Bangkok (Lonely Planet) - Andrew Burke [35]
Although the company claims its stores carry more than 2000 items, the fresh flavours of Thai cuisine are not reflected in the wares of a typical Bangkok 7-Eleven, whose food selections are even junkier than those of its counterpart in the West. Like all shops in Thailand, alcohol is only available from 11am to 2pm and 5pm to 11pm, and branches of 7-Eleven located near hospitals, temples and schools do not sell alcohol or cigarettes at all (but do continue to sell unhealthy snack food).
7-Eleven and other, less ubiquitous, convenience stores carry a wide selection of drinks, a godsend in sweltering Bangkok. You can conveniently pay most of your bills at the Service Counter, and all manner of phonecards, prophylactics and ‘literature’ (although, oddly, not most newspapers) are also available. And sometimes the blast of air-conditioning alone is enough reason to stop by. But our single favourite item must be the dirt-cheap chilled scented towels for wiping away the accumulated grime and sweat before your next appointment.
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CULTURE & IDENTITY
Whether native or newcomer, virtually every Bangkokian you meet has a story. Although the majority find themselves in Bangkok owing to the simple fact that they were born in the city, a healthy percentage of the population hails from other parts of Thailand and from around the world. Some have followed the promise of work, while others have simply sought out one of the world’s most vibrant social climates.
Climb into one of the capital’s ubiquitous taxis and the music issuing from your driver’s radio or cassette player will often suggest where he’s from (virtually all Bangkok taxi drivers are male). If it’s mǒr lam, with the churning sound of Thai-Lao bamboo panpipes (kaan) pounding out zydeco-like chord figures over a strong, simple rhythm, then chances are he moved to Bangkok from one of Thailand’s distant northeastern provinces, such as Roi Et or Sakon Nakhon. Switch to lôok tûng, a unique hybrid of Thai, Indian and Latin musical influences popular with rural audiences, and the driver almost certainly comes from a province closer to Bangkok, perhaps Suphanburi or Saraburi. And if it’s syrupy Thai pop or an older, crooning Bangkok style called lôok grung, then you’ve most likely hitched a ride with a city native.
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MAGNET AND MELTING POT
Only a little more than half of the city’s inhabitants are in fact true Bangkok Thais, that is, those born of Thai parentage who speak Bangkok Thai as their first language. Although Bangkok Thais are found in all walks of life, they are the backbone of the city’s blue-collar workforce in construction, automotive repair and river transport.
Although Chinese Thais live in every quarter of the sprawling city, their presence is most noticeable in a densely populated core of multistorey shophouses along Th Charoen Krung and Th Yaowarat near Mae Nam Chao Phraya, a precinct known as Yaowarat, Sampeng or ‘Chinatown’. Chinese in these areas tend to be engaged in all manner of commerce, from wholesale trade in auto parts to the manufacture of high-end kitchen utensils. In other parts of the city they dominate higher education, international trade, banking and white-collar employment in general. Both immigrant and Thailand-born Chinese residents probably enjoy better relations with the majority population here than in any other country in Southeast Asia.
One in 10 Thai citizens lives and works in Bangkok. Roughly 60% of the country’s wealth is concentrated here, and per-capita income runs well above the average for the rest of the country – second only to Phuket, an island province in the south. The legal minimum daily wage in Bangkok and the adjacent provinces of Samut Prakan, Samut Sakhon, Pathum Thani, Nonthaburi and Nakhon Pathom amounted to 203B (US$6.12) in 2009, roughly 40B higher than in the rest of Thailand.
A typical civil servant in an entry-level government job earns around