The Bangkok Family Adventure - Part 2

Thai silk is world famous, but it wasn't always so. The reason for it's reputation is due to Jim Thompson, a former architect who served in southeast Asia during World War II. After the war, he returned to Bangkok to revitalize this cottage industry. A visit to Vogue magazine in 1947 brought the colors and quality of the hand-woven material to center stage, and the rest is fashion history. Jim Thompson disappeared mysteriously in 1967 while vacationing in Malaysia. His home which is constructed from several traditional Thai houses combined together is now a museum. It contains remarkable antiques and is the second most popular tourist attraction in Bangkok.

So of course we had to make a visit. So after breakfast, we set out on the Skytrain to check it out. It did not disappoint. The house is as interesting as his story and the grounds are beautifully designed and maintained.

For lunch, we opted to take up Jackie's suggestion that we go to a Bangkok institution of a different sort. Founded in the mid-1970's by Mechai Viravaidya, a former government minister, Cabbages and Condoms is a restaurant with a mission. The proceeds from the restaurant benefit the Population and Community Development Association (PDA), a non-profit service organization devoted to AIDS prevention and family planning in Thailand. The name is based on the diet of northern Thailand's rural poor, cabbages, and the early focus of the PDA on the use of condoms for population control -- ahead of the AIDs epidemic. The name comes from the idea that both need to be cheap and easily available.

The food was quite good; the restaurant gets consistently good reviews in travel magazines, websites, and guidebooks. The setting was beautiful and peaceful, even though we were only a few blocks off the major Sukhumvit thoroughfare.

The gift shop and various decoration, on the other hand, had nothing to do with cabbages. If you are shopping for that hard-to-buy-for person who "has everything", well let's just say they probably don't have a condom key chain or a bouquet of condom flowers. And there's more, much much more to choose from.

Oh yes, when they bring the bill, instead of mints, they bring you a stack of condoms. There are more for the taking from a display by the exit.

Erica was in the throws of a full-fledged cold so we headed back to the apartments. Paul & Jackie did a walking tour of the Silom area, including a brief walk-through the Patpong area as the sun was setting, the night market was being set up, and the shall we say more exotic elements of the neighborhood were arriving for the night shift. We also took a look at local Hindu temple. One of our missions was to check out legit establishments for Thai massages and we identifed a couple of good candidates. One featured a 2 hour massage for 300 Baht, less than US$9.

We got back to the apartments and quickly got ready and dashed over to the nearby river dock to board a dinner cruise on the Chao Phraya River. We'd received solid advice from a local (more about him in Part 3) to book with the Manohra Cruises. (photo from their website).

Dinner cruises are big business in Bangkok and there are plenty of options to choose from. Manohra uses antique teak rice barges for their boats and these seat less than 90 people per cruise. Others have gigantic "party boats" with flashing neon, music, and buffet lines.

Our cruise was quiet, serene, and breathtakingly beautiful as we traveled up and down the river past most of the temples we'd toured the previous day, each of which was lit up in spectacular fashion. And no buffet here: it was a 5 course table service meal, from appetizers through dessert. The "dinner" and "cruise" elements both deserve equally high billing.

We sadly left the cruise when it returned to our dock, but our evening plans were not over yet. We walked over to the State Tower to visit the Scirocco bar. It's part of the Lebua restaurant complex and their dress code was strict on shoes so we had to go back to the apartment a few blocks away to get appropriately dressed.

But it was worth it. The view is simply remarkable. Check out the Scirocco link above to get an appreciation for the setting where the photo to the left was taken. That's the Centrepoint Silom with the rounded sides in the foreground and the Chao Phraya behind it. You can also see the lights Skytrain station to the left of the building.

We called it an evening after taking in all the views and looking at a couple of the other dining and bar venues. The streets were practically empty, a sharp contrast to the daytime hustle and bustle of the area. But Silom's activity level is tame compared to where we would venture the next day: Chatuchak Market.