So I finally did it, I took an exercise class...in Thai. It was quite the experience, so funny that I had to write about it. In Bangkok, I'm a member of the gym "Fitness World," which is conveniently right across the street from my house and also right next to the BTS. The walls are all glass, so anyone walking out of the BTS can see you running and sweating, quite the set-up.
Every time I go to the gym, before getting to the treadmills, I always pass the little spinning studio, the small black room that is always suspiciously empty. Yesterday, I decided to venture into the little black room and spin my heart out. As it turns out, the spin room doesn't stay black and dark all day. No, it doesn't have windows, it has a multi-color disco ball. The disco ball spins round and round, flashing different colors, creating the ultimate party...I mean, spinning atmosphere.
I walked in 5 minutes before the class started, but somehow I was late. The instructor in the front, wearing a towel on his head, was barking out instructions that I did not understand; I can only imagine they were to encourage the other spinners to go faster?I felt like I was in boot camp but didn't really feel the pressure of it all since I couldn't understand a thing.
My ability to follow the class relied on my peripheral vision, doing the glance to the left and right to see what other people were doing. Do I turn the resistance knob up, down? I navigated my way through the class as best as I could, but it was a bit difficult because it was all too amusing--the Thai electro-pop, the lighting, the towel-headed instructor all made it a bit difficult to focus.
After 35 minutes of spinning, I left the class to find Kate so we could grab some dinner. Much to my surprise, I found Kate on the couch outside of the "dance" studio, totally mesmerized, transfixed by the Thai dance students. Curious, I joined her on the couch to see what it was all about--it was a "hip-hop" class, with not one farang in the mix. I'm not really sure what kind of hip-hop this instructor was familiar with, but it certainly didn't look like anything I'd seen before--there were birdlike arm gesticulations, slides out of a 1970s movie, and weird stretching.
Amused and entertained, Kate and I went to dinner, contemplating what our next Thai exercise class experience might be....
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Bangkok Brief: Neighborhoods, Nightlife and an Overdue City-Orientation
I've realized that I've left out a lot about Bangkok in this blog, which seems to just cover my travels. To remedy that, I thought I'd give you a brief overview of Bangkok's neighborhoods and places I frequent, and a general overview of the city layout.
In Bangkok, there are main street which are arteries of the city--some of these are "Sukhumvit" (the biggest street in Bangkok, where the skytrain runs along), "Phahonyothin" (where I live), "Phetchaburi" (where Bumrungrad, the main hospital is), etc. Off of these streets are smaller streets, usually labeled with numbers: Sukhumvit Soi 1, 2, 3, etc. The even sois are on one side of the street and the odds are on another. Off of the main roads, i.e., Sukhumvit Soi 4, are smaller, but still big roads with names--every few sois is a big street. For example, Sukhumvit Soi 63 is called Soi Ekkamai, and Sukhumvit Soi 55 is also called Soi Thong Lor, but the sois in between aren't main roads. However, the nearby sois are considered part of the Thong Lor neighborhood. So, Sukhumvit 55, 53, 51, 57 are all considered part of the "Thong Lor" neighborhood. Off of these roids (soi Thong Lo, etc) are smaller sub-sois: Thong Lor Soi 1, 2, 3, 4 etc. This is the city planning of Bangkok, definitely not a grid, but a more "organic" way to plan a city, or so one of my friends here says.
Of the neighborhoods I know and am familiar with, most are along the Skytrain, so I'm going to give my overview as if you were looking at a skytrain map:
The main Skytrain line is the Sukhumvit line, which connects the famous Chatuchak market in the northern part of Bangkok to the Eastern neighborhoods like Thong Lor and Ekkamai.
So, starting from the eastern most: Thong Lor and Ekkamai are cool, more upmarket areas that are mixed with Thais (wealthy) and expats--there are a lot of bars in this area and the majority of the "cool" and trendy Thai clubs are in this area. Soi 38 is in Thong Lor, which is famous for having delicous street food into the wee hours of the night/morning, it's fantastic. Almost like a 24-hour diner in NY, but not exactly.
Farther west is Nana is one of the "red light" areas (crazy that it's not THE red light district?!) but it's also where many Indian restaurants, the big clubs (soi 11), and Little Arabia (Soi 3, where my favorite middle Eastern restaurant with Dave the waiter, is) all are. A tad more west is Phloen Chit is where I work, 1 stop away from Nana; I work right across the street from the US embassy and about a 10 minute walk from the Nigh Baazar (2nd best but still damn-good market in Bangkok) and Lumpini park, one of Bangkok's main parks where runners and aerobic enthusiasts (yes, they have park aerobics classes, it's hilarious) gather like clock-work at 5 AM and PM.
2 stops west of Phloen Chit is Siam, the center of Bangkok. As a center of Bangkok, it is obviously where all of Bangkok's enormous malls are (Thais LOVE to shop, it's like a sport here): Central World (the biggest), Siam Paragon (the most luxuious), Siam Discovery, Siam Tower, MBK (electronics galore), and Central Chidlom (department store where FoodLoft is, one of my favorite eating destinations; technically not a mall, and also technically a 5-minute walk away form Siam). Siam is a major stop in the Skytrain as and is where you can change trains to go south towards the Chao Praya river at Saphan Taksin, where all the nice hotels are, the Oriental, Shangri-La, etc, and where you can catch a boat up the river to Bangkok's main tourist sits like the Grand Palace, Wat Pho, Wat Arun and the famous backpacker paradise, Khao San Road. You can also take this Skytrain line, the "Silom Line," to Patpong, Bangkok's other famous red-light district where you can find ladyboy shows, alternative "entertainment," a night market, my favorite Mexican restaurant, and yes, more shopping (the Silom Shopping Complex and some other shopping complex).
If you were to stay on the Sukhumvit line and continue north from Siam, you would reach Victory Monument (I still don't know what the victory was). Victory Monument is a teenybopper's paradise and it's where many of the school kids gather after school. It also has, yet again, great shopping, food, and bars (my favorite jazz bar, Saxophone, and another rooftop hipster/jazz bar/restaurant). Also, one of the better night clubs, Club Culture, isn't too far from Victory Monument.
Farther north from Victory Monument is Ari, my neighborhood. Ari is a quiet, Thai-farang area (again, wealthy Thais). It's filled with cute restaurants, and a few low-key, cute bars that I enjoy frequenting. Then, just a bit farther north from Ari is JJ (Chatuchak Market), the largest open-air market in the world where you can find anything from clothing to home decor to art (I've bought many paintings and photographs) to leather goods to pets (dogs, cats, bunnies to rare pets like squirrels and other rodents, usually dressed in weird outfits which are meant to be cute).
I have ventured off of the Sukhumvit skytrain line, though many of the restaurants, bars and clubs I go to regularly are in these areas. Some other areas to mention though are RCA, a closed-off street, lined with big nightclubs which are Thai-farang mixed; Phra Athit in Banglampu, the bohemian area of Bangkok, not far from Khao San Road, filled with amazingly delicious and inexpensive restaurants, including my favorite Thai restaurant, Hemlock; and Sarasin/Ratchadamri, near Lumpini Park, where there are some cute bars and great restaurants, though to be fair, this area is BTS-accessible.
Hope this helps all of you who were starting to wonder more about where I live (and the heart of the current Thai political turmoil)!
In Bangkok, there are main street which are arteries of the city--some of these are "Sukhumvit" (the biggest street in Bangkok, where the skytrain runs along), "Phahonyothin" (where I live), "Phetchaburi" (where Bumrungrad, the main hospital is), etc. Off of these streets are smaller streets, usually labeled with numbers: Sukhumvit Soi 1, 2, 3, etc. The even sois are on one side of the street and the odds are on another. Off of the main roads, i.e., Sukhumvit Soi 4, are smaller, but still big roads with names--every few sois is a big street. For example, Sukhumvit Soi 63 is called Soi Ekkamai, and Sukhumvit Soi 55 is also called Soi Thong Lor, but the sois in between aren't main roads. However, the nearby sois are considered part of the Thong Lor neighborhood. So, Sukhumvit 55, 53, 51, 57 are all considered part of the "Thong Lor" neighborhood. Off of these roids (soi Thong Lo, etc) are smaller sub-sois: Thong Lor Soi 1, 2, 3, 4 etc. This is the city planning of Bangkok, definitely not a grid, but a more "organic" way to plan a city, or so one of my friends here says.
Of the neighborhoods I know and am familiar with, most are along the Skytrain, so I'm going to give my overview as if you were looking at a skytrain map:
The main Skytrain line is the Sukhumvit line, which connects the famous Chatuchak market in the northern part of Bangkok to the Eastern neighborhoods like Thong Lor and Ekkamai.
So, starting from the eastern most: Thong Lor and Ekkamai are cool, more upmarket areas that are mixed with Thais (wealthy) and expats--there are a lot of bars in this area and the majority of the "cool" and trendy Thai clubs are in this area. Soi 38 is in Thong Lor, which is famous for having delicous street food into the wee hours of the night/morning, it's fantastic. Almost like a 24-hour diner in NY, but not exactly.
Farther west is Nana is one of the "red light" areas (crazy that it's not THE red light district?!) but it's also where many Indian restaurants, the big clubs (soi 11), and Little Arabia (Soi 3, where my favorite middle Eastern restaurant with Dave the waiter, is) all are. A tad more west is Phloen Chit is where I work, 1 stop away from Nana; I work right across the street from the US embassy and about a 10 minute walk from the Nigh Baazar (2nd best but still damn-good market in Bangkok) and Lumpini park, one of Bangkok's main parks where runners and aerobic enthusiasts (yes, they have park aerobics classes, it's hilarious) gather like clock-work at 5 AM and PM.
2 stops west of Phloen Chit is Siam, the center of Bangkok. As a center of Bangkok, it is obviously where all of Bangkok's enormous malls are (Thais LOVE to shop, it's like a sport here): Central World (the biggest), Siam Paragon (the most luxuious), Siam Discovery, Siam Tower, MBK (electronics galore), and Central Chidlom (department store where FoodLoft is, one of my favorite eating destinations; technically not a mall, and also technically a 5-minute walk away form Siam). Siam is a major stop in the Skytrain as and is where you can change trains to go south towards the Chao Praya river at Saphan Taksin, where all the nice hotels are, the Oriental, Shangri-La, etc, and where you can catch a boat up the river to Bangkok's main tourist sits like the Grand Palace, Wat Pho, Wat Arun and the famous backpacker paradise, Khao San Road. You can also take this Skytrain line, the "Silom Line," to Patpong, Bangkok's other famous red-light district where you can find ladyboy shows, alternative "entertainment," a night market, my favorite Mexican restaurant, and yes, more shopping (the Silom Shopping Complex and some other shopping complex).
If you were to stay on the Sukhumvit line and continue north from Siam, you would reach Victory Monument (I still don't know what the victory was). Victory Monument is a teenybopper's paradise and it's where many of the school kids gather after school. It also has, yet again, great shopping, food, and bars (my favorite jazz bar, Saxophone, and another rooftop hipster/jazz bar/restaurant). Also, one of the better night clubs, Club Culture, isn't too far from Victory Monument.
Farther north from Victory Monument is Ari, my neighborhood. Ari is a quiet, Thai-farang area (again, wealthy Thais). It's filled with cute restaurants, and a few low-key, cute bars that I enjoy frequenting. Then, just a bit farther north from Ari is JJ (Chatuchak Market), the largest open-air market in the world where you can find anything from clothing to home decor to art (I've bought many paintings and photographs) to leather goods to pets (dogs, cats, bunnies to rare pets like squirrels and other rodents, usually dressed in weird outfits which are meant to be cute).
I have ventured off of the Sukhumvit skytrain line, though many of the restaurants, bars and clubs I go to regularly are in these areas. Some other areas to mention though are RCA, a closed-off street, lined with big nightclubs which are Thai-farang mixed; Phra Athit in Banglampu, the bohemian area of Bangkok, not far from Khao San Road, filled with amazingly delicious and inexpensive restaurants, including my favorite Thai restaurant, Hemlock; and Sarasin/Ratchadamri, near Lumpini Park, where there are some cute bars and great restaurants, though to be fair, this area is BTS-accessible.
Hope this helps all of you who were starting to wonder more about where I live (and the heart of the current Thai political turmoil)!
Monday, September 8, 2008
Chiang Mai, oh my! A Hippie Haven in the Thai Mountains
I've just returned from a lovely weekend sojourn to Chiang Mai in northern Thailand. In fact, this was the first trip I went on where, when I left, I didn't feel "ready" to leave. Some of my preconceptions of Chiang Mai were indeed correct, while, yet again, I was very surprised by other parts of Chiang Mai. I was expecting a cute city surrounded by some nice scenery--sweeping green mountains and rice paddy valleys, but a city without much character due to its status as a tourist hotbed. Tourist hotbed, it was--treks were plentiful on every street, offering a smattering of options from elephant riding, ox cart rides, and bamboo rafting, to hill tribe village immersions (more like cultural tourism or "ogling"), to visits to butterfly farms or tiger kingdoms--but despite the large tourism presence in Chiang Mai, it was amazing to me how laid-back it is. Chiang Mai is completely different from the hustle and bustle of Bangkok--it's a small, livable and easily navigable city (albeit sans public transport), in fact, by the end of my weekend there, I even began to recognize where I was and where things were situated in relation to places I'd been and wanted to go to.
In terms of it's personality, Chiang Mai, Thailand's second largest city, is more like Berkeley, California-- as my friend told me, it's filled with hippie expats who are into organic, vegetarian food and yoga (though of a more spiritual nature, not necessarily yoga as exercise) --this was readily apparent in my first few hours in Chiang Mai as I'd seen more vegetarian restaurants in those hours than in all of Bangkok.
And, not only are the expats different (or the expat stereotype: hippy or English teacher versus sexpat or business person), but the Thai people who live there seem very different as well, and the Thai community seems much more accessible to expats than it does in Bangkok. When we went out at night, we met my friends' Thai friends and students; I'd never been around this many young Thais before! Clearly, Thais and farangs seemed to mix more than they do in Bangkok where bars and other venues are usually "Thai" or "farang," though many of the farang bars do have Thai girls (not men and women). At one of the bars we went to, we saw two local Thai bands--one alternative rock cover band, one Thai hip-hop band--which was pretty cool. Maybe it was the place we were, but overall, the young Thais in Chiang Mai seemed more alternative and dressed like hipsters. Granted, I have seen Thai hipsters in Bangkok, but not this many and it they certainly weren't this pervasive (hipster was the dominant look amongst young Thais I saw). The Thais also seemed more interested and eager to be friends with farangs like us--they were friendlier and a few even came up to talk to us. Despite this Thai-farang mix, there still are "farang" bars in Chiang Mai; we went to one, but there was still a small handful of Thai locals, mainly male, who were just chilling out, talking to the farangs. Also, my friends there spoke much more Thai than I expected (my Thai is limited to key words and phrases) and the Thais seemed exciting and willing to respond to them in Thai; in Bangkok, most people want to respond or speak in English.
The Thai hip-hop band we saw
Now, on to the things I did in Chiang Mai. One day, I rented a car with my friends and we drove to this national park, Doi Suthep Park, right outside of Chiang Mai. We drove up the hill, stopping at view points along the way for views of the city, until we reached Wat Doi Suthep, the famous Chiang Mai wat with gorgeous views of the city and the park. We climbed the 306 steep, serpent-lined (artistic serpents, not real ones!) steps up to the temple from the car park. Unfortunately, it was raining by the time we got to the top, so we didn't get the best views and didn't get to spend too much time in the temple.
Me driving our car on the other side of the road
View of Chiang Mai after a downpour
The 306-step naga staircase
The nagas (Buddhist serpents)
After the temple, we continued driving up the mountain and drove off of the main road (it was quite a drive, tiny road filled with potholes along the edge of the mountain!) to the Hmong hill tribe village (the Hmongs are not the famous long-necked hill tribe for those who may be curious, those are the Karen). The village was surprisingly pleasant--none of us wanted to just stare at the hill tribe people amidst a sea of tourists, which is what we were expecting. However, this village didn't have many tourists at all, we were one of maybe 3 small groups. We passed through the village market, which sold mainly embroidered clothes and crafts, and went to the maintained stepped garden, where there was also a nice waterfall. It was very peaceful and serene and we didn't have any people haggling us to buy things. We were approached by an adorable little girl dressed in the traditional Hmong costume who offered to have her picture taken with us for the bargain price of 10 baht (about 30 cents). We, of course, consented, she was just too cute. After our token hill tribe photo, we headed out of the garden, through the village and back to our car to start heading down the mountain, hoping to catch a hiking trail before leaving. We did get to one trail which was short, but nice. There was a waterfall, a river and a bouldered area. After the hike, we headed back to the city for, what else, amazing organic vegetarian food! Delicious. Oh, and did I mention that I had vegetarian street food too?? For dinner. Twice. At this cute little night food market in the old city. The street food in Chiang Mai was delicious.
The terraced garden in the Hmong village
One of the statues by the waterfall in the village
Our 10 B photo with the Hmong girl
An interesting tree that we came upon during our hike
The night food market by Chiang Mai gate in the Old City of Chiang Mai
Day 2 in Chiang Mai was also lovely and relaxing--it consisted of a 2-hour yoga class, which, as aforementioned, was spiritually, rather than cardiovascularly bent. After yoga, we had an amazing, again, vegetarian lunch, though this time it was all Indian food. Not as good as the Indian in Bangkok, but half the price and so therefore wonderful. My day of luxury and relaxation continued with a massage and then shopping at a weekend "walking" market, a market along a street closed off from cars. I think I'm spoiled by Chatuchak market (the largest outdoor market in the world where you can get anything!) right outside my doorstep, so by comparison, this market was okay. I bought some pretty awesome, hipster-y sneakers and a scarf.
The Sunday walking market
Outside a temple at night time
People making offerings
A large Buddha in one of the temples
Another temple
Overall, Chiang Mai was fantastic, and I definitely plan to go back, if only for a culinary tour. Or perhaps I should just start blogging about food...
Stay tuned for more updates and stories
In terms of it's personality, Chiang Mai, Thailand's second largest city, is more like Berkeley, California-- as my friend told me, it's filled with hippie expats who are into organic, vegetarian food and yoga (though of a more spiritual nature, not necessarily yoga as exercise) --this was readily apparent in my first few hours in Chiang Mai as I'd seen more vegetarian restaurants in those hours than in all of Bangkok.
And, not only are the expats different (or the expat stereotype: hippy or English teacher versus sexpat or business person), but the Thai people who live there seem very different as well, and the Thai community seems much more accessible to expats than it does in Bangkok. When we went out at night, we met my friends' Thai friends and students; I'd never been around this many young Thais before! Clearly, Thais and farangs seemed to mix more than they do in Bangkok where bars and other venues are usually "Thai" or "farang," though many of the farang bars do have Thai girls (not men and women). At one of the bars we went to, we saw two local Thai bands--one alternative rock cover band, one Thai hip-hop band--which was pretty cool. Maybe it was the place we were, but overall, the young Thais in Chiang Mai seemed more alternative and dressed like hipsters. Granted, I have seen Thai hipsters in Bangkok, but not this many and it they certainly weren't this pervasive (hipster was the dominant look amongst young Thais I saw). The Thais also seemed more interested and eager to be friends with farangs like us--they were friendlier and a few even came up to talk to us. Despite this Thai-farang mix, there still are "farang" bars in Chiang Mai; we went to one, but there was still a small handful of Thai locals, mainly male, who were just chilling out, talking to the farangs. Also, my friends there spoke much more Thai than I expected (my Thai is limited to key words and phrases) and the Thais seemed exciting and willing to respond to them in Thai; in Bangkok, most people want to respond or speak in English.
The Thai hip-hop band we saw
Me driving our car on the other side of the road
View of Chiang Mai after a downpour
The 306-step naga staircase
The nagas (Buddhist serpents)
The terraced garden in the Hmong village
One of the statues by the waterfall in the village
Our 10 B photo with the Hmong girl
An interesting tree that we came upon during our hike
The night food market by Chiang Mai gate in the Old City of Chiang Mai
The Sunday walking market
The nice thing, however, about the Sunday market, was that it was in the heart of the Old City in Chiang Mai and therefore surrounded by temples. Chiang Mai is a fraction of the size of Bangkok, but has just as many temples as all of Bangkok. Just from my few hours in this area, I definitely got a taste of the Chiang Mai temples of fame.
Outside a temple at night time
People making offerings
A large Buddha in one of the temples
Another templeOverall, Chiang Mai was fantastic, and I definitely plan to go back, if only for a culinary tour. Or perhaps I should just start blogging about food...
Stay tuned for more updates and stories
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