First impressions of Bangkok

I've been here now for a couple of weeks, enough to get some first impressions about this crazy city. It's beautiful, noisy, polluted, exciting, spiritual yet consumerist. It's a huge clash of Western and Eastern values, rich and poor, pure and debauched.

Here's a few things I've noticed so far.

1. Thai people are very sweet, respectful and friendly. Until they get behind the wheel of a car, or especially, on a motorbike. Then they become psycho killers and want to mow down all pedestrians that might get in their way.

2. You can't escape fish. Everything has fish sauce in it. The seafood is fantastic, particularly the prawns, which are always cooked to perfection (Tom Yum ruuuuules). On the street, they sell fishball kebabs, which are about as enticing as they sound. Or if you're feeling adventurous, there's always barbecued octopus on a stick...

3. Lady boys. Yes, I know, everyone's heard about lady boys, or katoeys as they're called here. The really strange thing about lady boys is mostly you just can't tell! OK, some are overdramatic, but mostly they blend in freakishly well. Mainly because Thai women are not very curvy, and Thai guys are not super macho. I guess it makes it easier to fake it.

4. Rich Thai people, a.k.a. "Hi-Sos" are really rich. The posh hotels here cost more than in Europe. There's quite a few swanky malls full of designer goods, which always seem to be very well visited.

5. Many places here have incredible architectural design, and venues for going out at night are very glamourous. Like this places for instance, called the Bed Supper Club. Early evening it's a restaurant, then they get rid of the chairs and it becomes a club - and yes those are beds on the side, for people to chill out on!



6. Shrines and spirit houses are everywhere. Outside most buildings, people have a little shrine to the Hindu god Brahma (not Buddha as I thought before), plus a tiny house that gives a home to the spirits of the land that was built on. People make offerings to both, like garlands of flowers, food and incense.

A shrine


A shrine plus a spirit house


7. If you don't have a shrine or a spirit house, you can always leave offerings at a special tree, similar to the old wishing trees you get in Europe.



8. Flowers are everywhere... Even in the most dingy and poor neighbourhoods, people still grow plants and flowers on their balconies.


9. Sweetness. There is sugar in almost everything in Thailand, even the fruit juices. They love cakes and ice creams, and there seem to be little patisseries all over central Bangkok! There's little street shops selling deserts which look slightly strange to me - tapioca pearls, weird bright green balls and strange little jellies that go into coconut milk or other sweet liquids...

10. And sweetness extends to the graphic design, the Thais seem to have a similar 'kawai' fascination as the Japanese have. Here's an example.