One Night in Bangkok
Before leaving Lumpini Park, we encountered some more curiosities (beyond the water monitors). The first was when a song began to play over the loudspeaker system and everyone in the park froze. It was like a giant game of freeze tag. Hundreds of people who had been jogging just a second before were suddenly held perfectly still as if by some supernatural force. As soon as the song ended they resumed their activities.
The Thai people pretty much worship their king. Apparently the song was the king’s song. We heard it again when we saw a movie (Avatar) in Phuket. It played before the movie and everyone jumped out of their seats to stand at attention while it played. Seeing this is very bizarre as a foreigner. The king’s image is all over the country, plastered on street corners and virtually every business.
Anyway, the other unusual thing in this park were the aerobics sessions that were happening. They didn’t seem to be official classes–just people who happened to show up. The leaders/aerobics instructors also appeared to be random people. The “aerobics class” pictured above was actually after dark. The only reason it looks so light is I did a 5 second exposure.
After the park we headed down Silom Road towards our hotel. Like most streets in Bangkok, things are a bit “different.” The sidewalks are in need of serious repair. Every few steps you’ll find your foot in a pothole. There is also an elevated, pedestrian walkway down the middle of the street–something I have never seen before.
We made a right turn on Thaniya Road looking for a restaurant. This is actually a red-light district so we got an eyeful of non-food sights. We didn’t see any Japanese people in the area, but, as you can see in the above photo, many signs were in Japanese. Maybe the Japanese come out later?
After dinner we went down Patpong Road, another “red-light” street. This one has stalls selling goods to tourists between the bars, strip clubs, and brothels.
We ended up with several silk, pillow covers from this place.
