Only God Forgives is an American arthouse film set in Bangkok. It features a cop called Chang, essentially an unstoppable force of retribution, who has one peculiar trait: he performs gentle karoake renditions of Thai songs throughout the film. What I thought was a bizarre character trait added solely to make an already weird film even weirder turns out to be a reasonably commonplace phenomenon here in Thailand. Ive witnessed pop-up karoake stages a few times, most recently yesterday when, at a riverside market outside Bangkok, I was lured along by the sound of music and found myself in a quaint family-oriented karoake space where you could purchase flowers and bequeath them to the blushing singers (men and women alike). It was very charming. Here a few more shots from around the city: 1. Wat Thepthidaram, a small, almost rundown temple that attracts little tourist attention. I stumbled upon it by accident, finding the monks going about their chores peacefully. 2. The daily traffic jam in the middle of the city. 3. Chinatowns main drag. 4. A neighbourhood of shacks around an abandoned railway. (quality is low, necessitated by potato internet)
Posted on: Mon, 15 Dec 2014 02:28:58 +0000