Bangkok’s ‘golden era’ according to expats

[PeteC]

A good article with lots of photos and two videos. One video, 28 minutes long, is embedded below.

https://thethaiger.com/news/bangkok/ban ... -to-expats

......"‘Simone’ said… “Late 80’s and the beginning of the 90’s, when the highest building was the Dusit Thani"...... That statement is incorrect. The tallest building by a bit was the Chockchai building, built around 1969, between Sukhumvit 24 and 26.

[handdrummer]

I wonder how many people will think the present time was a "golden era?"

[Nereus]

......"‘Simone’ said… “Late 80’s and the beginning of the 90’s, when the highest building was the Dusit Thani"...... That statement is incorrect. The tallest building by a bit was the Chockchai building, built around 1969, between Sukhumvit 24 and 26.

Probably technically correct, but the Dusit Thani had the spire floodlit at night and could be seen from just about anywhere in Bangkok. Not sure about in the daytime as I was mostly sleeping off the night before!

[Nereus]

Jayus what used to be! I came here in1988, so most of those early places in the video were in full swing. The lack of traffic is incredible, but still showing a lot of pollution.

10:55 and several other places, 11:18, 13:15 and in one place a night shot, a big sign up high in the shape of a lobster. Their motto was: "If it swims we have it". A huge place but gone now. Most of the stock was live in tanks, been there many times.

11:56, derelict building where construction stopped for around 5 years. It was later completed and I always wondered just how corroded all the exposed re-bar was as the construction just picked up from where it had been left. Not sure what it is called now, but eventually opened as "Times Square".

12:33, Country Road bar. Sukhumvit Soi 19, now Terminal 21. Had a good band in there at one time.

14:55, The George & Dragon, near Soi Cowboy. Used to eat in there occasionally.

15:32, Soi Cowboy, Pam's Bar and Hare & Hound. The girl that ran Pam's Bar was a friend of the Thai wife of my Irish friend, that also had a bar. Sometimes, when it was quiet I would take her there to visit her friend. The place where the Irish bar was is now some high rise building on Soi 23.

19:39, Pat Pong, beer 25 Baht a glass!

1996:
21:00, Thermae. A dingy freelance bar where you could easily get taken for a ride!

27:22, Soi Cowboy. Been in most of the bars shown there!

28:09. Crazy Jacks Shadow Bar. The biggest collection of over weight ugly girls in Soi Cowboy! Poor old Jack is gone now, RIP. He was one of many ex Vietnam military guys that never went home after the war. He also had a construction company in Cambodia. He always insisted that he knew me from the clandestine air operations in Laos, but I never served there.

The construction of the BTS Skytrain caused havoc on Sukhumvit road for several years. Hard to imagine how bad it was until seeing that video. Good that some of the old place is preserved on video.

[Bamboo Grove]

Thanks, Pete. As with Nereus, it brought a lot of memories for me. My first visit was in 1988 and I lived in Big Mango btw 1989-2002. Golden age probably means the time when we were young and free to stroll around the city. I visited Bangkok last June first time in 11 years and felt it was full of ghosts. Friends gone, dead or moved away. Saw some of my old friends and had some beers with them, visited some of the areas where I had lived (Soi Suanplu, Ekamai Soi 23 and where we had our restaurant (Sukhumvit Soi 23). Sat in New Cowboy bar which was my regular hang out place in mid 90's. As I was working for four days, it naturally cut down the time which I could spend going around thinking of the old days. But as I said, for me it had turned into a ghost town.

[deepee]

A visit to Bangkok has always been a sensory experience, especially for a young bloke from a "safe" western country arriving back in the 70's.
I felt the place was still a cowboy town .
The traffic noise was unbelievable .
Every one drove around horn honking.
Just about every large vehicle was devoid of a muffler system, absolutely no road rules complied with.
Heaps of folk packing poppers.
But, what I miss most is the early morning stroll and the overwhelming intoxicating smells of Khoe Shong being brewed on the footpaths, the house folks streaming out to the street armed with toop (incense) and making offerings at their front entries,
The smell of fresh Thai fried breakfast treats selling for simple baht prices.
All too amazing and enchanting after a session at The Blue Fox in soi Num do Pli the night before....

[hhfarang]

My first visit to Bangkok (and Pattaya and Puket) was in 1981. I sure liked them all better then compared to my most recent visits around 2010 and I really liked Hua Hin better (than now) when I first moved there back in 2004, but you can't stop "progress".

[buksida]

I vaguely recall stumbling out of the Thermae on occasion to be hit with bright sunlight and commuters heading to work.