The Bionic Salesman
A Journey around Thailand
Ah, Thailand at last – land of beauty, smiles, elegant beaches and unfathomable ways. I’ve been here a few days now and I already feel I know something of the country’s fine traditions. I know, for example, that at four thirty every Friday, the people of Bangkok like to get in their cars and park them in the streets with the engines running. I’ve already learned not to go anywhere on Friday afternoons.
I’ve taken a liking to the little streets of boutiques and restaurants in Siam Square (see pix). This is the city’s good side – indigenous, young, vibrant and creative. I walked there for ages. Bought some crispy pork and an Itchy (or is it Scratchy?) T-shirt. Couldn’t resist a smirk when I got to “Miss Puke’s” massage parlour.
I’m staying at Sukhumvit Soi 11, which is an extraordinary tapestry. At one level it’s all Austin Powers, with its 1970s tailors and shabby foot massagers. But it’s also a lesson in creative expediency. In the evenings, the street is lined with mobile shops: not just your average street hawker – there’s mobile bars, mobile travel agents, a mobile bureau de change.
And then on top of all that, the whole area is copy heaven. Videos, sunglasses, Cialis, Viagra, Hello Kitty, Spongebob Squarepants – all fake and all laid out on hawkers’ tables packed so close they bring the pedestrian traffic to a standstill.
Next to the Cialis and Viagra, there are boxes of something called “Vigor Element”. It screams mid-life crisis. Soi 11 is probably the ideal place to have one.
