What's it all about

The last day in Bangkok and I had only one thought on my mind - this wasn't a long enough stay. I didn't feel like I had the chance to hang out much in this city. Didn't do enough shopping. Didn't go to Vertigo, one of my favourite places to have a drink at.

However, I did find a new - ok not new lah, but new to me - stretch at RCA with some very gorgeous clubs (including one with a massive bathroom with an area for performances - yes, in the ladies' toilet!)

I also ate far more street food than before and found a very cheap but good kopitiam-like place near Asia Hotel, with excellent tom yum and snakehead fish curry.
And late night, also near the hotel, pad thai and beef noodles.

And because I just adore cafes, Greyhound Cafe at Siam Center and those in the spanking fancy Siam Paragon - although I still cannot forgive them for providing a sachet of coffee creamer with my cappucino. (And on that note, why do they all sell cappucinos but not lattes?)

Oh and thanks to Asia Hotel for the upgrade to a deluxe room!

But this trip was just about the music - everything else was secondary. And it was just such an experience. Sorry lah, I've never been to a music festival before so it was just a thrill being there... driving out to this area in a minivan, meeting new people and getting into arguments about Snow Patrol - cos yes, they are quite a pop-ish band and tend to attract mostly girls but I just love 'em!, haggling with the locals over the price of a can of beer (although it was already damn cheap without bargaining), getting hold of media passes and then finding out that our paid-for tickets offered us a better view than the media section, smuggling beer into the arena in pockets, going to the toilet bus (literally, a bus - a bus! - with cubicles for ladies and another section for men), getting stepped on in the mosh pit during Placebo and deciding to bail for the safety of my feet (and better view) nearer the centre, queueing for coupons to buy drinks and food and then learning later that the beer had all run out, marvelling at the girls who had come in high heels, trying to keep away from the half-naked sweaty crazed angmohs, dancing, clapping, singing along to the songs I knew - yes, even to Oasis, heading back just so tired, attempting to go to the after-party at the Metropolitan and then having one of the guys denied entry because he's wearing berms (but honestly, I wouldn't have stayed long if we had all gained entry - I was just flat out tired!)

Going to Bangkok is a lot like being here in Singapore, in some ways. After all, I'm not interested in doing touristy things there (although I kinda liked the Grand Palace, which I visited the last trip, as well as taking the boat up the Chao Phraya but Bangkok is instead about chilling out, doing a bit of shopping, eating some good and authentic (hopefully) Thai food, marvelling at their sense of aesthetics, hitting some drinking joints (and moaning at how early they close) and just maybe, feeling not like a tourist at all.

Listening: Snow Patrol - Grazed Knees