Mesmerized with Bangkok

Hay, back to regular programming please. Those emo posts of late are so not me, puhlease lang. Enough na. Let's go back to what I do best... campiness. Ok, mai?

I haven't had a weekend roundup in ages, no? I have been hibernating in the house for weeks now. God knows how hot it is in BangCock these days, I swear I'm not exaggerating.

I come from a tropical country but the heat in BKK is just nothing I've experienced before, it totally drains me of all energy. So instead I just stay inside my bedroom with the air-conditioning on full blast... which pretty much explains why I'm bereft of any weekend report.

Anyway, on the first weekend of May, I played tour guide yet again to some friends dropping by the beautiful City of Angels.

Two Pinoy bloggers spent their honeymoon in BKK. Uyyyyy... We shall call them Miss Antigua and Miss Fiji. Well I did not really go tour guide galore with the two title holders coz one of them knows BKK quite well. We pretty much met in the evening and I showed them around the chaotic and sleazy parts of BKK.

Also, Erica Escudero viuda de Magsaysay, a very close friend of Bubbles, visited BangCock for a respite from his base in SingaBore. So Erica, Bubbles, and I went on a clubbing and drinking binge, more or less, for four straight nights.

That was exhausting. I need detox. I am soooo not going out clubbing for the next few months, I swear.

Yesterday, I visited the Bangkok Arts and Culture Centre (BACC) to check their latest exhibit on photographs of BangCock. This is part of the Bangkok Bananas, an art festival of sorts. I wish I watched more of the performances in Paragon, but I've explained already why I refuse to go out of the house.

Before the festival closes, I dragged my self to the BACC to check on the photographs, which are some of the most delightful pictures I've seen of Bangkok. They're not exactly cutting edge nor ground-breaking, but it's always fascinating to discover how other people see BangCock.

I've always said that BKK is very photogenic, with all its contrasts and arresting vibe. Many of my friends who visit BKK also could not help incessantly clicking on their cameras when I show them around.

The exhibit at BACC shows how many ways one can interpret all the daily things that we see in this city. In a way, it's a paean to the twisted beauty of BangCock.

From the BACC, I hopped on the Skytrain to visit the Thailand Creative and Design Center (TCDC) at the Emporium. Their current temporary exhibit is called Quick Bites: Design for Better Eating, which is dedicated to the ubiquitous food hawkers in Thailand.

Anyone who has visited BangCock is often captivated by its street food culture. Friends who come here always remark that they cannot help not eating all the time because you're never more than a few meters away from tempting food.

I agree. There's absolutely no excuse to go hungry in BKK.

The TCDC exhibit thus gives credit to how street hawkers have shaped urban culture in Thailand. It features photographs, video clips, and reproductions of the many creative ways in which food is prepared, served, package, and consumed... quirks and all.

Many of the things on display are familiar to any one who has lived in BKK, albeit we have often times just ignored them as part of our daily lives. The exhibit puts the spotlight on the amazing creativity and ingeniousness that goes with eating in this city.

The two exhibits in BACC and TCDC are wonderful reminders of the rough charm and contrasting elegance of BangCock. Living in this city has been an endless journey of discovery of its idiosyncrasies. I know I couldn't get enough of BKK. It has totally enamored me.

But all right, I might have to detach my self from the city for now coz I'd be momentarily away for some work-related trips. Tomorrow I'd visit Indonesia for the first time and shall stay there for a week-long meeting.

The following week I'm flying to Las Islas Filipinas for the first time in nearly two years! I'm stoked! I'm fucking stoked! It's a last-minute thing that I only learned from my office last Thursday.

This trip is made up of a week-long workshop in Davao and then I extend my stay to visit the familia in Surigao for about ten days and about three days in Manille.

I'd try to maximize my three-week stay in the patria. I'm so eating adobo, pan de sal, pansit, sinugba... and throw them up in the bathroom. Ewwwww. Excuse me for that. Oh, I might even try a Pinoy or two. Hahahaha. Choz!

If only I could get someone to water my plants while I'm away.