The Bangkok Transit System (or BTS) starts around dawn and ends at 11:00pm (23:00). Late in the evening the stations are pretty quiet places where you can steal some comparatively quiet moments if you time it right. The header photo today was taken near closing time at Sala Daeng where I'd just come from a welcome end-of-the-day foot massage. 
I love to stop and gaze down from the passenger loading platform to the streets, parks, shopping malls and residential areas - and have, frequently. The station guards are more relaxed when they don't have people bunched up at the loading and unloading points and no one to blast a short whistle trill at when they stray over the yellow safety line. The 7-11 above is one of two right near the Chong Nonsi station.
The folks inside the trains are (understandably) usually tired and quiet at that hour, too: making the final push toward home, family and maybe a late snack before showering and bedtime. The train was rounding a curve in the shot above, giving you a slightly different view into the car ahead of us.
Above is a view down Naratiwat Road, showing the East side of the Chong Nonsi station and the same 7-11 store down below. On the other side of the station and down the street just a few dozen steps is one of my favorite places to stay in Bangkok: the Om Yim Lodge - a place long overdue for a review. With luck I can make that happen tomorrow.
The Om Yim Lodge is wonderful. I stayed there during my last trip to Thailand, and enjoyed it very much. Will go there again next time around, which isn't so far away any more.
ReplyDeleteWouter from Belgium(for now)
the 7/ 11 looks comforting.. something very familiar in an otherwise foreign landscape. I live in Dallas and know the Thompson family that started 7/ 11s. The streets look a little trashy.. do Thai's pick up and dispose of their trash and litter? or do they walk and toss ? I've heard that the 'big brother' attitude in Singapore can seem overbearing.. but it looks like the Thais could be better stewards of their property.
ReplyDeleteThe 7-11 stores are just one of many chains that have arrived in Thailand. Check the right hand column and look for more posts grouped as "Same Same, But Different" - we've done KFC and I still have McDonalds, 7-11s, Swensons, Outback, Pizza Hut, Burger King and a lot of others to get to!
ReplyDeleteTo answer your question, though: yes, the streets in Thailand overall are less littered than in the US, although they can be more dusty and sooty. Thankfully graffiti is still (somewhat) under control.
Dying to see the post on 7/11's and Thaï McDonald's where good old Ronald wais at coming customers :) (as opposed to the classic hand waving, about anywhere else in the world I'd guess).
ReplyDelete