Saphan Khwai is a little-discussed neighbourhood in Bangkok, wedged between the higher-profile Ari with its glitzy “in” restaurants and the monster that is Chatuchak. But over the last week, while I have been staying here, I have quietly come to love the place. It is a very down-to-earth Thai neighbourhood, but also very lively. The two main drags, along Pradiphat Road and Phaloyothin are home to bustling, and exotic, street markets selling food, amulets, wooden carvings, old magazines and paper backs, cheap batik-print clothes for grandmothers from the provinces (I bought some shorts), flowers and even Arabian-style shoes –  all kinds of other wonderful thing, all dirt cheap.

On weekends the stretch of road outside the local post office becomes an amulet market, dedicated to the sale of magical talismans and divine images. From here, a few blocks north brings you to a cluster of hippie-ish middleaged men with long hair and feathers in their headbands selling statues of Buddha next to Jar Jar Binks, army surplus gear, and bones and horns.

In addition, there are old-skool open-fronted Thai “mom and pop” stores, filled with unbelievable clutter – rubber crocodiles and bronze busts, statues of gods, old calendars from the 80s, Blu-ray players…

There is also a 50 baht (less than US1.50) retro cinema:

..and a pair of grand dame retro hotels, the Liberty Garden and the less flamboyant but equally old fashioned “Pradiphat Hotel”:

Plus, I was surprised to find, something of a local gay scene, with the subway and Skytrain and Chatuchak market and its adjacent park all within a fifteen minute walk. Its a great place to stay if you want to get a slightly more “local” slice of Bangkok life.

While we were in town, Daisuke and I went for a latenight massage at Ekkamai branch of Healthland, and hit up two of our favourite nightspots:

Al Majili’s with its courtyard under the stars, palm trees, languid tropical breezes and beautiful people puffing on shishas:

And Clouds on Thonglor 13 which has slightly rejigged its decor but still operates under a vague “space-ship carrying the last plants in the universe” theme, with very strong cocktails and an all-night happy hour!

We did have one nasty experience though – an attempted motorbike drive-by bag snatch while walking back on Ekkamai Soi 12. Luckily, they didn’t get anything though.

Last night’s Trasher party, which I had been looking forward to so much, turned out to be a bit of an anticlimax on two fronts. The party itself has changed from the gritty, tongue-in-cheek little gay gathering I remembered to a very straight, very mainstream and quite glam night.It was held at Narz, a towering, Vegas-like nightclub on Sukhumvit 23, all sweeping staircases and lasers, playing commercial hip hop downstairs while the Trasher “Rihanna” party was happening upstairs. I actually thought at first we had arrived on the wrong night. Unlike the rough-around-the-edges, full of spunk homemade costumes I remembered from the “old days” (last year), there was a handful of queens in expensive-looking “Rihanna” getup and a whole lot of girls in short, expensive skirts, high heels and fake lashes. Uh, parrrrty….not.

And as if that was not weird enough, the party shut down at 1.45am! There was a police raid, the music was turned off and everyone was told to piss in a cup – a random dugs test was underway (as I later discovered, it was in clubs across the city that night). As luck would have it, I was taking a breather outside with my friends and missed all the drama and commotion anyway – we jsut wondered where the party had gone!

Perturbing.

And doubly disappointing after the amazing video the promoters had made for the party – with all the grit, humour and knowing camp that made the original so fun. But other than on the screen – where was that on the night?

Anyway, here are come pics fo the night:

Oh and look- here is one of me!