Bangkok is a funny sort of place. I’ve been here a week and I still can’t make up my mind whether I am enjoying being in this city or not (this being different and distinct from my enjoying the research work that I have to do while I am here).

On the one hand, it’s not a developed, first world city like Singapore but it does have some really fantastic, modern shopping centres that I would say would put most of Singapore’s existing ones to shame. On the other hand, while the modern, developed bits of it look like it’s pretty much on par with Kuala Lumpur, much of the city’s infrastructure and urban life(style) are probably behind Kuala Lumpur by about 10 years. There are a lot of street vendors in the city centre - the sort that you used to see all over in KL but that are now pretty much confined to the Petaling Street, Masjid India, and Chow Kit areas.

Among these street vendors, are the local food outlets. The food at these places, as well as those in proper street level shops, are cheap - probably about ten to twenty percent cheaper than in KL. However, the portions are also smaller than in KL, so, in effect, I’m not sure if I’m actually getting better “value for money” here.

Furthermore, I haven’t seen so much pork on public display since before the Islamisation of Malaysia in the late 1980s (sorry, I couldn’t help the reference!!), and even then, there wasn’t that much pork on the streets of KL as there is here in Bangkok now. It’s obscene! There has been hardly a meal where I haven’t inadvertently had to eat pork. While I have no dietary restrictions against it, it’s not one of my favourite meats and now I remember why - it’s just plain vile in general.

That said, I’m not really eating all that much at the moment - the heat really does take my apetite away. And that brings me to the one thing that I do passionately dislike about this city - THE HEAT! It’s unbearable. VERY unbearable. If I thought that Kuala Lumpur and Singapore were hot, Bangkok has now made me reassess my impression. Not only do I think Bangkok is hotter than KL and Singapore, it’s also a lot more humid - the city is largely an agglomeration of concrete structures densely built, thus resulting in heat being retained within the city structure. It’s not pleasant at all. You may get some wind at various points in the city but it’s warm air that’s blowing. There are token trees planted along most streets but honestly, they are really token - they don’t really do anything other than make this city look quaint.

As such, I have been drowning myself in water everyday and therefore haven’t had much space in my stomach for real food. I think I’ve actually lost a couple of kilos since arriving in Bangkok a week ago. The other way I have been losing weight is through the “natural sauna” - I’m literally drenched in sweat all day. I used to hate this condition (when I was living in Malaysia) but I’ve now resigned myself to the situation here.

Posted on September 10th, 2006 by jl
Filed under: work