NYT article on Bangkok
 

I really enjoyed this article, as I expect other Bangkok-lovers will
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/01/t...le-span-region

I liked this article a lot and I will be sharing it. Thank you :-)

Thanks for the article, Kathie. Excellent. I’m going to send it to friends. As for Bangkok, yes, that’s the Bangkok that I’ve also come to know over the last 19 years and have experienced its metamorphosis, so to speak. I don’t look at Bangkok as a city to run through quickly and just check off sites. To me, it’s a place that has as many layers as an onion and is a place to be taken in slowly and absorbed in order to appreciate and understand it more.

As for the Sanuk, yes, it’s about the sanuk as that’s a governing force to get one through both bad times and to have a good time during the good times. My Thai friends talk about the sanuk.

I love when the writer talks about the Phi (ghosts) as that word, if the tone is changed, also means...Big Sister. When I was studying Thai, I got the wrong tone and accidentally referred to someone as a ghost instead of a big sister. LOL! When, I go into the restaurant of my best, Thai friend, here in L.A. county, I usually surprise her and she looks up and sees me and hollers from the kitchen, Phi!!!, and then comes running. She’s calling me big sister, not ghost. We regularly laugh about the 5, different tones.

I had to smile after reading the following, “Every night I walk down Soi 31 under the dark trees to the Eugenia Hotel....”

Remember, I did a report in my trip report, on the Eugenia, a good decade ago or more, as a Thai friend and I went there, out of curiosity, to check it out and walked that area. I think it had recently opened back then and was the hotel of the dead, stuffed animals although the hotel was beautiful. But, it made the hair stand up on my arms. It was on a sub soi of a soi and a soi, like going through a scientific rat’s maze.

The Eugenia is housed in a colonial style building in the heart of Sukhumvit. The Thai language school that I attended was housed in a traditional Thai-style, wooden house, but in the heart of high-rise Sukhumvit. I could walk there from my serviced apartment building, on soi 24 and when I got there, I felt like I was in a different world. Although, my Thai instructor would come to me, at the apartment for my lessons, I used to also drop in at the school.

http://baanaksorn.com

http://www.theeugeniabangkok.com

Below is one reason that Thailand remains Thailand and Bangkok remains Bangkok as it hasn’t really changed its core.

“ Bangkok is practically the only capital city that was never the heart of a colony, and so it has never changed its core in order to adapt to an outside power.”

Happy Travels!

Nice piece. I really enjoyed reading the author's experience.

fun read..

the bkk we love, but rarely see as we are tucked away at night in our 5* hotels, but we sense is alive all arounf us

Good read. Thank you Kathie.

I felt rather sad when I read the part about Istanbul. We were there before all this mess and thought it was a wonderful city. Indeed at one point several yrs. ago it was one of the most visited cities in the world and for good reason. So sad to see what it has become. :(.

My friends loved the article. Thai friends and I are out and about when I'm there, so go into all different kinds of areas no matter where I'm staying. Plus, I'm one to wander around plenty solo as I'm out, on foot a lot, and don't need to be in mostly air-conditioned environments. I was in Bangkok, for several trips, before the sky train existed and was on foot and in taxis getting to places.

A friend came to Bangkok, for the first time, during my 2014/2015 trip. We didn't travel together, but met up there. He was there for about 4-5 days and went out and walked for hours on end each day and also took different water vehicles in different areas. Then, he met up with one of my Thai friends and me and we took him out to some other places. One can see a lot if one is out walking.

Happy Travels!