I wondered who would need all those enormous office spaces when more people would become teleworkers and AI would take away jobs from humans. There’s an over supply of condominiums in Bangkok yet more exclusive and expensive projects have become very competitive. I wondered how many foreigners (wealthy Chinese and Europeans) have been buying up these condo units.
The bus stopped near the corner of Wireless road and I had to take the skytrain to the fourth stop for my destination. The timing was just right, I have managed to avoid the rush hour and arrived at the shopping area before the sunset. I used to visit this place every year just before Christmas to take photos of the the shopping malls’ lightings and decorations. In the past, there was a music festival and sometimes with special shows to enliven the festive atmosphere. The plandemic had changed all that and the crowds had diminished quite a bit.
Last year decorations were quite fanciful and grand as if these shopping malls were making it up to their customers. This year, the flooding of Chinese tourists didn’t materialise so people were very disappointed with low sale figures and earnings. They have started to tighten their belts as their campaigns weren’t attracting bigger volume of overseas visitors. Even taxi drivers were complaining to me about how hard to find customers at night as people wouldn’t go out much any more.
At least the arcade between the Emporium and the other two shopping malls have always been very busy as there’s a skytrain station (Promphong) there. Several high rise office buildings around the area have also contributed to the vibrant atmosphere in the evening. So, this place has become my favourite meeting spot with friends in the past. There were lots of nice and reasonably prices restaurants at the Emporium mall. The bakeries there were also top notch for bread and chocolate cakes. We used to have coffees and cakes during weekends there.
So, walking around this place brought back lots of good memories of time past. I observed the low key Christmas decorations this year, comparing with last year’s. There used to be lots of young kids with families taking photos for souvenirs last year. This time, visitors were mostly young teenagers in groups, tourists and commuters.
There was no big green Christmas tree like last year. It’s the sign of changing time. But most visitors were in good spirits and enjoyed the lightings and festive decorations. People still took selfies with friends in front of colourful lighting.
I was attracted to the window displays and video display of the Emporium. I could never afford such an expensive brand name products but they did look good in advertisement. Those designers knew how to use colours, shapes and lights to attract attention and admiration of their artistic abilities.
Colours always affected and influenced my moods and state of my mind. But if I had to ditch out lots of money in exchange of a designer product, I would have a heart attack. I would rather spend that money on Bitcoin! Momentary gratification couldn’t be compared with long term security.
After walking around the Emporium, I went into the EmQuartier which was full of brand name shops. I was surprised by a strange eye-glasses shop with weird interior design. I couldn’t see the connection between ‘gentle monster glasses’ or spectacles with robot eye, mechanical bisons and movable glass pyramids.
But these weird objects attracted many people into the shop to try out their glasses. I just walked around taking photos, I knew those glasses would be very expensive and impractical anyway. Fashion items would go out of fashion very fast, the next season would dictate new shapes and frames. By the way, the one eye monster could open and close his eye automatically. The bisons could move their heads and switch their tails around.
Then, I checked out the next shopping mall with some colourful window displays. The Christmas decorations were rather subdue and economised. There’s a new coffee shop which spread out such strong aroma. But the shop’s interior design reminded me of a hospital with all white colour. I wouldn’t enjoy an expensive cup of coffee in paper cup in a white environment. The open air restaurant in the garden below looked much more attractive.
In the past I used to have a few regular restaurants where I could book up tables for twenty people, and that place was by the river close by the Grand Palace. The elderly owner sold her place and land to a chain restaurant; the good Thai food were gone. At the Emporium, my favourite Italian restaurant was gone after the long lockdown and so did my favorite English tea room. I lost all my favourite haunts during the past three years!
I wondered how many people kept coming back to places that connected to their good old memories. I liked to check out these familiar places and to observe changes so I could reflect on my life through time. It would be nice if I could happened to bump into old friends in these places. But they have moved on and away from my circle through time. Looking back, I knew I have been so lucky to have met all these friends and shared lots of good time together.
Some much older friends had already gone to the next dimension. I hoped I would have the chance to meet my old friends with whom the Emporium used to be like our sitting room. We had such good meals and yummy tea cakes there. All the staff became our friends as we were there very often. It’s going to be difficult to find a place with such warm and kind people in big city. Meanwhile the weather has become more windy and much cooler as the cold wind came down from China. The news warned about record of lowest temperature in China this weekend. So, keep warm!
Wishing you peace, good health and prosperity.
Stay strong and cheerful.
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