The Big Mango
It’s the smell that you notice first. Then the heat, both immediately after stepping off the plane.
Almost 30 years ago, those two sentences kicked off the first of my travel journals, and they were talking about Bangkok. Like so many others on the aptly named Banana Pancake Trail, all clutching our Lonely Planet guides, I headed to Khao Sanh Road and cheap guesthouses. A local bus through crowded and chaotic city streets, followed by a few minutes of walking, brought me there accompanied by a couple of people I’d met at the currency exchange window.
This has to be seen to be believed. Market style stalls battle with food stalls, bars, guesthouses, jewellery shops and more. And travellers everywhere, as well as tuk-tuks. Walking down here for the first time is an experience. We go through the grounds of a temple The street behind is quieter than Khao Sanh Rd so we find a couple of rooms, eat and sleep.
Despite being a budget traveller centre, full of backpackers and businesses catering to them, we easily found a little Thai eatery for lunch the next day where we were the only Westerners among a packed restaurant full of Thai people. After lunch I decided to go and see Wat Arun and promptly got lost for the first time. By the time I left Bangkok bound for Koh Pha Ngan a couple of days later, I was already entranced by Bangkok. As far as cities go, it was very different to any I’d experienced before. Six months later I was back, having looped through southern Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore. I’d left Bangkok as a green, newbie traveller. Coming back for the second time I had a few months of experience including some fairly taxing bits of travel.
If I was entranced by Bangkok the first time I’d left, I was in love with the city the second. Arriving at 5:30am off an overnight bus from Surat Thani, I was only there for 4-5 days. It started out with arranging a very cheap flight ticket to Kathmandu, involved heading out clubbing with Thai people I’d randomly met, discovering one of the best vegetarian places I’ve ever eaten at, running around from one side of the city to the other to get stuff done, browsing bookshops, and having lunch bought for me in return for letting a Thai guy at a neighbouring table practice his English while we ate.
There’s something about the city that I’ve not experienced anywhere else, and it keeps pulling me back. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve been in Bangkok over the years, and there are still plenty of corners I’ve yet to venture. It took me until the 5th or 6th time there before I actually went into the Grand Palace, and probably the 15th before I visited a floating market. I’ve hung out with friends who’ve lived there and spent time in the kind of places locals know, been on buying trips in the markets with other friends who source products for their London shop there, gotten lost more times than I can count, and walked down countless alleys and lanes just to see what’s around the corner.
In 2003, when I was weighing up options about living in Asia, Bangkok was never considered. Something in my intuition told me that if I ended up living there, I’d probably come to hate it. So I went elsewhere, to another city in another country entirely. Bangkok stayed as my hub for travel in SE Asia, and my escape when I needed to enjoy the best food city in Asia.
Yes, the best food city in Asia. Many claim it but having been to most of them, nowhere is as good as Bangkok. I’ve eaten everywhere from street stalls to Michelin star restaurants, food courts to multinational chains, concept cafes to convenience stores. Other than a guesthouse kitchen that once brought me the entirely wrong breakfast, I don’t think I’ve ever had a bad meal. Even the airport has good food.
I was last there in 2019. For the first time, I didn’t stay in the Banglamphu area. My son was about 8 months old and we decided that being close to the skytrain made more sense. It was still fairly close to the river, down near Saphan Taksin station, and there was a great night market nearby. If and when I next visit, I’m not sure where I’ll base myself. Maybe back to Banglamphu. It’s not as convenient for quick transport options but it does have the advantage of being a place that a certain class of mostly male foreign tourists aren’t usually found in, and being as far away from them as possible is a good thing.
Asia has a lot of great cities. Tokyo, Mumbai, Taipei, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, Singapore, Delhi, Hanoi, Osaka, the list goes on. I’ve spent time in all of them and more, and if I never see them again, it won’t really bother me. Bangkok, on the other hand, I miss just thinking about it.
Bangkok is often in my mind. It is what's in the streets that captivated me. Also the food court in the domestic airport, I haven't seen any airport has so much choice of good food.
Nice piece, Craig (though I really feel you could write more, like you've only just got started!). I distinctly remember that smell at Don Muang as soon as the aircraft doors opened - the air was thick with humidity, sweet, spicy and putrid, a promise of all that lay ahead.