megan wilson subtext: Bangkok: Coronation Day

BANGKOK: CORONATION DAY

One night in Bangkok (not THE One Night In Bangkok -- that's a future post) Eliza and I were trying to get a taxi to go to the Patpong area to checkout the go go bars. No one would pick us up. Finally after about 15 minutes, we were in luck. However, once we got in and got off our street, we realized that traffic was so bad that it was going take about half an hour just to move a couple of blocks. We asked the driver how long he thought it would take to get to our destination and he said likely two and a half hours. He kept saying it was not a good night to be going to Patpong. Then we remembered it was Coronation Day. We decided to ditch the idea, chalking it up to divine intervention, as the go go bars would most likely be depressing. The driver was kind enough to not charge us. So we got out and walked through Khao San Road, a total spectacle itself, looking like a combination of a Grateful Dead concert parking lot and SF's North Beach.

We meandered our way through the circus and ended up discovering a whole other world of Coronation Day festivities. Ratchadamnoen Avenue was closed to cars with food booths set up and music stages throughout the area. The wackiest thing we stumbled on was one street that had a large screen showing The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift. The best thing we saw was the Naval big band stage with men and women officers taking turns crooning.