THANON SATHON

Today is sunny and breezy, it is a public holiday, and it is a perfect day for a walk. Equipped with my trusted Canon G9, a Cohiba, a hat, and a face cloth to wipe off the sweat I did a 3-hour loop around Sathon & Silom. Sathon is more a business district with brand new office towers, interspersed with embassies including the Holy See aka Vatican. The Catholic Church obviously owns a huge piece of real estate on Sathon as I walked past the St Louis Church, the St Louis Hospital & the St Louis Suksa School. Health Land, the spa we used to go for traditional Thai massage is also on Sathon, so is the Double A Book Tower. Of course the renowed Blue Elephant Restaurant is on Sathon, too, next to the Surasak Station. If you follow the BTS SkyTrain track you will eventually reach Saphan Taksin Station, and the public pier on the Chao Praya River. Turn right before you reach the station you will hit a busy section of Charoen Krung, with tiny shops that offer all sorts of goodies. At the end of this section make a right you will be back on the starting point of Silom, with the Shangri-la and the Oriental on your right, by the river. Silom used to be Bangkok's '5th Avenue' some years ago, in the 80s. It has a new face now, very neat, very dressed up, very up-market, presumably catering to high end 'farangs'. While the old Narai still stands the monstrous Sofitel, the elegant Hermitage have taken away her limelight. Life goes on ....