First days
Wow… Bangkok is a big place. The whole process of landing in BKK, collecting my luggage and piling into a taxi was all a bit of a blur. I can’t even remember small details about it, I don’t know if it was my initial excitement, or trepidation of being in a non-English speaking country long-term.
I have to be honest, it might have more to do with the fact I didn’t really research BKK much at all. All my plans revolved around Chiang Mai, where I was going to live, where I was going to work, the expat community there, and what the locals were like. I spent hours, days even, meticulously pouring over the contents of blogs, wiki’s and books about Chiang Mai to make sure I knew everything there was to know about it. In my excitement about Chiang Mai, I totally forgot about Bangkok and was grossly unprepared.
Had I done my research I would have learnt more about the hot spots in BKK, co-working spaces, and good locations for accommodation. I would have also learnt the terminology about the roads, such as the main road for example is Sukhumvit, but the side streets (or Soi) have the same name but are numbered. I stayed at the Waterford, which is located on Sukhumvit 50. I was lucky as Sukhumvit is a main road and the Skytrain happens to run right down the middle of it, however I didn’t realise this till my last 2 days in BKK, and made the mistake of catching a cab in peak hour traffic on several occasions.
Shopping
Wow. The malls here are massive… and I mean MASSIVE. Back home in Perth, we seem to have this obsession with building out instead of up. All our biggest shopping malls are usually a single level, maybe two at the most, surrounded by an open car park that takes up more space than the entire shopping centre. Here the shopping malls go up five floors or more, and the parking is built alongside it going just as high, it’s designed to look like a part of the building. It’s a much more efficient use of space, and I really wish we had some progressive designers do more of that back home.
These places have everything that we have in the western world too. Mind you the prices for electronics tend to be a little higher (particularly camera gear), however things like memory cards and the like are cheaper than back at home. Just a word of warning, if you are looking for a multi-country power-board that actually works with Australian plugs, go the Belkin brand. It costs extra, but it works. I made the mistake of buying a cheaper one, only to get it home and have it refuse to accept my Australian power adapters.
Siam Paragon is the more upmarket of the two mega-malls I visited, it ranges from electronics to high fashion. It even had a store for Ducatis and one for Lamborghinis, with actual demo vehicles on show. This is the mall where people that have a high level of disposable income come to shop.
Terminal 21 is a quirky mall to say the least, but no less impressive. Every level is set up like the arrival terminal of major cities around the globe, with levels themed accordingly. Even the information desk girls are dressed up in airhostess uniforms. Electronics is pretty limited in this mall as it seems to cater more for fashion and accessories over anything else. However it does have one small camera shop on the top floor next to the cinema, and an open stall style store selling adapters and memory cards on the ground floor.
Somewhat overwhelming
It’s strange, I’ve felt a bit lost here to be honest, sort of… detached. Being such a massive city, it’s not exactly the place that makes it easy to meet people. The fact I’m living out of a hotel/serviced apartment as opposed to a backpackers probably doesn’t help either. I did meet up with a friend of a friend, and through him met a bunch of other people that were staying in the same backpackers that he was, but if it wasn’t for him it would have been much more challenging to meet people here. I’m a pretty sociable and open minded guy too, I happily walk up to strangers and strike up conversation, but everyone so far that I’d met here just seem somewhat… guarded.
The inevitable return…
Will I come back? Sure, I think I would like to come back. Since I’d arrived I’ve heard there are many cool things to do in and around Bangkok that don’t involve Khao San road and lady bars. I think once I’m settled in Chiang Mai, I’ll set aside some time to research what I would like to see and do in Bangkok, and perhaps have a crew that would be interested in coming with me. Until then… Good-bye Bangkok, it was… an interesting experience. I would say it was not what I expected, however, I didn’t really know what to expect in the first place.
B