you're going down...to chinatown

The first time Phet and I came to Bangkok together was back in 1995 when we were backpacking. We'd spent a month in Hong Kong volunteering with a summer school program Phet had also worked with in San Francisco, then we'd toured Malaysia by train, and then we came to Thailand on our way to Laos.

I remember being anxious when we exited customs at the Bangkok airport since we didn't have a guesthouse booked. We'd stayed at some pretty crappy places in KL and been introduced to such delights as bathrooms and hotel rooms with open ventilation 'windows' at the top of each wall (thus allowing all sounds and smells to pass freely throughout the building), and to fun games like 'finding a cockroach in your bag and having to get it out, smush it, and dispose of it while your girlfriend squirrels herself away in a corner.' We ended up at a place called ABC guesthouse in a room that had two ultra-narrow beds, a fan, and it's OWN BATHROOM. Whoo hoo. I seem to recall that we also got served toast and fruit on the rooftop terrace for breakfast every morning, which was a pretty sweet deal. Aside from me nearly burning our room to a crisp after leaving a burning mosquito coil on top of a magazine while we slept, we made out pretty well at ABC.

When we got back from Laos and were headed home, we decided to stay on Khao San road, the mecca of travellers' guesthouses and banana pancake shops for all of south-east Asia. The first floor of the place we stayed at was nice: big, open, clean restaurant, fairly tidy patrons. Then we were shown to our room, which turned out to be a bed-sized rectangle containing a small bed and a tiny bathroom. There were no windows. But the selling point of the place was that there was air con. No windows, mind you, so the air con got its "fresh" air and also vented out into the hallway. We lasted only one night. I freaked out in the dark and insisted we move to another guesthouse the next morning and Phet - stoically living through my phase of abiding by the Lonely Planet, which had recommended Khao San and the no-windows guest house - agreed.

After that, when we came back to Bangkok we were a little more well-travelled and had heard all the gem scams, and had been told by a tuk tuk driver that the royal palace wasn't open when it really was open, and I had dispensed with the Lonely Planet. So on our next visit, we stayed at a hotel mentioned by the Rough Guide.

The Empire Hotel on Yaowarat street is a huge ol' momma of a guesthouse spanning half a block. It's maybe five or six stories high, and is right in the heart of the madness and chaos of Bangkok's Chinatown. During the day, Chinatown is street-to-gutter-to-nook-to-cranny jampacked with wholesale sellers vending everything from coffins to stick-on nails, from whisks to wicker bird cages, from metre-tall clear plastic bags of crispy dried pork rinds to bales of cotton pajamas. Everywhere, there are porters hustling along, and eight hundred thousand and twelve people out buying and selling. At night, the shops close up and the sidewalks fill with food vendors. My favouite stall from the Empire Hotel days was the toast stall. Handily situated right next to the iced coffee cart, the toast stall offered golden-grilled slices of white bread with your choice of topping: butter, condensed milk, jam, honey, nutella, or sugar. What a treat after a hard day of touring.

Just across the street from the toast stall was a side-street filled with seafood restaurants. Outside each one were huge grills, stacks of crabs and trays of fish, mussels, oysters, clams, and squid. Barkers call out to you as you pass by, encouraging you to come and eat at their place.

Now, we no longer stay at the seedy Empire hotel, but we do still eat at the same seafood restaurant. On Sunday we took James to eat there and had a feast. We've also taken Phet's Mum, my Dad, Emma, Phet's brother and sisters, and Claire and Trung (who went back three times, it's just that good!). We are 100% counting on taking Mum there when she comes to see us in September, and you too, Auntie Cathie. We promise gluten free gorging. Cheap! [Bangkok-29-June-2005]

correction

Fixed Address incorrectly published the name of a fine Bangkok institution yesterday and we sincerely regret our error. Please be advised that the guest house to which we were referring is not 'The Empire Hotel' as we had incorrectly recollected, but is actually 'The New Empire Hotel'. Where the old one went, we haven't the foggiest notion. But we do encourage out-of-towners who don't know us personally (or who don't like us personally but are still coming to Bangkok anyways) to stay at The New Empire Hotel, "where [as their website notes] your need is fulfilled...in the hearth of China Town." For all the gourmands who are ready to feast in the culinary splendour of the Land of Smiles, remember that The New Empire Hotel's coffee shop is "an idea place where you and a group of your friends can relax and enjoy with our selecting of drinking menu."

And finally please note that our previous content editor has been sacked. [Bangkok-30-June-2005