sukhumvit
road in the early 1970's: first encounters
-
chuck wao
More
than thirty years ago, and paraphrasing the late Spike
Milligan, I received a cunningly-worded invitation from
my government to participate in a small skirmish that
they'd managed to get involved in across Indochina and
Vietnam. As tempting as a paid holiday in an exotic tropical
destination may sound, the long and the short of it was
that it wasn't much fun at all.
Some
of the locals weren't very friendly to begin with. Their
idea of a welcome was a pit lined with sharpened bamboo
spikes. Some crazy bastard had sold them guns, too. As
I have been constantly reminded over the intervening three
decades, the combination of high Asians and high explosives
is not exactly a match made in heaven (although it often
ends up there). To emphasise this, I recall a report that
concluded that nearly 300 people in Thailand died in "accidents"
attribued to fireworks and guns on a recent New Year's
Eve. If another nation ever wanted to invade Thailand,
the simple solution would be to declare war on them on
New Year's Eve.
Clearly,
being involved in a war in Vietnam in the '70's was definitely
dangerous. But not as dangerous as our R&R visits
to Thailand.
It
all started when our "transport" arrived at
U-Tapao (not far from the then-embryonic resort town of
Pattaya). I hesitate to call it a plane; while it did
have wings and propellers, it lacked all the other things
one normally associates with air travel, such as proper
seats, private toilets, charming stewardesses, and endless
large tumblers of cognac. As an airline it was distinctly
lacking, not even as much fun as the "non-existent"
Air America that Mel Gibson so famously flew for.
The
journey along Sukhumvit from U-Tapao to Bangkok in those
days took about four hours. In an old Datsun taxi, with
one small taxi driver, three or four big blokes, and their
military duffel bags.
One
interesting feature of these taxis was that they had see-through
floors. (My guess is that they were inspired by those
glass-bottom boats used for floating over coral reefs...
or maybe not.) You could actually watch the road flashing
by through the rust holes in the floor. Which was preferable
to watching your life flash by as the driver dodged ten-wheel
trucks, noodle vendors, and motorcycles as he edged out
into the oncoming traffic on the two-way road. "Sparkling
overtaking performance" is certainly not a phrase
you'd use to describe the response of an ancient, badly-maintained
1.5 litre Datsun engine encumbered by the weight of four
soldiers and their gear.
From
memory the only thing vaguely resembling a safety device
was the bottle of Jack Daniels which we passed around
with ever-increasing frequency. In this 21st Century,
with elevated highways and by-passes that avoid major
towns, it's at least a lot quicker, if not necessarily
safer. I've seen the results of single-car accidents in
the middle of long straight sections of the elevated expressway
that would have Evel Knievel scratching his head in total
bewilderment. "How the hell do they do that?!"
When
we (finally) arrived in Bangkok, there were more dangers
to face. Such as crossing Sukhumvit Road on foot. It occurred
to me at the time that despite having been shot at, travelling
in dodgy aircraft and helicopters, the threat of land
mines and the aforementioned bamboo spikes, etc., the
most dangerous thing I had ever done in my life was cross
Sukhumvit at street level.
Back
then Sukhumvit was resolutely "two-way", as
opposed to the currently official "one-way"
but in reality "one-way but slightly two-way"
system. There were also no overhead walkways, let alone
the handy BTS stations which offer further opportunities
to go above, rather than through, the traffic. There were
no median strips either, which meant that u-turns, the
fundamental building block of all Thai driving techniques,
could be (and were) performed anywhere, at any moment.
I can't remember how many lanes were actually painted
on the road, but it was actually about 67 lanes wide,
if you counted the sidewalks which always offered an alternative
for the driver or rider who was seriously pressed for
time.
So
crossing the road became a Houdiniesque-like challenge
of truly daunting dimensions. The love-of-your-life-to-be
was waving and smiling at you from the door of the Mary
Rose bar across the street, but to get there you had to
navigate a thousand cars and pick-ups, twice as many motorcycles,
belching coal-fired steam buses (you can't get those kind
of fumes from internal combustion engines, can you?),
and swarms of other pedestrians, all on their own secret
navigational agendas. There were only two answers. Either
adopt the time-honoured Thai method of crossing the road
by osmosis, which involves spinning your head around like
the kid in the Exorcist, looking everywhere at once, while
sliding between the almost non-existent spaces between
vehicles and people, dodging and darting your way in one
fluid motion until you reached the other side. Or you
could find a bar on your side of the road. Sorry, ti lac.
Of
course, we're all led to believe that it has changed a
lot since then. Well, maybe the city-end of Sukhumvit
has, but I can assure you that there are parts of town
where crossing the street still presents the same kind
of challenge. My theory is that Thais will ultimately
evolve like Chameleons. Each eye will pivot separately,
allowing a 360 degree field of vision, enabling them to
look both ways at once. If I was Thai or I thought my
family would be living here for eternity, I'd be trying
to evolve this physical feature as soon as possible. Like
next week.
Motorcycling
along Sukhumvit, and by that I mean being anywhere near
one, not necessarily riding one, is also dangerous. I
have owned motorcycles, mainly slow, chugging ones like
old Triumphs and BMW's, ever since I've lived here. I
still ride now and again and, touch wood, have never been
involved in any accidents, bar one which I shall elaborate
upon in a moment. I attribute my motorcycling longevity
to the fact that I resolutely refuse to adopt local riding
styles. My mirrors face outwards so that I can actually
see what's behind me. I don't perch a 250 baht G.I. Joe
toy helmet backwards on the top of my head. And I don't
take my entire family, including grandmother and dogs,
out on the bike all at once.
My
one and only motorcycle mishap here happened on Sukhumvit
Road, needless to say. After all, it is the road that
connects all the bars, pool halls and short-time motels.
When
you're relatively young and new to Bangkok, it's perhaps
inevitable that your social life is inextricably intertwined
with bars and drinking. A lot of drinking.
On
the particular night in question, I was due to head off
to a party celebrating the completion of the photography
for a book entitled "7 Days In The Kingdom",
which may grace some of your coffee tables to this day.
Jumping onto my lovely '72 Triumph Bonneville, a glance
at my watch revealed that I was going to be unfashionably
early if I headed straight to the party in Soi 20. So
I thought I'd pop into Cowboy for a drink or two on the
way.
Needless
to say, the drink or two escalated into a drink or two
hundred, many of them particularly nasty numbers like
straight shots of gin and Ricard. When I next glanced
at my watch it was near midnight, and I suddenly remembered
I had a party to go to.
Getting
from Cowboy to Soi 20 involves two corners, a left from
Asoke into Sukhumvit and a right into Soi 20 itself (you
could do that back then). I roared off out of Cowboy,
twin cylinder engine beautifully on song, wind in my hair
(no helmets back then either), got to the first corner,
and fell off. With no assistance at all (except perhaps
from my old friend Mr. Jack Daniels). No damage to the
bike, but lots of damage to me (none the least of which
was to my pride, because I performed this feat in front
of about 200 people waiting for the bus on the corner).
I did finally limp into the party and asked the bartender
for a large Mercuricrome and a small gin and tonic.
So,
if you're looking for a real challenge while visting Bangkok,
may I humbly suggest Sukhumvit Road, a motorcycle, and
a gallon of alcohol. Excitement guaranteed.
the
1980's and beyond: the reshaping of sukhumvit
To
this day, I regret that I never had the presence of mind
when I first arrived in Bangkok to take more pictures
in general. And, more specifically, I wish I had taken
a picture in each direction along Sukhumvit Road just
once a year. The ideal intersection would have been Asok
- one shot up towards Ploenchit, one down towards Villa
and where the Emporium now sits, another up Asok. In the
early days I wouldn't have been able to take a picture
up the six-lane road towards Queen Sirikit Centre - there
was no road there until the late '80's, from memory the
narrow and twisting Soi 16 used to join Sukhumvit somewhere
in that area.
(Of
course, in my own defence, I have to point out that never
in my wildest imagination did I think that I'd still be
in Bangkok more than a quarter Century after first accepting
the offer of a 3-month locum position here. Hence, the
lack of foresight.)
People
visiting me from other cities around the world such as
Los Angeles, London and Sydney keep on telling me that
I wouldn't recognise their cities if I visited them now.
Yeah, sure … blah, blah, blah. Asian cities like
Bangkok, Shanghai, Jakarta - in fact, virtually all of
the major cities - don't grow, they explode. In places
like Sydney it takes 15 years of lobbying, consultation
with the public, ecological studies, debate in the tabloid
media, OH&S regulation, and so forth, just to get
something started. And another 10 years to finish it,
followed by further decade of soul-searching and recriminations
to decide whether the new Darling Harbour really is in
fact an improvement on the decrepit, disused and rat-infested
railway goods yard that formerly occupied the space. "But
it had a certain kind of charm …". F***ing morons.
In
Bangkok, and particularly along Sukhumvit Road (which
commands some of the highest real estate prices in the
country) things just happen. Fast.
Case
in point: the BTS Skytrain network. By any standards,
this was a major engineering challenge. Bangkok sits on
extremely porous land, essentially a river delta that
in many places is below sea level. The quickest way of
finding the necessary land was simply to build it straight
on top of existing roads - as it happens, the busiest
in the city: Sukhumvit, Rajdamri, Silom, Phayathai. The
entire system was built without closing down the roads
underneath - major pre-stressed concrete sections were
moved into place in the early hours of the morning. Serious
construction was evident in the mid-'90's, and the system
opened in December 1999. To my knowledge - and a close
friend was the most senior engineer on the project - there
was a single accidental fatality during the construction
period (a large concrete beam fell and crushed a taxi
below). For the serious player on Sukhumvit, there is
no faster, cleaner or more convenient way to travel than
the BTS Skytrain. (For more info, visit http://www.bts.co.th/en/index.asp)
The
changes along Sukhumvit since my first visits have been
profound. The Skytrain system has been perhaps the most
far-reaching single change - it did make the entire area
far more accessible, particularly for visitors. It also
changed the look of the city - it's difficult to make
concrete look beautiful, but it was a change that residents
of Bangkok were more than willing to accept in exchange
for modern mass transport and an alternative to the crowded
streets below. It also gave residents and visitors alike
a hitherto unseen view of the city. Bangkok is virtually
completely flat, and the raised viewpoint from the Skytrain
routes offered a new perspective of the streets and alleys
to either side.
The
key block of Sukhumvit between Nana and Asok has changed
almost beyond recognition. When I first went came to live
in Bangkok, that section of Sukhumvit was primarily two-
or three-storey shophouses. Immediately behind Sukhumvit
itself were mainly houses, most with substantial gardens.
Many of the houses are still there, but the large residential
blocks have all appeared over the last twenty years, and
will continue to develop. All the large hotels in that
section of Sukhumvit have been constructed during the
last two decades. The Landmark near Nana was first, followed
by hotels like the Marriot (near Soi 2), Sheraton Grande
(opposite Soi 19), Delta Grand (corner of Soi 19). Other
major construction in the same area includes Times Square,
Sukhumvit Plaza, Robinsons department store, and the luxury
condominium complex right next to Soi Cowboy in Asok.
On
the other side of the Asok intersection, there are new
buildings on the corner of Ratchadapisek Road (opposite
Soi Asok), Queen's Park Hotel and The Emporium complex.
As mentioned earlier, in a rare example of common sense
prevailing over commercial greed, the land that was once
the Meteorology bureau (next to Emporium) has become a
public park.
Miraculously,
there are still small pockets of Vietnam-War-era-and-earlier
civilisation along this most valuable stretch of Sukhumvit.
Even though it's undergone some changes, the Nana Hotel
itself in Soi 4 is pretty much the same grubby old hotel,
as is the Grace in Soi 3. While the site of the wonderfully
boisterous Joker Club ("we've got both kinds of music
in here: country and western") is buried under the
fountain of the Delta Grand on the corner of Soi 19, further
down the soi the very original Honey Hotel still plies
its seedy trade.
Unfortunately,
none of the original bars on Sukhumvit itself between
Asok and Nana has survived - all have succumbed to development
of one kind or another.
Nana
Entertainment Plaza, just inside Soi 4, is rather interesting.
It was built at the beginning of the '80's, and I think
the original intention was for a shopping annexe servicing
the then-new Landmark Hotel, which is just behind it.
Originally this area of Sukhumvit was oriented very much
towards visitors of the middle eastern persuasion (the
clientele of the Grace Hotel was almost exclusively from
the Gulf area), so the plaza initially opened with a couple
of Lebanese restaurants, and gift and travel shops.
I
could park my car or motorcycle in the area occupied by
all the beer bars at ground level. The first bar and pool
hall was Woodstock - and it's been there in Nana Plaza
all this time up until just recently. All the other bars
came later, to the point where they've now expanded (dangerously
so, in the case of a fire or explosion) into the former
carpark area. There have been perpetual rumours of its
demise, but a couple of decades later it's still there.
the
future of sukhumvit?
I
can only predict more commercial development in the area.
As the land becomes more valuable. the existence of the
old shophouses becomes financially very questionable.
Call me old-fashioned, but Soi Cowboy looks particularly
vulnerable, being as it is a stoned stone's throw from
the Skytrain-subway interchange - it's surely some of
the most valuable real estate in Thailand. All it takes
is someone with the organisational skills to get all the
owners together and... bingo, another high-rise luxury
apartment complex!
So
while the old shophouses might look old and ugly, be aware
that this may be your last glimpse of the older, unique
and more frenetic Bangkok of the past. One day in the
not-too-distant future they'll be replaced by the same
bland, non-descript shopping mall and residential architecture
that you see in other cities around the world.
-
Chuck Wao
