AUTHOR: David
DATE: 12/21/2005 03:59:00 PM
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BODY:
Bangkok. Manila. These two words conjure up images of cities that are very much similar to each other: crowded, traffic-snarled, organic metropolises stinking of poverty and corruption of all kinds. True enough there are aspects of each other that these cities mirror almost exactly but, feet on the ground, Bangkok is just leagues and leagues away from Manila and pulling farther and farther away with each year. Whether it is the crazy variety of shopping available to sate the consumer lust of the huge middle class, the very modern and efficient transport system, the cleanliness and sanitation (would you dare eat street food in Manila). Hell, even the legalized prostitution and x-rated fare all add up to initiatives by the Bangkok and Thai governments to bring their city and country up above the third-world mire that the Philippines seems to be slipping deeper and deeper into.
Just take a stroll down Sukhumvit Soi 55, also known as Thong Lor, and you will notice the striking difference. One street, maybe five kilometers long. How many high-end furniture stores is that? In this case it is not just stores but complexes such as H1, Playground, and the Design Connexion. Moroso, Capelli, B&B Italia..these are expensive brand names that are difficult, if not impossible, to find in Manila and yet, this street houses only a few of their Thai showrooms. Can you say spending power? Need more proof? How about the 3 Mercedes-Benz dealerships along this same street? Or the multitude of wedding boutiques and "galleries" packed so densely along this road that you can’t walk more than five paces without tripping over one.
How about midnight on a Monday and Q Bar is packed to the gills with expats and locals spending their hard earned cash on overly priced drinks? 
How about a row of night clubs for the university crowd that makes enough in one night to bring in internationally acclaimed DJs that offer their services for a hundred thousand Dollars for a three hour gig? How about that Suan Lum Night Bazaar off Lumphini? I was expecting a dirty, smelly wet market type of place and instead it is this outdoor mall with all the same things as you’d find at Chatuchak but with less of the grime plus a fabulously complete beer garden with great food, great drinks, live entertainment, giant tvs broadcasting sports, and conveniently connected to the crazy modern MRT system. Greenhills? Baclaran? Forget it. Wake up and smell the Thai iced coffee, Manila has got nothing on this place.
Actually a funny little story shows what the difference is between Bangkok and Manila: we were on the way back to our hotel from the night market and decided to take the MRT. It was midnight, nobody else except our group was on the platform and one of our friends decided to sit down on the floor against one of the support pillars. A voice came booming over the PA: "It is not allowed to sit on the MRT platform!" Red faced but giggling our friend had to get up and find somewhere else to rest. Discipline, my friends. In Manila you could be lying down on the platform during rush hour with a blanket and picnic lunch and get away with it. In Bangkok? hell no.
As a designer and a fan of Design it is horribly frustrating to pop into a city like this and see and feel the availability of materials, products, and ideas that our poor country simply cannot or refuses to access. The appreciation of aesthetics and good industrial design and architecture is something I really wish Filipinos in general had. As we were walking around gawking, poking at things, and making mental notes one of our friends hit the nail on the head. Once things in Manila are prettied up too much the immediate reaction of the masa is to think it is too expensive and run in the opposite direction. Unfortunate but true. In Bangkok, as in most every other city in the world, it seems to be completely the other way around. The better designed a store or restaurant is the more people want to seek it out. Snobbery or appreciation, either way it provides a good environment for people to get creative.
Forgetting the odd things that pop up once in a while, such as elephants randomly manifesting on the sidewalks, there are so many reasons that Bangkok is the city Manila should have been by this point in time that it’s not even worth enumerating them. Frustration…my friends and I were bitching about how far behind Manila is so much that by the end I just couldn’t work up the energy to whine about it anymore.
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How about a row of night clubs for the university crowd that makes enough in one night to bring in internationally acclaimed DJs that offer their services for a hundred thousand Dollars for a three hour gig? How about that Suan Lum Night Bazaar off Lumphini? I was expecting a dirty, smelly wet market type of place and instead it is this outdoor mall with all the same things as you’d find at Chatuchak but with less of the grime plus a fabulously complete beer garden with great food, great drinks, live entertainment, giant tvs broadcasting sports, and conveniently connected to the crazy modern MRT system. Greenhills? Baclaran? Forget it. Wake up and smell the Thai iced coffee, Manila has got nothing on this place.
Actually a funny little story shows what the difference is between Bangkok and Manila: we were on the way back to our hotel from the night market and decided to take the MRT. It was midnight, nobody else except our group was on the platform and one of our friends decided to sit down on the floor against one of the support pillars. A voice came booming over the PA: "It is not allowed to sit on the MRT platform!" Red faced but giggling our friend had to get up and find somewhere else to rest. Discipline, my friends. In Manila you could be lying down on the platform during rush hour with a blanket and picnic lunch and get away with it. In Bangkok? hell no.
As a designer and a fan of Design it is horribly frustrating to pop into a city like this and see and feel the availability of materials, products, and ideas that our poor country simply cannot or refuses to access. The appreciation of aesthetics and good industrial design and architecture is something I really wish Filipinos in general had. As we were walking around gawking, poking at things, and making mental notes one of our friends hit the nail on the head. Once things in Manila are prettied up too much the immediate reaction of the masa is to think it is too expensive and run in the opposite direction. Unfortunate but true. In Bangkok, as in most every other city in the world, it seems to be completely the other way around. The better designed a store or restaurant is the more people want to seek it out. Snobbery or appreciation, either way it provides a good environment for people to get creative.
Forgetting the odd things that pop up once in a while, such as elephants randomly manifesting on the sidewalks, there are so many reasons that Bangkok is the city Manila should have been by this point in time that it’s not even worth enumerating them. Frustration…my friends and I were bitching about how far behind Manila is so much that by the end I just couldn’t work up the energy to whine about it anymore.
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