Bangkok

A couple of friends of ours were holidaying in Thailand in April. We decided to join them for a weekend in Bangkok, about 2 hours away from Singapore by plane. Time to return to a grittier par of South East Asia compared to civilised Singapore!

Both Fabien and I have been to Bangkok a couple of times, so it was nice to simply enjoy the food, the atmosphere without feeling we had to visit at least three temples per day.

Besides enjoying the company of our friends, we went to the huge weekend market in the north of the city. The plan was to take the skytrain but we were mistaken by a station in construction so opted for a taxi instead (it was hot!) and got to experience Bangkok traffic. You can find everything in this market from antiques to tropical fish, clothes, food etc. However it is difficult to find your way around and I think we actually went round in a relatively small circle. We did see a surpisingly large number of stalls selling clothes for animals, dogs in particular....

We went back to the centre of town and had lunch in the brand new Paragon mall (did I mention how much I love thai food?) and then spent a leisurely couple of hours visiting the Siam Ocean World complete with sharks and mermaids. After such a day, a massage was a must and dinner of course.

The next day, our friends left for the beaches of the south, and we decided to take a tour of the klongs or canals of Bangkok. Bangkok was originally full of canals that were used as a means of transport. Modernisation has meant that a lot have been covered to make way for roads with congestion being a huge issue for the city as a result. There are some left however and it was a charming experience. There are still a lot of people living near the klongs and using boats as their primary means of transport. We stopped in the equivalent of a floating hawker centre. I got the impression that it was a favorite eating spot on sundays for locals. Definitely not a re-created floating market for tourists that you can otherwise find. We were sorry we couldn't stay for lunch! Another great weekend.

Hygiene

Found in our local hawker centre...

A bit of light reading..

I had the pleasure of discovering the work of JG Farrell through his excellent Siege of Krishnapur, a fictionalised account of the life of a British community during the Indian Rebellion in the mid 19th century. His last published novel before a premature death was The Singapore Grip which "completed" his colonial trilogy - his first novel Troubles being situated in Ireland during its war of independence.
Singapore is a pure product of the British Empire, being founded by Sir Stamford Raffles as a trading post and gradually becoming thanks to its strategic location the most prominent of ports in South East Asia. It is therefore a great interest to read a novel relating the final years of effective British rule in Singapore.
The Singapore Grip relates the sorrows and travails on the British trading elite as well as recounting the siege of Singapore in 1941. It is obviously partly parody - some of the characters do seem very caricatural of English colonial types - but the novel does a very good job at creating an atmosphere of "the end of an era" as well as a historically accurate account of the siege, and the belief that the Japanese would never breach "Fortress Singapore".
As a resident a contemporary Singapore it is also interesting to recognize place names and even some businesses (Cold Storage!). A lot of these places have drastically changed obviously, the three Quays (Clarke, Boat and Robertson) now only harbour revellers in their many restaurants and bars and would never have been large enough for today's container ships.
A thoroughly good read, old boy! Recommended to even non Singapore residents.