Bangkok Days

Side Streets of Bangkok

Lawrence Osborne relates tales of his Bangkok days in short vignettes that take us to places the average tourist is not likely to see. The advantage of that is the glimpse we have of a different Bangkok; the disadvantage is that many of these places see no tourists for good reasons. They are not interesting, and neither is the telling of them. So I found myself skipping over much of Bangkok Days, and enjoying only segments of the story. (The trip to Hua Hin fascinates.) But for someone who has traveled frequently to Bangkok, my view is not his. For one, the company of women takes up much of the story, the seedy side of the street gets fair notice. I did not see the drug epidemic that he writes of, but then, I don't travel in those circles. Osborne comes to the joy of the Chao Praya River only in the last pages, but for me it is the life of the city, with all the commerce leading one to imagine stories that a single individual can never master.

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