Does One Night in Bangkok Really Make a Hard Man Humble?
A day in the life of this incredible city. With pictures!
For the audio version of this article, read by the author, go here.
“One Night in Bangkok” from the 1984 musical Chess is probably the most famous Western song ever written about Thailand’s capital.
Please note: there’s definitely some stuff in that video that wouldn’t — and shouldn’t — fly today. And, of course, the song is sung from the POV of a Western jerk.
But I still think the song — the rap performed by Murray Head, and the chorus sung by Anders Glenmark — is incredibly catchy. This probably isn’t surprising since the song was written by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus of Abba fame (with lyrics by The Lion King’s Tim Rice).
In fact, the song is so catchy that I’ve had it stuck in my head for almost two months now.
The longer we’ve stayed, the more relevant the lyrics have seemed:
One night in Bangkok makes a hard man humble
Not much between despair and ecstasy
One night in Bangkok and the tough guys tumble
While I immediately found Bangkok fascinating, it’s also a pretty challenging city. The heat, traffic, pollution, and crowds are…a lot.
Did it humble me? Did I tumble? And which did I feel more of: despair or ecstasy?
Here’s a pictorial journey of one of my nights in Bangkok — and the preceding day too. Let’s call it May 6th. My actual May 6th wasn’t quite this packed, but I did do all of the following things during Brent’s and my stay here.
5:53 AM
Sunrise isn’t just the coolest part of the day, temperature-wise, here in Bangkok; it’s also often the loveliest part. So to start this day, I’m sitting out on the balcony of our apartment watching the sun come up over Bangkok’s fantastic skyline — and feeling very lucky for the life I lead.
VERDICT: ECSTASY
7:03 AM
One of the ways I combat the heat here in Thailand is to go out for early morning walks. So after a quick shower, I grab a Grab ride — Asia’s version of Uber — and head for Benjakitti Park. Thankfully, this early in the day, Bangkok’s hideous traffic is…slightly less hideous.
Benjakitti Park is a relatively new addition to Bangkok, a sprawling metropolis that desperately needs more greenspaces like this one. Walking under the quiet trees and along the serene water is a welcome relief in this city of eleven million people where concrete, neon lights, and honking tuk tuks rule the day — and night.
Visiting here girds me for the day to come.
VERDICT: ECSTASY
7:56 AM
Less than a kilometer from Benjakitti Park is Khlong Toei Market, the largest fresh/wet market in the city. But as I walk from the park to the market, I quickly realize that despite the close distance, the two places exist in completely different worlds.
Benjakitti is surrounded by glittering new condos and offices filled with prosperous Thai and Thai-Chinese — and a large number of rich expats. Meanwhile, gritty Khlong Toei isn’t just where much of working-class Bangkok gets its food from, it also borders Bangkok’s one true slum where people genuinely struggle to survive.
I’m fascinated by Khlong Toei Market, and I could spend hours more exploring it and snapping photos of live (and dead) chickens and fish, piles of all kinds of fruit, bags of rice, mounds of spices, and much more. But I can also never forget the privilege I have in viewing it as spectacle while most of the others here are simply working their asses off in the murderous heat trying to make enough money to keep food on the table.
VERDICT: IT’S COMPLICATED
8:45 AM
Bangkok has a fairly good — and rapidly expanding — public transportation system that includes the Skytrain and Metro. But from here, neither go to my next destination, Chatuchak Market, so I have no choice but to take another Grab.
Which sucks because it’s now rush hour.
At one point, we sit in the same spot trying to make a left hand turn for an incredible twenty minutes. Naturally, I desperately need to pee — and the temperature is rapidly soaring.
I’m seriously regretting ever leaving the apartment.
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