Saturday Morning
Posted by Stuart at 09:47 AM on January 24, 2004I am sitting outside of Au Bon Pain at Siam Discovery, having a very un-Thai breakfast of an egg and bacon bagel and a coffee. The air is surprisingly un-Thai as well; a nice cool clean breeze blows by. Two Thai ladies sit down next to me with their poodles. The dogs' thick, manicured coats strike a sharp contrast to the mangy stray dogs that roam the soi. It could almost be a spring morning in San Francisco, if you just move the skytrain down a few stories, color it Muni orange, and take away all of the motorcylcles screaming by.
Then, from out of nowhere, a large group of girls walk out across the Skytrain pedestrian bridge over by MBK. They are all dressed in bright red and yellow with face paint and spiky hair. Some of them are beating drums, others are just clapping and yelling and pointing at the cars on the road below. I have no idea what all the commotion is about, but it looks like a McDonalds commerial trying to be cool and hip but yet something has gone horribly wrong.
The girls leave the skybridge and I sit and I look around me at my neighborhood. (My apartment is just one block away from here.) It's a great location, truely in the heart of Bangkok. Just the other night I was riding Skytrain home from work and looked down at the theatre that is now across from me. It was opening night at the Bangkok International Film Festival, and Thai movie stars were wallking into the theatre on a red carpet and posing for pictures Oscar-style. At the very next stop, a dance troop was peforming the Chinese New Year dragon dance in front of a huge crowd. It just struck me as amazing that so much goes on right outside of my doorway.
Interrupting my musings, the red-and-yellow-attired, drum-beating, clapping and chanting kids walk by my cafe perch. I now see that even though they chose McDonald's colors, none of the uniforms actually say McDonald's. (What a relief!) I also see that the crowd is made up of not only girls but also boys. They all look college-aged and everyone is wearing exaggerated makeup and face paint with their hair all spiked and colored. I still have no idea what they are doing. Judging by the loooks on the faces of the Thai people walking by, they have no idea as well.
Ahhh... just another Saturday morning in Bangkok.
There ya have it. Sure enough, a few hours later I was walking through Siam Center and the entire place was full of excited college students in red/yellow or bright pink. I wish I had my camera with me.
I heard that the game starts at 4 PM. I saw this first group at 8:30 AM. Talk about starting the tailgate parties early!
- Stuart
Nice piece of writing, though Stu. For a minute I was there. You should really think about writing a book.
Thanks Buzz, very kind compliment there. The thought of writing a book has crossed my mind once or twice, but I always wonder what I would actually write about. Descriptions of a scene are one thing, but an interesting story line is something else. So far, the plot of my "Great Thai Novel" eludes me, but perhaps I will find my muse somewhere between the mangy soi dogs and the gilded temples...
Stuart,
There's nothing to do with McDonald. We are going to have the 60th traditional football match between Chulalongkorn Univeristy and Thammasart University at the National Stadium this afternoon. Red and yellow are Thammasart's colors and pink for Chula. So, all the people you saw are going to support their team this afternoon.
I'm sure Chula will be the winner this year! Yeahh!! Chula Cheer!
Piyawat
Chula Alumnus :P