"So, who are you going with?"
I got this question so much from women before I left that the entire interaction following their brow-furrowing became routine. I knew exactly what was coming, like a script in a movie.
"No one, just me."
She would look at me with a mixed look of shock and confusion. The inevitable follow-up "why?!?" in one form or another. The inevitable explaining about training Muay Thai. The inevitable explaining what Muay Thai is. Then, the inevitable "Oh, good for you! I would never do that!"
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| Bangkok has you now!!! |
Part of me always wanted to say, "why the Hell not?!?" But, I get it. Don't get me wrong. I respect that most women see this as either crazy-stupid or crazy-awesome or some mixture of both; if I were in their shoes, I would probably see it the same way. After all, for those foreign to any martial art, the mere act of volunteering to get punched and pulverized (and to fly around the world to do it) seems like some form of sado-masochistic insanity. Traveling to the land of Hangover 2 seems so far outside the realm of single womanhood to most that's it's too exciting to fathom doing - let alone trying. For most, it's kinda a guy thing.
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| The late David Carradine |
Sure it is. All those things do happen. But you know what? It's the same way you could view America as one homogenous landmass of Christian Conservatives who weigh 300 pounds and eat McDonald's breakfast platters on the daily. Last time I checked, America had all of those things, but it had a lot more, too. The same goes for Bangkok.
You don't have to be going on some athletic-minded Muay Thai adventure to enjoy Bangkok, nor do you have to have a Y-chromosome. The following are just a few super girly reasons why solo traveling women should love Bangkok in addition to all of the bad-ass manly man reasons. I've left out the gender-neutral reasons which most go to Bangkok for anyway (food; temples; museums; etc.) to prove a point. There's something here to whet the appetite of each gender polar extreme, from the girliest to the manliest. Women should have no qualms about enjoying both. And why the Hell not? It's the kind of place where you can spend your morning sparring Muay Thai and planning your next tattoo and then spend your afternoon getting a mani-pedi and custom made business suit for an obscenely low price at one of the biggest malls you've ever seen before you go back to your training camp for the second workout. Carpe-fucking-diem, girls. There is no gender-specific prescription for Bangkok, except the one you define yourself. (Guys, don't get butt hurt and feel all left out; I fully encourage you to set aside your man card and indulge in this list, too.)
1. THE EPIC MALLS
The thirteen-year-old in me couldn't help it; some of the malls here literally made me stop and gasp an involuntary "SQUEEE!" just beholding their laissez-faire majesty. The malls here are big enough to get lost in...for days. They are air conditioned reprieves from the heat. They are everywhere. They are unapologetic shrines to capitalism, and they all have Starbucks. They have H&M. They have every brand and store you could think of, and most you didn't even know existed. They have enough in Bangkok alone to need alphabetization. Safe to say, your consumer side will be piqued and far from neglected.
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| Central World in downtown Bangkok - SEVEN stories of mall |
Aside from the endless list of stores in these malls, most offer a panoply of dining and spa options. They contain far more than a stereotypical American "foodcourt." You can get the same McDonald's and Starbucks as almost anywhere else - but you can also sample world-class fine dining for a truly steep discount. There are Japanese buffets with endless sushi and sashimi, beautiful French-inspired dessert boutiques, and designer coffee shops. You can get urban-chic steak and lobster plates in a modern cultural fusion restaurant, or go super cheap and get coconuts and mystery-meat-on-a-stick from the street stalls outside.
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| Terminal 21 Mall's replica of the San Francisco Golden Gate Bridge |
For those who are a fan of Asian-inspired intricate nail art, there is usually a place to stop in for this service...on each mall level. There are high-end hair salons and dermatology centers offering laser treatments at a fraction of the U.S. cost. There are banks, massage centers, and day spas where you can disappear behind rice-paper doors and emerge only hours later, waxed and plucked and facial-ed and shiatsued into divine relaxation and refreshment.
2. THE ENDLESS STREET MARKETS
One guidebook describes getting lost in Bangkok's Chinatown as "the best thing that can happen to you." After getting lost there, I can see why.
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| $2 Aluminum Can Clocks outside of Taling Chan's floating market |
Sitting in a central location to Asian trade and goods manufacturing, Bangkok is a veritable wholesaler free-for-all. Street stalls openly displaying every ware imaginable - jewelry, clothing, tourist trinkets, pots, fried scorpions, textiles, bags of beads, leather, dragonfruit...name it - are part of the culture and experience of Bangkok. For all the city's grittiness and raw, unapologetic grime, the freedom of the street shopping is breathtaking. The layout of the stalls makes for a maze mind-game into the shopping world. It's part of the adventure; at the end of the rainbow is your wholesale pot of gold, but enjoying that ride over the rainbow is half (or, let's be real, MOST) of the fun. What makes street shopping so thrilling is that you never really know what's going to happen or what to expect. The surprises are what ingrains each thing you buy there with the distinct flavor of a specific, irreplaceable memory. This, this bracelet, this is the bracelet I bought for 20 cents from a tiny stall next to an insistent Thai fortune teller who told me that I bring great happiness to those around me but need to bring greater happiness to myself. He touched your forehead, smack on the center, and said "you think your happiness comes from here, but you're wrong. You think too much." The people, the smells, the tastes, the experiences surrounding what you buy color the world of those memories; the things you buy in these markets become talismans of all the things you should never, ever forget.
3. THE CAFES
Perhaps this is overly broad to classify as a "girl" thing, but it seems to me that most would view it that way, so it goes here.
Coffee is everywhere in Bangkok. Sure, there are Starbucks. But, even in the smallest of suburbs and most private of streets, you will find an urban chic cafe, complete with Euro decor, air-conditioning, and crepes.
One such locale is Cafe Casta on Thungmangkorn in Taling Chan, the quaint street where you can find Kaewsamrit Gym. As you walk past, the cafe looks strangely out of place. Recessed from the street by a stone walkway, the cafe emerges from jungle greenery with white Greco-Roman statues and an elegant gated orange-stucco archway. The menu is over ten pages long, the first four of which are all devoted to coffee and smoothie drinks. You can get anything Western you want here, from American breakfast to a steak dinner. And it's not some mid-level Denny's approximation of "American" or "European" styles. The cafe's culinary aesthetic is on par with the ritziest of quaint little cafes in any metropolis I've ever traversed. Moreover, everything here is just plain delicious. Not to mention, you can get healthier options here and chill out in the air-con between the brutal Muay Thai training sessions.
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| Photo credit: me-dzine |
And all of this, ladies, is just the beginning; just a few on a long list of reasons you should enjoy this amazing city and all of its treasures.
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