I walked to a local coffee stand and purchased iced green matcha tea and then a couple skewers of street food for some energy and worked on the blog until Morgan and Joseph woke up. The morning for Joseph started with finding the Smirnoff Ice I planted in his toiletries bag the night prior. Those of you who know me personally know that I enjoy playing the “Smirnoff Ice” game. After he drank the bottle of carbonated alcohol infused sugar water, we walked to a local cafe to get breakfast. After breakfast, we went back to prepare for the big day ahead of us. We planned our timing in Bangkok to be here for the Chinese New Year. Bangkok is home of the world’s largest Chinatown, and would surely be a unique event we would not want to miss.
We packed our bags, filled our water bladders, lathered on a healthy supply of sunscreen, then headed out. All around Bangkok and on our way to Chinatown, people were wearing the traditional Chinese outfits consisting of red with complimentary golden flowers (women) or dragons (men). Getting to Chinatown took some effort from a shuttle and two separate train lines, but we arrived around 1:00PM.
The Chinese New Year is a festival used originally as a time to honor deities and ancestors, and to bring good fortune and ward off evil spirits for the year to come. Once arriving in Chinatown, we made our way around the streets through the largest crowd of people I had ever been a part of. If I had to guess, there had to have been at least a half million people in Chinatown that day (there are around 14 million Bangkok residents). The streets roared with the sounds of people talking and laughing, street vendors promoting their goods, drumming, and of course motorbikes ripping around the crowds. I was drawn to the bright red and gold colors dominating all sights, and purchased a traditional men’s red button-down shirt with golden dragons embroidered on the front. I received many smiles and thumbs up from locals in response to honoring their attire traditions.
First, we explored many temples and shrines, taking our shoes off upon entry, lighting and placing incense, and bowing to pay homage customarily. We went to a local Chinatown restaurant and sat for a New Year special feast consisting of shark’s fin mixed with eggs, deep-fried sea bass and prawns, and roasted duck. Every part of this meal was amazing, and it was my first time trying duck. When in Rome… or in this case, Chinatown. After lunch, we continued to roam the streets in awe of lanterns and flowers strung overhead, dozens of performances by singers and dancers, and more shrines. We stopped at various bars along the way, and ventured around until nightfall.
Throughout the day, there were many dragons dancing to the beat of a drummer and cycling up and down through the streets. My favorite part of the entire day was around 9:00PM there was a dance of dueling LED dragons that shot sparklers and fireworks out of their mouths. In the middle of the performance, a group of about a dozen men climbed to the top of a large pole, one by one, securing themselves to the pole with a waist strap. Then, the dragon dancers passed one of the dragons to the men on the poles and slowly the dragon coiled its way to the top before roaring with more sparklers and fireworks. It was truly a magnificent sight radiating with vibrant lights and coupled with loud cheering, and I will never forget it.
After the dragon dance, we found a bar with a dragon logo and thought it an appropriate dwelling to drink. We played a few rounds of Jenga in the bar and enjoyed cocktails, then a live band came out and began performing American rock music. The first song played was Californication, and Joseph and I laughed at the irony of the fact we came all the way from California to SE Asia only to hear songs about California. Earlier in the day we had heard a street performer sing the song Hotel California, too. In both Japan and Thailand, I’ve been intrigued by the fact every bar/restaurant we’ve gone to plays a lot of American music. I had always heard and thought American music was popular globally, but it’s hard to truly imagine the extent until you’ve been abroad and still recognize most songs you hear just about anywhere. Perhaps it’s the large, popular, tourist drawing bars that play the American music and there are smaller and more local spots that play more localized music. However the night before I was at a small local dive bar and there was a Muse cover band performing.
After this bar, we continued to roam the streets until Midnight was reached. We expected there to be a countdown and people to cheer once the first day of the new year hit, but nobody did. I suppose an entire weekend festival of celebrations sufficed enough that a last 10 second countdown of the year really doesn’t matter. Also, no New Year’s kisses custom for the Chinese New Year (not that I had anyone to do this with anyway). After midnight, we walked to a local spa and treated ourselves to hour long foot massages after being on our feet for 11 hours (amounting to 16,000 steps for my fellow “ring closers”). After the foot massages revitalized our ability for mobility, we left Chinatown and got a cab back to the Air BnB.
What an unforgettable day. I had never been surrounded by so many people and immersed in such a different culture on a day of renowned celebration. I hope to continue to celebrate the Chinese New Year and will effort to venture to a nearby Chinatown in the future.