Bangkok rules! The Eagles do not!

As I contemplate the music that I have heard on this trip, I feel quite thankful to have heard a tremendous variety of cultural sounds made by many different instruments. The route we have taken has also funneled us through areas that are geared to draw the westerner. Colored lights and Hollywood movies, mushroom paintings and glow paint all of these have proven to work. In these places American music classics rule (like there is any competition, right?) Jack Johnson has been the most played artist by far but I dont want to talk about him. I hate how good his music makes me feel, how cool he is, how simple but deep his song lyrics are, and how his tunes go well with every type of setting, ohhhhhh he makes me so mad!
There has been an intense battle for the most played song raging throughout Asia. Whitney Houston had a brief spat at the top after her untimely exit from this world. I was crushed by the way. Nora Jones surprisingly has been quite a constant. Three years ago Rod Stuart had a solid hold in Thailand yet today sadly he seems to have all together disappeared. Good ole Bobby Marley has cooly attempted to secure victory with his timeless life advice not to worry about a thing and reminding us that if we don't have a women there is no need to cry. Of course MJ is a force to be reckoned with belting out his ballad for peaceful streets "Beat It".

In the end though the championship belt undoubtably goes to a little ditty that begins with a solitary bongo joined by a familiar guitar riff and then a raspy voice whines, "on a dark desert highway....."

Both studio versions, instrumentals, foreign language covers, dj remixes, bar cover bands, lounge versions, and I even heard it in an elevator tune in China. Hotel California; please go away.
I feel a little better after this rant but not enough, so without further ado here is another version that I have made to aquatint you all with a little southeast Asia:

In a dark airplane cabin, loud sneeze in my hair,
The warm smell of my sandals, rising up through the air,
Outside in the distance, Asia's glimmering lights,
were so bright that it made me grin, stay for 6 months we just might,
The monk lit up the candle, and he showed me the way,
I heard chanting through an alley door, thought I heard them say,

Welcome to the Motel southeast Asia,
such a crazy place,
with a spicy taste,
There's plenty of gloom at the Motel southeast Asia,
We need some A/C here,
And some ice for beer.

The bed is springy and twisted, the techno bass has no end, ungh!
There's lots pretty lady boys, for money will be your friends,
I wish for English closed captions, Chineeeeeeese is all we get,
That dog is dismembered, that I wish to forget,
So in here I'm the captain, hangin laundry on a line, the bathroom hasn't been cleaned in here since 1969,
And still cat voices are meowing from faaaaar away,
Roosters wake me up in the middle of the night just to hear them say,

Welcome to the Motel southeast Asia,
What a dingy place,
Bed bugs on my face,
Livin' it up at the No-tel southeast Asia,
What a nice surprise,
cockroach of enormous siiiiize,

Fungus on the ceiling, cheap champagne on ice,
(I said) we are all just staying here, cause trip advisor's advice,
In trash fire embers, stray dogs look for a feast,
Vendors selling' illegal knives, that protect us from the thiefs,
Last thing I remember I was running for the door,
I had to get the power back, 'cause hot showers are no more,
Relax said the desk man, 'it come back if believe',
'You can check out any time you like just pay in full before leave'.

Hope you enjoyed the new version. That all being said I wanted to touch on one last subject in this wrap up blog of sorts and that is my love of Bangkok. We have been in and out of this sprawling metropolis several times and have spent prolly about three weeks in total. We also went to just a few other cities along the way with which to compare it as well. I love this city! I really enjoy all it has to offer. I know I will return again and again because there is so much left to be done. I have come to feel comfortable around Thai pop music the language is soothing some how. The youth of Bangkok are so spunky and ambitious in the ways of western/Thai cultural fusion, it's fun to watch the many interests they have. There is also the older generations keeping Bangkok's old ways alive. It's these two ways that mix to make it all so intriguing. There are patterns everywhere under the seemingly utter chaos. I feel like I understand it's flow in general but also know that it's complicated underbelly could never be understood by anyone other than a Thai.

The song 'One Night in Bangkok' I learned is actually a song about chess and written for a musical about a chess match in Bangkok. This was news to me because I had it nearly memorized all the times I listened to it on this trip getting pumped up for travel and thought it spoke of something much deeper. It does say that Bangkok is a show with everything but Yul Brenner' This is true because sadly, the King of Siam actor has since passed on. 'You'll find a god in every golden cloister and if you're lucky then the guys a she' also true. 'The world's your oyster but the pearls ain't free.' Bangkok like this song is however how you choose to make it.

So I invite all to experience the splendor of Krung Thep the original 'city of angels'. It is in the Guinness book of records for longest city name. Bangkok was once on the other side of the Chao Phraya river until 1782 the king moved it to the more defensible site of today and named it Krung Thep. Many rural people's of the region may not even recognize the name Bangkok, only Krung Thep. King Rama 1 officially named it: Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahinthara Ayuthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom Udomratchaniwet Mahasathan Amon Priman Awatan Sathit Sakkathattiya Witsahukam Prasit.

Translation: the city of angels, the great city, the residence of the emerald Buddha, the impregnable city (of Ayutthaya) of god Indra, the grand capital of the world endowed with nine precious gems, the happy city, abounding in an enormous palace that resembles the heavenly abode where reins the reincarnated god, a city given by Indra and built by Vishnukarn.

Yea it's all that.