The New and the Old--Side by Side

Last week, Jules and I went to Siam Paragon and Central World for the first time. We were there to attend a free rock concert at Central World but we could never find it!! We wandered around for an hour at Central World which has huge Sections A-E and seven floors. It is brand new and parts are still under construction. We approached many security people and other official types and no one had heard of it--we even had the newspaper ad--finally, everyone decided it was being held the next day on the seventh floor in the D section.
We had enough and went down to the skyway which takes you to the other huge shopping complex--Siam Center and Siam Paragon. We looked down and saw a Wat (Buddhist temple) in the middle between these gargantuan shopping centers. Evidently they built around the Wat. We left the skyway and walked to the Wat. There were very young teenage monks there preparing for a festival. They were draping huge orange and white cloths around the Wat. The adult monks were in the Wat chanting. It was such a contrast between the ancient, unchanging, calm Buddhist way of life and the frantic, hedonistic, trendy, in the minute, accelerated "modern" way of life. It epitomized the contrast between old and new Bangkok.
We then made our way out of the Wat compound to the street in order to walk over to Siam Paragon. On the way, there were food vendors everywhere--of course--Bangkok feeds its 10 million people by having food vendors everywhere--I am not exaggerating--I mean every inch of empty space on the sidewalk is covered with food carts and stalls of every kind imagineable and some unimagineable. Jules stopped and got what he described as a super cup of Thai iced coffee--in a plastic bag with a straw, of course.
Then we proceeded to Siam Paragon. Siam Paragon is the biggest shopping center in the world for Rodeo Drive type stores. Name every hightone designer and jewelry store you can think of and they are all there: Escada, Dolce & Gabbana, Gucci, Salvatore Ferragamo, Armani, Cartier, Bulgari, Mikimoto, on and on and on. It also contains an IMAX theater, a whole bunch of regular movie theaters and an aquarium. We had gone to Siam Paragon before but hadn't got past the first floor food world which has about 100 stalls and restaurants of every kind of food you can think of--mostly Thai, Japanese, and Chinese, but also American and Italian. Every department store in Bangkok, no matter how small, has a food court. Even our modest Pata department store, right across Pinklao Road from our condo, has a food court. At each food court there are at least 75% of the vendors serving a full plate of plain steamed rice for 10 baht (about 25 cents), so I can always eat something. The Siam Paragon food court is beyond "choices"--try "overwhelming display." Did I mention that it seems no one in Bangkok cooks--literally, no one has a kitchen stove--maybe a rice cooker and an electric wok, or other electric appliance. Why cook, when the world is doing it for you, outside your door, everywhere. Squeamish about eating on the street--no problem, go into any store and go to their food court or many restaurants of all sizes. Or visit their supermarket--sitting next to every food court is a super market. Siam Paragon's is a super deluxe gourmet super market. We stopped there to buy Dr. Bragg's unfermented soy sauce. We were also looking for some good oatmeal--my allergy diet is a challenge, as always. Just like Costco, samples are everywhere. All the fancy stores mentioned were on the mezzanine, we have yet to go into the main part of the mall.
The central paradox is that it looks like people in Bangkok don't cook much because many of the kitchens like ours and others in the building and in many peoples homes are minimal and there all these restaurants and food vendors, so why are people shopping in the supermarkets that are attached to every serious 'department' store and mall.
This whole sojourn took about two and a half hours and we had run out of steam. So we headed upstairs and took the bus home. Another Bangkok adventure. Jules has already emailed the pictures that go with this entry.