Why I love BKK

1) Dad has lived there for 4 years, and his apartment on the 25th floor overlooks the Chao Phraya, River-Of-Kings, Cradle-Of-Civilizations, to which I painstakingly waited for this blurry(!!!) shot on the balcony during a midnight storm.

2) The people have developed a true culture and sub-culture and most importantly, an indescribable refinement in living that transcends income or education, reminding me of a certain pride that among Asians, only the Japanese possess. I'm aware of the persistant stigmas on Thais, and am certainly no Japo-phile, but I think we're all entitled an opinion.

3) You can eat at half the price and twice the quality of that in Singapore, and I'm not talking about Thai, but Seafood, Chinese, Japanese, Italian and French, and Cakes, by God. You know it when you peel back the foil from a huge seabass baked in nothing but salt and its own freshness, or when you scoop a tiramisu drowned in Grand Marnier, and never pay more than fifteen bucks a meal.

4) The clothes are stylish and cheap, especially when a sale is going on, which is all year round. Forget about the crap fake t-shirts that go for sweaty haggling at a 100 baht. I'm talking about decently cutting-edge local and regional brands whose clothes look good and don't fall apart at the seams after one wash. In fact, my whole wardrobe is from Thailand.

5) You can smuggle back illegal creatures in your pocket from shops who sell them to you complete with comfy little cloth pouches for that bumpy plane-ride. This time my friend brought back a frog-eyed gecko. Next time I'll bring back a Mata-Mata.

6) You can get a cheap and utterly Nirvanic foot massage.