Any Bangkok visitor who claims the "City of Angels" is beautiful has never taken a very good look outside his hotel window, where you see a skyline dominated by skyscrapers, traffic clogged streets and thick smog everywhere.
But at the same time the city of Bangkok is becoming the trendsetting city for modern Asia, slowly changing its image from a stopover for sex tourists and bargain hunters to trendy tourists. The designer and fashion scene in Bangkok is rapidly taking up with competing scenes from Hong Kong, Shanghai and Tokyo.
"For years Bangkok was seen as the city for design and fashion imitation and cheap mass products. On the other hand there is high creativity here in Thailand and a ongoing tradition of talented craftsmanship from several centuries ago," says Rolf von Bueren, a German businessman and artist who has been living in Bangkok for 40 years.
Von Bueren and his Thai wife Helen established the Lotus Arts de Vivre in 1985, a mixture of furniture and household accessories including artwork, jewelry and fashion they design in an old house surrounded by a small forest in the middle of Bangkok, Thailand.
It is just one example of the new style of Bangkok that is offering high quality handcrafted goods made out of regional raw materials such as bamboo, sea shells, coconut, silver, gold and emeralds.
The luxury items is easily finding buyers from all over the world which is one reason why the Lotus ships (www.lotusartsdevivre.com) can be found in all the luxury hotels in Bangkok, such as the Peninsula, the Oriental and the Sukhothai hotel.
Another immigrant, Ernest Lee from the US, has built an art gallery in a former teak house built in Anglo-Thai style. The Art gallery named "H'' displays various works from local artists.
Kit-ti's Jewelry creates designer jewelry in Bangkok (www.kittijewelry.com). The young sales manager Khun Ittipol Rerkdee describes the Kit-ti jewelry creations as modern Thai ethnic art. Kit-ti creations stick out with their colors and unique designs with prices starting in the lower 3-digit dollar figures.
Original hand-woven Thai silk from Thailand has traditionally always had a good reputation. The largest selection in Bangkok can be found at Almeta (www.almeta. com). More than 30,000 different colors and patterns are available for dresses, cushions, pillows and many other items. A new showroom has recently been established where customers can choose materials that can immediately be tailored according to the customers personal taste.
Asian living in style can be seen at Cocoon, which offers everything from porcelain, blankets, candles, vases and even Buddha statues to give your interior that real Asian look. Cocoon was established 4-years ago by a multi-ethnic trio: a Swiss, a Dane and a Thai. Cocoon shops can be found in the shopping center Gaysorn Plaza and in the hotel Peninsula in Bangkok.
"Cocoon combines traditional Thai style and ethnic materials with modern day designs," says Swiss co-owner Carlo Hostettler. Our concept is similar to that of von Bueren but the products are more internationally orientated. The first Cocoon shop in Europe has just opened in the House of Frazer in Birmingham.
Most of all those trendy shops are centrally situated, not far apart. But that plays no role as the city of Bangkok in Thailand with some 7 million people still has no underground railway and huge traffic jams are the order of the day.
A journey of 4 kilometer in a Bangkok taxi mostly takes more than an hour, if not longer. The 2 modern Sky-train lines that link the high class hotels with shopping centers can provide some relief but still demand Buddhist patience for Western visitors.
The 3-wheeled Tuk Tuk taxis are relatively fast but unsafe and leave you with a face full of black soot at the end of the journey. By far the most comfortable and still fastest method of travel in Bangkok is still by boat. The wide Chao Phraya River that flows some 20km further into the Gulf of Thailand is the real soul of Bangkok and every visitor should at least make one trip on the Chao Phraya river else you haven't really seen Bangkok during your Thailand trip.
While cruising the Chao Phraya River one can imagine how Bangkok must have looked like in the past in strong contrast to the monotonous skyscrapers that nowadays line Bangkok's skyline.
Thais along the Chao Phraya river still live like their ancestors a century ago in ancient Siam. Children play in the water while an old man stands knee-deep along the river bank washing his hair while bathing in the river.
For a few Thai Baht a Chao Phraya express boat will take visitors to the major sightseeing points along the River Of Kings.
Most tourists to Thailand spend 2 or 3 days in Bangkok before traveling of to the beach resorts in Thailand. If in Bangkok, reserve at least half a day for a visit to the Grand Palace in the old part of the city and a visit to the Wat Phra Kaeo temple with its famous emerald Buddha. The complete Palace and Temple area is encircled by a 1,900m wall and was once a city within a city. The ancient architecture of Siam's glory days is breathtaking.
And while you are there, visit the Wat Pho temple with its 46m lying Buddha painted in gold and an unusually relaxed facial expression. Wat Pho is also home to Thailand's most famous massage school and 1 or 2 hours traditional massage there is very relaxing before moving on for more sightseeing or shopping.
