Friday afternoon in Bangkok.  With Tawn working in Public Relations, I figured that eventually we’d start getting invited to various swanky affairs.  Last night was the first one.  We received four tickets and brought our friends Eddy and Thao to the preview week for a new event called Siam Niramit held at a complex near the Thailand Cultural Center.   It is best described as a combination of the Thai section of Epcot Center (if there were a Thai section of Epcot Center), Cirque du Soleil, and a dinner theatre. 

Built by the owners of the Bangkok amusement park, Dream World, visitors to Siam Niramit arrive in a virtual Thai village where they can wander around and watch people making crafts, preparing food, playing traditional games, etc.  There is a large buffet of traditional Thai foods, served in little banana leaf bowls.  You can watch performers playing traditional instruments and dancing traditional dances. 

Then a few minutes before 8:00 everyone proceeds into a huge indoor theatre – probably 4,000 seats and a massive interior space that looks like an IMAX theatre.  The stage is quite wide – maybe 200 feet.  Then a show in seven acts begins that depicts historical life in the four main regions of the country.  After a brief intermission in which a clown comes out and does some audience participation act that is a direct borrow from Cirque, the final three acts depict the Thai Buddhist images of Hell, Heaven and an in-between place that is filled with fantastic creatures.  It is like a series of temple murals come to life.

There is a cast of about 70 people, lots of dancing, kickboxing, spectacular costumes and lighting, etc.  After the second act, a life-size khlong (canal) appears on the stage and we are “amazed” as a villager jumps in for a morning swim. 

All this for 1500 baht (35 USD) a ticket. 

Afterwards we dissected this experience.  If it is targetted at a local audience, the high ticket price will put it out of reach of most people.  If it is targetted at farang (foreigners) it lacks any significant amount of explanation – most people won’t understand the significance of what they’re seeing or eating before and during the show.  And regardless of audience, there is no storyline linking all of the acts together so it isn’t terribly compelling.

During lunch today, Tawn and I constructed a workable storyline that would require only a modest amount of reworking of the production.  We’re trying to figure out who to call to give them our ideas at a reasonable price.

As for other news from Bangkok, things are getting settled.  Still no internet access at home, but that may be resolved in the next week or so.  I’ve spent most mornings working on the computer then gone to meet Tawn for lunch near his office.  Most of the time this means a very simple meal at a local food court for about 80 baht apiece – US$2.  Then I return home in the afternoon and continue working on the computer.

This weekend we have a long list of errands to run.  I still do not have a computer desk and our clothes washer is not hooked up yet.  Many things to do.