The Gion nightclub, named after the historic geisha district in Kyoto,
usually teems with Japanese tourists intent on experiencing Bangkok’s
pleasures of the flesh. Just across the street is a rather more decorous
building, the private residence of Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva.
The proximity of the Thai leader’s home to a glorified brothel not to
mention the attendant street vendors selling grilled fish, iced coffee and
chili-spiked papaya salad to Gion’s working ladies exemplifies the easy
contrasts of this city of 10 million people. Bangkok, wrote author Alec
Waugh in 1970, “has been so loved because it is the expression of the Thais
themselves, of their lightheartedness, their love of beauty, their reverence
for tradition, their sense of freedom, their extravagance.”

See the full article from “TIME”




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