A River Runs Through It

Bangkok’s not just about its hectic nightlife, bustling food scene and shop-‘til-you-drop malls and markets. Simon clays checks into a whole new riverside experience and discovers the city’s oft neglected labyrinth of waterways.

- Simon Clays

I’VE A CONFESSION TO MAKE: A LOT OF CITIES START TO BORE ME AFTER A COUPLE OF DAYS. CABIN FEVER SETS IN AND I GET ITCHY FEET. NOT SO BANGKOK. I STILL GET THE SAME LIME TWIST, GIN ‘N’ TONIC TINGLE OF EXCITEMENT THROUGH MY STOMACH AS THE PLANE KISSES THE TARMAC AND THE GREEN BROWN SHIMMER OF PADDY FIELDS DISAPPEARS FROM VIEW, BEHIND SERIOUS AIRPORT BUILDINGS.Still, I get the feeling, as I roll over the final stretch of concrete, that this particular snake still plays host to a writhing underbelly of counter-culture; a chattering old Siam with its steaming street food counters, hustle and bustle, betting and buns. But, it’s only a feeling and I wonder if the new is finally beginning to tarmac over the old.

I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve visited Bangkok. Certainly, more than I’ve fingers and, in all probability, I’m exhausting my toes. It’s a city of stunning and stark contrast, yet a city where I’ve partied with men’s magazines at the zenith of lad culture, wooed my wife with its culinary delights, taken my daughter on her first eye-popping shopping extravaganza and sweated through a dozen fetid monsoon meetings. Yet, still, those self-same toes have barely set foot on the same streets twice.

It seems I can strike offone more pinky as my home for the next few days is to be the recently opened Riverside AVANI, a property slightly down river and away from the clutch of usual five-star suspects that loom over Sathorn. I arrive early on a night flight, cotton wool fuzzy and a few hours out of kilter, so aside from a gentle dawn chorus of ‘saw-wah-dee-khab’ my entrance is unassuming and more than a little sleepy.