When traveling, I have always taken the "around the corner" approach. That is, if Lonely Planet recommends an excellent Thai restaurant, chances are, there is a more authentic, more cheap, and more tasty option just around the corner. In Bangkok, when you turn right, then right again, you are there--around the corner. You are on a soi.
A soi is simply a small street or alley, but in Bangkok, it is much more than just pavement. It is a backyard. It is a town square. It is a neighborhood. It is Bangkok's home sweet home.
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It is Sunday morning in Bangkok, my favorite morning. I wake up early (for me:) and head out. My mind is still asleep, but my eyes are not. They are already well trained. They scanning the street for the ubiquitous fruit vendors. I step out onto the main street. Already tuk tuks and pastel-colored taxis line the street honking and chugging to a steady beat. Since it is Sunday, they are actually moving. (My program officer defined traffic in Bangkok as "sitting still for at least 20 minutes.") I frogger my way across the street. I am still looking for fruit, sort of. Really, I am just wandering.
As I walk down a smaller street, I pass several sois. I am curious, but a bit intimidated--I think it is that American feeling of proprietorship (since l don't live there, I am not invited or something like that). But finally I do take that right turn. I slow down. The tuk tuk beep turns into a bird chirp (seriously!). I pivot to avoid a boy riding his bike past me. I continue past a group of men huddled around a tv set watching soccer game. I pass women rolling fish balls. I am trying to soak it all in while still saying "Sawadee krap" to anyone I make eye contact with.
Then there is an interruption, a motorcycle turns down the soi in my direction. But quickly his motor buzz dies to a purr as he waddles on both legs around a women washing dishes on the pavement. I then figured it out: Bangkok, as much of a bang as it is, still, assimilates when it enters a soi. I guess that's what home sweet homes are suppose to do.
I surprisingly do not find any fruit down that soi, but that is okay. I will just turn right, and right again. Really, I am just wandering.
September 24, 2007
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Welcome to Ross's blog chronicling his time in Thailand. Here I hope to periodically chronicle my experiences teaching, living and eating and throw in some recipes here and there.
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