chaotic yet deeply civilized. And it feels like a true crossroads of the world, thanks to a melting pot local culture and a huge population of expats, traders, businesspeople, tourists and criminals from everywhere between Los Angeles and Seoul, Hong Kong and Lagos, Cairo and Berlin. The only other place I've been that feels similar is the Dubai airport.

I've been to Bangkok half a dozen times yet this is the first time I've posted any photos (aside from my Asia by iPhone thread from a couple months back). So here they all are, in three threads that span more than two years. I'm posting them in chronological order, starting in 2010. I will include a few notes as I go along.

We start around Chit Lom in a sudden and unexpected downpour – this is supposed to be the dry season.

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A fortifying meal before plunging into the crowds of the Chatuchak Weekend Market, which has about 5,000 stalls selling pretty much everything you can imagine.

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Chatuchak is like a miniature city; each neighbourhood has its own character. Section 2 is the trendy spot where girls buy high-waisted shorts and hipster blouses. Section 19 is where you buy flying squirrels.

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This is Asoke, a downtowny kind of area that is part office district, part entertainment zone and part sad-old-man-meets-Thai-hooker area.

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The dearly departed Ratchadapisek night market, where vintage collectors gathered to sell/show off their antique motorcycles, LPs, glassware and so on. It's now being redeveloped into a shopping mall. Luckily night markets in Bangkok never die – they just move elsewhere.

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Bangkok is criss-crossed by canals, which used to be how people got around, but the car is now king. Most of the canals are fetid.

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Apparently a majority of people in Bangkok have at least some Chinese ancestry, but there's still a big Chinatown, where I guess more-than-averagely-Chinese people live.

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Taxis in Bangkok are insanely cheap. Tourists often complain about getting scammed but as long as you flag down a moving taxi, rather than pick one that's waiting outside tourist traps, you'll do fine.

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I've never been anywhere with as big a hard-on for vintage things as Bangkok.

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Bangkok is an integral stop for Israelis on their drug-fueled post-IDF rampages across Asia.

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The BTS SkyTrain, which is pretty much a toy train serving a city of 15 million people. (There's also a one-line metro.) That said, it works, even if it's always crowded because the trains are too short.

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7-Elevens and their ilk are among the most important places you'll encounter in any Asian city. In Bangkok, they also serve as street food hubs and motorcycle taxi depots. Buy a beer, grab a meal outside and hop on a bike home. Brilliant.

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This is the Khlong Saen Saep, a canal that runs the length of central Bangkok. It's served by express boats – they're the fastest way to get across town. You'll see more of this in the next thread.

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Motorcycle taxi.

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Part 2 is next.

Nice portrait of Bangkok, thanks for sharing.

really excellent stuff. this city is on my shortlist for 2014.

Ah, very cool. I'll be going to Bangkok for the first time in September - this thread has me even more jazzed about it!

I would love to go there.

Your opening comments about the city were certainly fulfilled by the wonderful photos. Gotta say Bangkok may be too hectic for an old fart like myself. Still good to see this rascal. Thanks for the tour.

Amazing photos! Thank you for reminding me (us) what this site is all about. :cheers:

So well said. My exact impressions when I was there a few years ago. Such an exhilarating city.

Bangkok is magic.

Careful, kool. Asia can get its tentacles into you the way nowhere else can. The excellent street food, the motorized cacophony, the utterly seductive foreignness that tempts a Westerner to reinvent him or herself, the stench of a pile of rotting mangoes from the previous night's night market...it's easy to get sucked in by the romance of the place.

The best way to protect yourself is to avoid all novels by Graham Greene.

Nice. Man, I remember Bangkok being one of the first cities I marveled at on SkyscraperPage in like 1997.

Amazing! Need to get back there...

Excellent. I notice the taxis are far more honest now than my last visit in 2006!

Great stuff! The giant Jackfruit and wok of street pad thai is making me sooo hungry!

This is top notch. The market photos are especially good.

Thanks for sharing. Very evocative set of pictures.

It seems so humid there...

Definitely a place I need to visit. It reminds me of South Korea in the 1980's.

Fascinating! :) And great shots. I love the technique behind the ones of the people in motion.

One thread of Bangkok makes a hard man humble, so I'm looking forward to seeing what the next thread does. hah

Looks like Blade Runner with sunshine, and damn, you make it look inviting. I never had much of a desire to travel to Thailand, but I think you've convinced me otherwise.

Thanks!

Humid and slowly sinking.