Cruising around Bangkok

By motorcycle taxi was the best way, I found. The many roads of Bangkok tend to grow congested at any hour of the day owing to an array of tightly woven bottlenecks on top of poor planning. One traditional taxi ride was all it took, and then in moving from one place to another I joined the hoard of beeping scooters dodging in and out of cars, forming their own tiny side lanes in a way you don’t think is possible, and yet, it all works again and again.

So that is one way to do it. You would also do well to walk and walk and take in a hefty portion of real Asia until you are tired and don’t want to take it in anymore. At the MPK Centre, for example, you are inundated by fake Calvin Klein underwear next to “I love Bangkok” shirts which is one floor above a million electronic stores built atop one another selling carbon copy Beats Headphones under 10 USDs and shady phone unlocks. Down roads like Silom, tailors call out for you to take a peak in their shop, next to massage parlors where ladies (and ladyboys) request you do the same. Then later at night, a visit to Patpong road, one of the more well known red light districts in the world, brings you face to face with Thailand’s unfortunate sex tourism industry. The oldest business in the world is on display in full bright colors, still going strong. “Every girl on stage is available for your ultimate pleasure,” one sign declared, and there were no doubt more than a few takers behind those seedy blackout curtains.

It was never too much, at least I can’t say Thailand was for me. On the contrary it seemed perfectly balanced, every terrible intersection next to a quiet alley, a go-go bar equaling a quiet cafe on the river. Buddhist thought describes the quest for a state of Nirvana, only achieved through the “middle way,” that moderate place between pain and ecstasy. It is hard not to see how this translates into the overall mindset of a people embedded in the day to day happenings of their lives. It was all peaceful in the chaos, something kind and soft spoken in the air. 15 million tourists will no doubt note similar attributes on their 2015 journeys, go back and tell their friends, ushering in next year's wave. I was lucky to be one of them nestled in for a few perfectly lit days in January under that lovely equatorial sun.