The lure of Bangkok

In Bangkok, the elements of old and new, the local and the global, are inextricably linked — caught in a happy juxtaposition. Gilded symbols of a storied past have their places, as do the steel and glass temples of contemporary life. Jaunty food kiosks poised along the city streets still have a hold on a cross-section of Thai society — despite the profusion of eateries and the onslaught of upscale and concept restaurants. Spirit houses raised on wooden posts dwell within the confines of towering residential and commercial sites standing as guardians of peace and prosperity, just as they have since the earliest times. All of which suggest that the city may be firmly in the present, but will not leave the past behind. Rivers, canals and waterways remain a defining feature of life for this city of over nine million, although burgeoning skyways and infrastructure improvements are giving the city a new lift. Making your way around the metropolis can be a dizzying, if slightly disorienting, experience. Beware the sensory overload as Bangkok leaps between past and present, negotiating two worlds and two hemispheres at once.

Beneath the surface of a progressive society seen in the well-paved roads and network of expressways, the well-entrenched mall culture, the proliferation of high-rise structures and world-class hotels, lies the legacy of Sukhothai and Ayutthaya, the historic kingdoms that gave form to the arts and culture of Thailand. Sukhothai rose to power in 1238 and flourished for nearly two centuries, giving the nation its alphabet, as well as its classic Buddhist art and architecture. It was in the time of Sukhothai that King Li Thai culled 30 volumes of Buddhist scripture into a single edition known as the Tribhumikatha — the first Thai Buddhist treatise that had a lasting influence on the religious arts of Thailand. Ayutthaya, the next capital founded in 1350, endured for over 400 years, serving as a major center for trade in Southeast Asia and giving the nation its most elaborate art forms, ceremonial crafts and rituals.

If there is any aspect that unites Thailand and imbues it with a sense of continuity and purpose, it is to be found in the past. The past is keenly felt in the present and is never really far behind. Bangkok was founded on the banks of the Chao Phraya River in 1782 by Rama I, founder of the present Chakri dynasty, and whose descendants rule over a kingdom of over 62 million people today. Revered as god-kings, each of the nine rulers are known as "Rama" and are believed to be an incarnation of the Hindu god, Vishnu. Each is an heir to complex Brahmin rituals that came to Thailand during the Ayutthaya period and continue to co-exist alongside the practice of Buddhism. Cultural adaptation taken from a rich heritage or from beyond its borders is characteristic of Thailand and one that underlies the dynamism of the nation. King Rama I recreated the splendors of Ayutthaya in the new capital of Bangkok, surrounded by old courtly traditions and holding absolute power over all matters of the state as the kings of Ayutthaya had done. Yet he revived the concept of monarchy in the Suhkothai period — that of a benevolent ruler who was accessible to the people and cognizant of their needs. King Mongkut and King Chulalongkorn, the country’s most beloved and visionary monarchs, set the nation on the path to modernity. While the system of absolute monarchy died with the establishment of a popular government following the coup d’état of 1932, today’s reigning monarch, King Bhumiphol Adulyadej, and his wife, Queen Sirikit, preside over the kingdom in the paternalistic style of their predecessors. King Bhumiphol is widely credited with the expansion of rural and agricultural projects, while Queen Sirikit has been the guiding spirit behind the revival of traditional crafts that have gone a long way in providing skills and income opportunities for villagers and women in particular. The monarchy, above all, serves as a unifying force in times of political and economic uncertainty. The monuments built by the Chakri kings, such as the Grand Palace and the Temple of the Emerald Buddha, are the temporal and spiritual symbols of the kingdom and its deeply-rooted Buddhist faith recalling the spiritual nature of the Sukhothai Kingdom and the glories of Ayutthaya. The Chao Phraya River and its environs, still Bangkok’s most alluring locale, was once the main artery of trade and commerce and the way to Ayutthaya. The royal city at its height in the 17th century was said to be larger than London during the same period and equally as cosmopolitan. This fortified island city, founded in the Chao Phraya river valley, later came to symbolize the golden age of Thai culture. The river that flows from Ayutthaya down to Bangkok remains a conduit of commerce. Situated along its scenic banks are some of the world’s finest luxury hotels and among the many exponents of Thai cultural heritage. Each offers a fine sampling of cultural high points. At Bangkok’s venerable Oriental Hotel, a comprehensive course on Thai culture and the four-day Thai cooking course are led by experts in the field. The nearby Shangri-la Hotel offers daily excursions to Ayutthaya. Specialized tours to heritage homes turned museums, such as the Suan Pakkad Palace or the former residence of Prime Minister Kukrit Pramoj, half-day courses on the art of fruit-carving and preparing traditional Thai desserts are among the enticing packages offered by the Peninsula Academy across the river at the Peninsula Hotel.

Old rice barges holding leisurely dinners and floating discotheques glide up the river past the architectural highlights of the old city — the Royal Barge Museum, the headquarters of the navy, the Portuguese and French Embassies, a Hindu temple and the various high-rise structures of recent years. The river bustles with activity, suggesting that Thais have long understood the link between culture and commerce. From the night bazaar of Suan Lum to street-side stalls of Silom Road to the all-encompassing Chatuchak market, commerce thrives and bargains abound along with hefty doses of Thai life. At Chatuchak alone, you can lose yourself among some 15,000 stalls covering an area of 120,000 square meters crammed with just about anything from winged and endangered species to export quality goods. With the staggering array of furnishings and decorative objects found here, you can set up house in record time and well below budget. Like Bangkok itself and much of Thailand, the fun is in the hunt, in the discovery and in the encounters that linger in the mind.

The feel of old Asia lives on in Chinatown — an enclave of traditional shop houses, alleys packed with street bazaars, temples, gold shops teeming with chains and necklaces, old pharmacies selling traditional health remedies. Heading north, just across the Grand Palace, the open field of Sanam Luang belongs to Thailand — shaded by tamarind trees and bounded on the opposite side by the city’s cultural and educational landmarks, the National Museum and the National Theater, Thammasat and Silpakorn universities. Along Rajadamri Road in the central business district lies the Erawan shrine — a Hindu temple jammed with devotees bearing floral garlands and offerings of smoking incense to honor Hindu deities. In the most startling of contrasts, the shrine shares corner space with the Erawan Boutique Mall, a shrine of high fashion housing designer names such as Club 21, Burberry and Marni. At Khao San Road, a street party is in full swing in this former backpackers’ strip. The lively outdoor and indoor bar scene draws a mixed crowd of international travelers, Thai students and urban professionals. From end to end are amusements of all sorts — cyber cafés, coffeehouses, fast-food outlets; vendors hawking T-shirts, curios, mouthwatering barbecues, Thai noodles and pancakes. If the humidity or the crash of humanity hits fever pitch, then repair to the cool and tranquil setting of the Zuk bar at the Sukhothai Hotel on Sathorn Road. Graceful silk-covered walls and bronze-sculpted figures of Thai musicians soothe the senses as you unwind to the mellow lounge music. Should the need arise to take some distance from the heady sights of Bangkok, then take off for the beaches of the Southern coast, ringed with limestone cliffs and secluded lagoons; or for the seaside hideaways of Hua Hin; or the hill resorts of Chiang-Mai and Chiang-Rai that promise adventures in the Northern mountains amid the vestiges of the 700-year-old Lanna culture.

"Amazing Thailand." So goes the Tourism Authority of Thailand’s promotional pitch, a land blessed with the bounties of nature, with diversions to suit all tastes and budgets, bursting forth with creativity and exuberance. There is, for one, a thriving contemporary art scene that has taken root in Bangkok and is best expressed in a new Thai design style — which runs the gamut from homes featured in glossy magazines and coffee-table books, to renovated hotel spaces, trendy boutiques, bars and restaurants scattered all around the city. In Contemporary Thai, author of design and interior books Wongvipa Devahastin Na Ayudhya captures the vibrancy of the new design vocabulary that looks inward as well as outward, that is open to various design influences while strictly adhering to master craftsmanship. In many ways, this outlook is one that reflects current global design perspectives. Leaf through the pages and see the deftness and artistry that go into the melding of age-old traditions with contemporary aesthetics. The art of lacquering, basketry, woodcarving and textile weaving finds wide application in this new design style — turning up in luxury hotels, embassy residences and homes around the world. The elements of Thai design — be they Jim Thompson silks, old scripture cabinets, or the Yan Lipao baskets woven by Muslim craftsmen in the South — stimulate the ongoing design dialogue between East and West. Cultural adaptation is not new to Thailand; history is replete with examples. Sukhothai, once an outpost of the Khmer Empire, imbibed many aspects of the Khmer culture and its art forms, later giving rise to a distinct Thai style, widely known for its simple and sublime forms. The Kingdom of Ayutthaya integrated the art forms of Suhkothai in its vast empire, even as it valued more ornate ways of expression — fusing Cambodian, Indo-Persian, European, Burmese and Sri Lankan artistic elements. Old Bangkok in the Rattanakosin district was based on the model of Ayutthaya. The Grand Palace, Bangkok’s most famous monument, melds Western classical buildings alongside classical Thai structures. The summer palace at Bang Pa-in, formerly a retreat of the Kings of Ayutthaya, is a sprawling complex that features an amalgam of design styles and periods built by King Rama V, including the Greco-Roman, the Italian, the Victorian and a replica of the Imperial Palace in Beijing set in a lake-filled garden. Such diverse architectural statements reflected a growing fascination with foreign cultures in 19th-century Bangkok led by King Chulalongkorn and a rising class of merchants.

The streets of Bangkok are awash with their own stories. In and around the central business district of Lumpini-Pathumwan, the signs of onward movement are undeniable. Modern structures line the main roads of Rajadamri and Wireless. But turn into one of the side streets and you enter a time warp — where gated townhouses and bungalows poised around quaint restaurants are a throwback to the 1950s and ’60s. Tucked away in the side streets of the commercial Sukhumvit district, old homes with a distinctly colonial feel, decked with patios and wraparound gardens, have been fashioned into theme restaurants. Crepes and Co. is the only crêperie in Bangkok that boasts of North African specialties. Mes Amis offers strictly French cuisine prepared by a pair of chefs trained in the top kitchens of Paris. Street fare flourishes everywhere and is no less tempting — rice topped with simmered curries and stir-fired delicacies infused with aromatic herbs; grilled, skewered meats and seafood; coconut ices laced with roasted peanuts, sliced jackfruit and condensed milk; fresh fruit juices and bittersweet iced coffee. Such are the staples of street kiosks and roving vendors. Such makes for informal gathering places — a refreshing counterpoint to the confines of the workplace, a window for some fun in the day — part of what the Thais call sanuk.

Sanuk is all about living life to the fullest — from taking in Bangkok’s temple fairs to being dazzled by the Loi Krathong — a festival of flower floats and votive candles that spells pure visual splendor, reliving a legend from the Sukhothai period. Spying the mall scene at MBK or Siam Center, stopping for refreshing traditional herbal drinks or energy tonics from one of the many roadside vendors. Enjoying a noodle repast around the alleys of Chinatown at 2 a.m. Sampling the communal dining spots of Suki or Daidamon, jazz and Cole Porter selections at the Diplomat bar, lounge music at the Zuk bar.

Festivals are much-awaited events in this city. At the Thai New Year celebration of Songkran, revelers douse each other with water as a symbol of purification — all done in the spirit of merrymaking. The light and sound shows at the River of the Kings and the dazzling royal barge procession recall Thailand’s illustrious past. Yet you can very well leave all these familiar haunts behind and step into a new scene where a different sort of sanuk is to be had.

Global trends are making their presence felt at the happening spots of Playground and H1 in the upper reaches of Thong Lor in Sukhumvit. At Playground, witness a veritable funhouse for the young and hip crowd. The concrete and exposed-beam structure is an outpost for a new wave of local design talents who turn out fashions in the vein of Helmut Lang, Jill Sander and Balenciaga as well as home accessories in an international style. The European-inspired coffeehouse Vanilla and the living room atmosphere of Kuppa restaurant lend the place an eclectic appeal. The scene buzzes with an up-to-the-minute vibe as DJs spin mind-numbing techno music in an indoor courtyard and weary shoppers plop themselves down on a cluster of beanbags. Further up the road, H1 is a sanctuary of minimalist chic and calm. White post-modernist buildings with floor-to-ceiling show windows reveal alternative ways to while away an evening. The bar-restaurant To Die For is all subdued lighting, jewel-toned furnishings and lounge music. Outside the automatic glass doors, twin niches on opposite ends feature reclining beds set within a border of miniature trees. Across the way is a graphic design and art bookshop that stocks hard-to-find titles such as Irving Penn on Issey Miyake, or a collection of black and white industrial images by the multi-awarded Brazilian photographer Sebastian Salgado. At Geo, a gift shop of garden accessories, note cards and wrapping paper in lively botanical and floral prints, you feel as though briefly transported to the Left Bank of Paris. You know you are in Bangkok, though, when browsing through the menu at To Die For, Thai favorites appear along with Western fusion fare. This, after all, is a nation that loves its food and regards eating as something of a national pastime. Thai cuisine at its finest is a much-cherished aspect of this culture. At the Oriental cooking school, chef-instructor Chalie Amatyakul once told us during the Thai haute cuisine class that some of the recipes he prepared that day harked back to the court of King Rama V. Many other lofty recipes were reprinted during the cremation of well-known chefs so that culinary traditions were passed on to succeeding generations. Back at H1, you think of the evolution of Thai cuisine — enjoying wide international acclaim, layered with a harmony of flavors, melding Indian and Chinese influences — an integral part of Thai life, of cultural identity, of sanuk.

Leaving H1, you’re caught in another time warp. Heading down Thong Lor, the long street zings with a flair that is new and yet unsettled — a bridal shop here and there, a design mart of contemporary furniture and decorative items, a log cabin that houses a variety of eateries, more theme restaurants and bars. Back on the main road of Sukhumvit, symbols of the old city as well as the new reemerge — makeshift stalls, storefronts that look decades-old, high-rise structures, construction sites, shopping malls, and the ubiquitous 7-Eleven. "An escape in Sukhumvit" says the slogan of H1 — a world away from the frenetic side of Bangkok, yet still a part of it. Divergent realities live and thrive in this city in a strangely appealing way — somewhat disconcerting, but always fascinating. For here is a city that welcomes all, embraces all, yet fiercely holds on to all that it is.

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Essay taken from the book Between East and West written by the author.