The title seems more jaded or pessimistic than I really mean to be. About nine hours after landing in Bangkok, I’ve re-realized that traveling through Asia is quite often a search for difference between the repeated, somewhat tiring images of humidity-worn concrete roads and high-rises, mega-malls and crowded alleys of knock-offs, and dubious-looking clothes and equally dubious English printed on them. I spent all of today in and around Siam Square (note to self and other travelers: malls and department stores will always have a place for you to securely deposit your large backpack for the entire day.) My mind played a constant stream of images from memory as background to the images displayed before me. (second note, or rather, disclaimer: my Asian travel experiences are actually pretty limited to Taiwan, Shanghai, and limited views from the bus of family-oriented tour groups in China and Japan.) So far, Bangkok reminds me most of Shanghai, in the way its sometimes glossy, sometimes messy behemoth boxes of department stores somehow sit on top of tiny street-side shops without crushing them. And in the way the bazaar-like knock-off department store sits just a few minutes’ walk from the one emblazoned with Versace and company.
Stepping into historical Bangkok starting tomorrow – and maybe finding that elusive difference.
