A new bicycle shop opened on my soi a few months ago. It's a very nice store, with areas for huge window displays, a big showroom and, seemingly, lots of high-end bikes to choose from.
When it first opened its doors, I was a bit dubious as to how well it would do. I live in central Bangkok, not far from the business center and only a few minutes drive to work here in the palatial offices of Student Weekly, but my neighbourhood is fairly quiet and not at what anybody would consider the heart of the action as far a city life is concerned. Despite this, the shop seems to be doing huge business.
There hasn't been a time when I've walked by the place in the afternoon, when the shop hasn't had at least two or three customers. They've also thrown several parties in the evening that have been very well attended. So maybe they'll stay afloat.
Over the past couple of years, I've also seen quite a few groups of tourists out on the streets in what would appear to be bike tours of the city. Just last weekend a saw a large group of — judging by their pale, but rapidly reddening, skin and profuse sweating — European tourists, making their way up a major arterial in my neighbourhood. I have no idea where they were heading, but I can say whatever it was they were hoping or planning to see, I'm sure it wasn't the street they were on. It's one of the most congested and least picturesque streets in the city.
I've never thought of Bangkok as a bicycle city. I can't imagine trying to navigate the traffic here in the City of Angels on something as exposed as a bike. And it's not just the traffic. Pedaling around the capitol in this heat is something that I'd definitely not do. Then there's the air pollution.
Despite this litany of factors that would seem to limit the likelihood that bikes would catch on here, it seems as though the pedal-power fad is in full swing. How long it will last is anybody's guess.
I think that it's great that people want to get around on bicycles. They're fairly inexpensive. They don't pollute. They're a great way to get exercise — something that's increasingly needed here in Bangkok, judging by the waistlines of a growing number of people whom I see when I'm out and about. That being said, I just can't see myself ever getting a bike. To me, all of the downsides of biking in Bangkok far outweigh the benefits.
But maybe that's just me. If you're motivated and brave enough to hit the streets on a pedal-powered two-wheeler, more power to you.
I am perfectly happy, feeling safer inside an air-conditioned vehicle with a ton or two of steel separating me from all the crazy on the streets.
Sean Vale
Editor
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