Currency

[acockasian]

I had an Israeli friend who loved the food there. (He spoke fluent Arabic and said no one gave him any trouble.)

 

 

 

Israelis go there all the time.

[acockasian]

changing Iranian currency in little Gaza here in BKK is probably not a good idea.......

 

 

Why isn't it a good idea?

 

Have you been there?

[acockasian]

I like it down there - still has life and small commerce and lawlessness - kind of like Chungking Mansions in Hong Kong, a little glimmer of something different in a homogenized world. These days it's got an African component to it too, and everybody has something going on. Good spot.

 

The comparison to Chungking is a very good one. Haven't been to Chungking in more than twenty years but that is a great analogy for someone 40+ years old who has lived any amount of time in Asia.

 

No idea if Chungking is still going or not but the feel is certainly similar.

[YimSiam]

Chungking was still doing its thing full-on when I was in HK around 2007-2010 period: still a source in HK for a real melting pot of some crazy above- and below-board commerce going on, not to mention the wild mix of cultural stuff, food, and chaos -- not general the vibe in HK, but once you walk through the doors of CK mansions, it's all around. The cops basically stay outside the doors, except for serious cases - violence, bigger drug busts, some piracy stuff - and let commerce rule. Africans, South Asians, Chinese, some hideous Sri Lankan hookers loitering around, and, what, fourteen floors up of mysterious guesthouses and offices and little hidden away rooms? Interesting place. Some professor eventually did a book on it: Chungking Mansions: Ghetto At the Center of the World, or something like that. And the professor even does tours for the curious, or used to... That's where our boy Edward Snowden *should* have headed - not the Mira (or at least tried Mirador Mansions!)

 

YimSiam