One Night in Bangkok — A Photo Essay

 

 

The photos on this page were all taken during one single night in Bangkok, Thailand.  I started in the backpackers’ district called Khao Sanh Road, where I always used to stay, and ended up late night in Sukhumvit Road, where I stay nowadays.  I started shooting on this particular evening just before sunset and finished perhaps 3:00 a.m., and could have gone much later.

 

 

Bangkok is a place where things happen on the street.  All day long, people set up to sell you something, offer a service, or just hang out.  Anyone who’s been to East Asia, especially Southeast Asia, has seen this.  People stay up awfully late.

 

 

I’ve been to Bangkok six times.  On my last trip there, I took photos of temples, and the palace, and such during the day, because I like to take photos.  But most people would agree that the essence of Bangkok happens on the street.  That’s where people eat, drink, do business, and hang out.

 

 

I’ve been learning about photography only for a few years.  I can do the canonical landscape shot, the travel shot of the nice vista or the beautiful view, but street photography is a different game.  It’s about capturing moments and scenes.  I tried to show the slice of life, what’s happening at the moment.

 

 

Khao Sanh Road is the quintessential backpackers’ area.  It’s oh-so gradually gentrifying, in a strange way, but it’s still backpacker central.  This is where you find $8 a night rooms, Pad Thai on the street for 40 cents, people who will make you fake student IDs, and inexpensive services such as massages, laundry, and people to book the next part of your journey.  I find this area somewhat sad now, and I don’t stay there anymore, but it’s still worth a stroll.

 

 

These shots are quick, done in low light and on the spot, meaning they are often fuzzy and grainy.  The quality is not high.  I did them in black and white because it seems more appropriate; it’s not about the colorful tableau.

 

 

Over on Sukhumvit, I stay in an area bordered by two red-light districts, lots of eating places, many business hotels, and lots of nightlight.  All these affect the area.

 

 

After dinnertime, the area changes.  The night claims things.  To stay in Bangkok is to be caught up in what’s happening in your neighborhood.  Much of it, you don’t understand.

 

 

 

Late enough at night, people set up small carts on the sidewalks that act as open-air bars.  They blast music, flash lights, and serve up anything you need.  Especially after 2:00 a.m., when the regular bars close, everyone moves to the streets.  In the morning, these places have vanished.

 

 

Many set up additional tables around the carts, making it a portable lounge that can attract its own crowd, sometimes a very particular one.

 

 

I wonder about these characters, drinking on the street at 2:00 a.m., if they live here, are just visiting, and why they’re up.  Of course, I have joined them.

 

 

Travel writers focus way too much on the seedy side of Bangkers, but still, it can’t be ignored.  Particularly not in the a.m. hours.  Girls stand in the street, on the sidewalks, and in the clubs.  If that’s what you’re looking for, it’s easy to find.

 

 

Oftentimes, they find you.  You see way too many couples of young Thai girls and older, Western guys.  After a while, it’s almost impossible to not assume something, though I don’t think everything is what it appears.

 

 

They’re usually fun to watch.

 

 

But after some time in Bangkers, I realize it’s not usually that straightforward.  One can never tell what someone is doing late at night.  Often, a person hanging out is just a person hanging out.  Not everyone is doing business, and if they are, you may not realize what it is.

 

 

 

My favorite shots are of people where I have no idea what they’re doing.

 

 

I bet sometimes, they’re just going home.

 

 

These last shots were taken hanging out by my hotel, waiting for a late-night Pad Thai snack to be made by a street vendor, watching people pass in front of me.  I’ll never know where they’re going or what they’re doing.  Late at night, people have their own business.

 

If you’re into Bangkok, see why I think hanging out in their shopping megamalls is a great way to experience the local culture, and go visit a very under-known attraction there, the Metal Castle.