A few reflections on this trip to Bangkok:
1. Prices have already surpassed those in China’s first-tier cities (at least in the shopping districts. Most people may not have a deep sense of it, but just looking at the hundreds of 711 stores on every street, their prices are definitely not low either).
2. Everywhere is crowded—tourist numbers have increased rather than decreased compared with the past few years, especially the number of Middle Eastern tourists! (I suspect it has something to do with current geopolitical risks.)
3. Infrastructure still lags far behind, and the gap between the rich and the poor remains huge (skyscrapers keep sprouting up, but right below are rundown, filthy slums. Most pedestrian shopping streets are very dilapidated. The entire city basically has no overpasses, and traffic is chaotic, with congestion everywhere.)
4. There’s one thing that’s similar to back home: delivery riders everywhere in the city, wearing dirty, grime-covered Line uniforms, weaving through the neon-lit, lively nightlife.
As for the safety concerns everyone worries about—throughout the entire trip, I didn’t feel any danger at all. When shopping, you also don’t need to worry about being pickpocketed, cheated, pressured into buying things, or being caught in tourist-trap schemes… not at all! That sense of ease and looseness is something you can only truly feel after you land.
1. Prices have already surpassed those in China’s first-tier cities (at least in the shopping districts. Most people may not have a deep sense of it, but just looking at the hundreds of 711 stores on every street, their prices are definitely not low either).
2. Everywhere is crowded—tourist numbers have increased rather than decreased compared with the past few years, especially the number of Middle Eastern tourists! (I suspect it has something to do with current geopolitical risks.)
3. Infrastructure still lags far behind, and the gap between the rich and the poor remains huge (skyscrapers keep sprouting up, but right below are rundown, filthy slums. Most pedestrian shopping streets are very dilapidated. The entire city basically has no overpasses, and traffic is chaotic, with congestion everywhere.)
4. There’s one thing that’s similar to back home: delivery riders everywhere in the city, wearing dirty, grime-covered Line uniforms, weaving through the neon-lit, lively nightlife.
As for the safety concerns everyone worries about—throughout the entire trip, I didn’t feel any danger at all. When shopping, you also don’t need to worry about being pickpocketed, cheated, pressured into buying things, or being caught in tourist-trap schemes… not at all! That sense of ease and looseness is something you can only truly feel after you land.
