Well, when I was young - real young - I the soldier, the hero to be, was lying in the grass guarding a border- line which does not exist anymore and it was kind of boring.

On the opposite side the 'enemy soldier' a hero to be, too - my friend now probably - was not to be seen.

When I have nothing to do that isn't important for me I start to meditate.

I thought it could be interesting to write about one square meter of the planet's surface guarded by two soldiers who had nothing better to do but to obey an order given by officers who had nothing better to do than to obey their orders given by .... - well I think you know what I am writing about.

Ok, one single square meter is not that much but it is unbelievable high :-)

I thought it could be interesting to write about the soil, what is living in it, of it, above it, about the amoeba, the earthworm, the grass, about the birds and the bees, the flowers and the trees and two stupid guys lying in the grass for nothing.

Real writers, authors, call it 'pars pro toto': to write about a part but meaning the entire thing, object, situation or whatsoever.

That is what I am doing here: I am writing about the pavement, the cockroaches, the curb, about the birds and the bees, the flowers and the trees and about at least two stupid guys - about me and the other one, scanning ladies and gatoey (ladies of the second category) lingering down the Sukhumvit boulevard for to have sanoog fun - and I mean Bangkok, Thailand, Asia, the entire Planet where sanoog is to be found.
I want to write about the dissimilitude Thailand's and the people who are living in the area of the Sukhumvit to stimulate your interest.

Bangkok, Thailand, has to offer many attractions - like other cites, too -  the longest for sure: the Sukhumvit.

The Sukhumvit is no road rather a boulevard, thus I avoid to call it a 'road'.

It is the city street's cross-country extension for more than 400 kilometers along the eastern seaboard, passing Pattaya and up to Trat at the Cambodian border.
The Ambassador Hotels are located at the Sukhumvit in Bangkok as well as in Pattaya for example.

In Bangkok the Sukhumvit is a long straight 6 to 8-lane road - divided by the Mass Transit System Skytrain - with a few major crossings and many soi.
By the way the Skytrain- system began its service December 5, 1999 to mark the 72nd birthday of His Majesty the King.

The Sukhumvit area is the largest modern tourism district of the Thai capital and also the area preferred by foreign residents in Bangkok.

First: the word soi stands for lane.
Except for a few, all soi are dead-end streets. While this sounds depressing at the first moment, it is actually a major advantage of the Sukhumvit Road area as a residential district.
As the side streets are dead-end streets, there is no passing traffic and in some of the soi one can live as quiet as in a small town.
The lower Sukhumvit Road between soi 3 and soi 23, additional soi 22 and soi 33, too, is rather for us the single tourists the interesting part.
We call it 'the mile' or 'fun- mile' because a lot of sanoog can be found here.

This area includes the nightlife areas such as Soi Zero, Nana Entertainment Plaza, Soi 7/1, corner Soi 13, Soi Cowboy, Washington Square and at the Sukhumvit Plaza as well as in Soi 10 something for gay singles.

Many of the capital's best shops and tailors are found in this immediate area. Shopping is probably the best in the city and there are a number of top class restaurants in the vicinity.

Sukhumvit here is soap opera live.
Thai people around you know all about you very soon:

It was kind of hard for me to get information about the gay scene. It is not my playground.
Finally one afternoon I went into the gay bar 'Big Boy', Soi 11 (not existing anymore), some guys hanging around there.
I ordered a coke, got the information, paid, said khop jai thank you and went my way.
This very evening I sat with my friends at our favorite spot, corner Soi 13, at the adjacent table at least 10 guys smiling at me.
'What is it all about?!' A resident told me: 'You visited them in 'Big Boy!' Flush all over!

Even though the Sukhumvit has rod tid maak heavy traffic it is not too noisy: there are practically no sirens, horns, squeaking tires.

If you want to see a video- clip please click into the picture!

The upper part - Soi 23 up to Soi 71 - is where many farang foreign residents live.

Around Soi 33 is an area with an especially good western infrastructure, with a large supermarket as well as butchers, bakers and cinemas with English movies (Emporium, Soi 24 or Major Cineplex, Soi 61).  Many bars and lounges are located there.

The Queen's Park will invite you to relax, to watch Thai sport activities like kick-ball tagkroh or to study what kind of trees grow in Thailand (like Millingstonia Hortensis, for example, didn't you know that? :-).

If you want to explore Bangkok as a tourist then you will find everything what the Thai capital provides to get around savely:

• Air-Condition-Bus/ normal Bus/ Airport-Bus (A3)

• Motor-bikes (as taxi)

• Skytrain

• Taxi (Taxi-Meter)

• Took-Took (three-wheeled vehicle, be careful)

• tourist- stand near Ambassador Plaza and information- office at the 'Nana'- skytrain- station

• police- offices

to get information about the tourist police  please click here:

In the Sukhumvit area you may encounter more foreigners than in other parts of the metropolis. They simply belong to it. What would the Sukhumvit be without us?

Yet here you can experience Thailand closely, too. I like the early morning hours before dawn for instance when the monks wearing their saffron- yellow robes appear and my Thai lady kneels down on the side- walk to tam boon to do good.

For the most part the Thai life here takes place on the street, the life of the vendors, the ladies, the families with their children and that of the foreign residents, too.

The Sukhumvit is like witness- TV but live - by day and by night especially.

Hopefully you noticed that I know a lot about the Sukhumvit area ;-) but there is a question left: why on earth are no street traders allowed on wan phud Wednesday recently. Does it solve anything using political logic that I do not understand?
 

The term is 'nightspot- zoning'.         Read about it:

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last updated: 17.05.2006