Happy Land—Thailand’s National Pastime

Phil and I are lucky enough to live within ten minute’s walk of “The Mall”—a sprawling, five-story complex that could put the Mall of America to shame. And it’s not even the largest shopping mall in Bangkok. Our Thai students are continually writing sentences about going to the mall, meeting friends there, eating at the mall restaurants, and using it as their chief entertainment center.

And why not? It’s a huge public space that’s air conditioned, full of glitz and glamour, and chock full of good places to eat. There are few public parks in the area—and it’s too hot to be in the sun anyway. So the mall has replaced parks as the main venue of public recreation. And here are a few reasons why:

This is taken from the main floor, looking up four stories at a
floating dragon (to celebrate the Chinese new year, the Year of the Dragon).

Looking down on the same dragon from the fourth floor.
(This is only a small portion of the mall.)

One of many places to sit and relax,
with fantastical decorations, water, and live plants.

Another “happy place” in the mall for tired shoppers to recharge.
Sofas, tables, comfortable chairs, lots of plants.

Just one of four or five gold stores in a row, all lined with gleaming, real gold.


Overkill.

A network of escalators carrying shoppers into paradise.
One of six or seven.

Looking down three stories.

Amazing pastries.

A bank of flowers near the gourmet grocery.

The fourth floor is crammed with close to a hundred eateries.

A floor dedicated almost entirely to makeup. An important commodity here.


The one purchase that might tempt me.

This Sunday there were several “attractions” at the mall.
Here you could pay to get your photo taken with a handsome celebrity.
Lots of swooning women.

In America, malls are on the way out. But in Bangkok, a city where the population is squeezed into high-rise complexes with cramped apartments and little greenery, the malls are booming. Perhaps it has something to do with materialism. It also has to do with the cost of electricity—some of our students say that their homes are no longer air-conditioned since the rates have been raised. So going to the mall is actually a way to save money. But perhaps it’s also something deeper—a longing for space, luxury, and beauty. Which Bangkapi Mall gives out in spades.













Comments

  1. DeniseJanuary 31, 2024 at 9:14 PM

    Continuing to enjoy your blogs. Amazing contrast you observed between flourishing malls in Thailand and declining malls in U.S. In U.S. we don't equate retail with community. Maybe we should.

    ReplyDelete

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