There is this place, hidden there, in my opposite corner of the world which deserves to be known by everybody. The only one time I heard about Bangkok was about child prostitution...I wonder how is it.

First there is lights everywhere, big buildings, huge portraits of the King and the Queen. I start to understand how much I have to learn here, many things I don't understand, for example, those children near the traffic lights, selling white flowers hanged on a big stick.

We cross all the city, I'm with two friends and the girlfriend of my friend who lives in Bangkok. They're both very excited, I'm of course but differently, once again my eyes are not big enough to catch everything around. This city is damned huge, I thought Thailand was like Bangladesh or something, but in fact this city is bigger than Paris!

First impression : it seems one half of bangkokians are taxi drivers... sometimes there is almost only taxis on the streets.

Finally we arrive at home, after one hour spend in the "famous" traffic jam of Bangkok. I wanna go out and see, walk and feel the Thai mood outside, see the peoples, see if Bangkok is no more than a big Phuket or if it's another dimension, but it seems my friends are to tired to go out...my night will makes me travel. Tomorrow, jatutjak market... jatu what??

I really wonder what is this market. You all certainly don't know "Les puces de Clignancourt" in Paris. This is where people buy things cheaper, especially clothes. When I was younger, I used to buy my sneakers there, it was a sort of ritual, every 6 months we were like pilgrims, looking for the promise...choose. It was in order to save 20 or 30$. what makes the market (in Paris) funny is that there is a lot of people around you, always pushing you, calling you, a true oriental bazaar. My friends said to me that it was worse than clignancourt, this is amazingly huge and it seems as if there is the whole Thai population is there when you walk inside.

They were true, damned, I always thought I would be unable to stand this, I mean all this crowd around, the heat, the noises, the smells, the colors... a true hurricane. One cannot imagine before he lives it. You have to carry your body all across the little gold craft shops, the silk shops, the football shirts hanged upon you head (actually, if you're an average westerner you should get prepared to receive many things hanged into your face ). I remember, that, with my usual situations-comprehension, I chose to wear this very expensive white short trouser. It was a mistake.

How many elephants did I see this day, I cannot tell you actually, but I brought 6 for the living room in Paris. I used to think at this time it was an original Thai stuff. A friend of mine call this the "farang's special".

Chatuchak and then rottit, I see the city for the first time in daylight. This is definitely not the same that at night; first the streets are really grey, I mean dirty but not with papers and such, it's simply dirty, dust, smells, sometimes the people are dirty. One can easily understand that a capital city at night is really different. As you can only see the buildings, it gives a shiny appearance. Bangkok lost this shining during the day. That's why I love in Bangkok (well, one of the things I love), you have two cities in one. I guess it's the same with Paris but I cannot say, I always been living here. For example, I'm a real fan of the BTS skytrain. Nothing is more beautiful here in the midst of all these modern things than the BTS (maybe the Bank of China building or Intercontinental Hotel). People are the ideal representation of the Thai middle class as you can see it in the commercials. You have also some farangs with suits, means that they work here. Through them I certainly see what I dream about and that's certainly why I do love this "place".

Silom and its market... well, what I noticed first in Silom is the black-beetles. Yes, that's one of the thing I learned to go along, with the time. Imagine it, you're walking and "cruash", you stomped on something, it slides a little bit when you try to walk normally so you look under the shoe and... "buaark!" you crushed a beetle. Mostly, you have to get prepared, after 6pm, a promenade in Silom (or in any other crowded place) is crushing-beetle time. Anyway, it's amazing all the stupid things you can buy here, but I remember that apparently, many guys wanted me to buy some porn-dvd...dunno why.

Silom and then, through Sukhumvit and Soi 3, you know, the arabic-indian and even african hood in Bangkok, very strange to me, I was expecting something very "Asian" (what does this phrase mean anyway?) and the things are like that, I discover first the Arabic community in Bangkok and Indians. You should have look there once, see that this neighborhood is really small, a lot of Muslim and Indians in the street, and this little "yaek" where there are only African guys, (I guess most of them are from eastern Africa and maybe Nigeria) with their little bars. I noticed also that as in the opposite soi, every guy hang his girl at the bar. When you go out of there, you have to walk in sukhumvit. That's where I experienced one of the most weird thing in Thailand, some girls that were waiting for guys hanged me, I was forced to trail them for few meters before I succeed to take them off, with the more respect I could give in this particular situation. You see how much these things affect me, even now, I know better these situations but it remains very difficult for me to stand. There are clues to understand how I came to want to get involved in the fight against sex slavery and the female condition, at least there is one good point with my trips in Thailand.

The young farang, thinking he's the most beautiful in the world since every girl (and boy, and between both, also) in the street touches him and ask him to come goes back home, once again with many thoughts spinning inside his head. As we say in French, I definitely don't know at which side take this country.

Originally published at: http://www.thai-blogs.com/index.php?blog=23&title=first_steps_in_bangkok&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1.