Bangkok Salsa Fiesta 2011 - Part 1

The Streets and Sounds of Bangkok

Thailand’s worse flooding in the past fifty years have been all over the news for weeks now. You can imagine the nightmarish images which have been painted in our minds: More than 500 dead (at the time of writing this article), water levels up to 2.5 meters, mass evacuations etc. And smack in the eye of the storm – the Bangkok Salsa Fiesta 2011.

Thankfully, our trip there was a dry as a bone! No rain even. In fact, it was pretty darn hot if you asked me. We took an early morning flight on Friday, 4^th November 2011 and 2 hours later, we arrived safely at Suvarnabhumi International Airport, Bangkok, Thailand. Once we arrived and had lunch, Arin Askandar, Emily Chua and myself, Dominique Kee, managed to get a public cab to our pre-booked hotel in Sukhumvit Soy 3 (Nana) called Unico Express.

Once we arrived at the Hotel, we took a walk outside, particularly to 7-11, while the Hotel Management got our rooms sorted out. Walking on the streets of Sukhumvit felt pretty ominous. Every shop along the road had flood prevention measures in the form of sandbags and small concrete walls. You actually had to climb over these walls to enter their shops.

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 Above: Some shots of a very dry Suvarnabhumi International Airport

Above: Some shots of the Muslim Middle Eastern community in Central Bangkok

Above: Some shots of Sukhumvit Soy 3 (Nana), where our hotel, the Unico Express is located. You can see from the pictures that the Thai people are expecting water the flood to hit central Bangkok soon enough.

Dinner with A

I first met my lovely, lovely friend A (she’s a ‘her’) when I attended the Singapore International Salsa Festival (SISF) 2009. We took a picture together with my camera, and we’ve been friends ever since. Since 2009, I’ve also met her at SISF 2010 and the Malaysia Salsa Congress in 2009 and the Malaysian Salsa Festival 2010.

When we arrived at Bangkok, I gave her a call immediately. She seemed pretty excited that we were visiting her very own backyard. She proposed dinner and we agreed that she would come and pick us up. The 4 of us had dinner at this lovely Italian restaurant near the hotel venue for the First Night of BSF, the Grand Millennium. After dinner, we took a leisurely 15 minute stroll down to the Grand Millennium for the First Night Party of BSF 2011. Boo ya!

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Above: The most amazing chicken I've ever eaten.

Above: The most amazing prawn dish I've ever eaten. The red sauce is to die for. Foodies take note.

Above: I don't really remember what this is all about...

Above: The interior of the Italian restaurant. Lovely food, lovely ambiance. I'm definitely going back.

Bangkok Salsa Fiesta 2011 Part Uno!

We never had the intention of participating in the BSF 2011 workshops. Instead, we were hellbent on getting our freak on at the party afterwards. The moment we stepped out of the elevator to the Grand Ballroom, we caught sight of some familiar local faces who were slated to perform later that night. We also managed to catch up with the beautiful Ms. Thattima Sukjai, affectionately known as Aoy, one of the organizers and promoters of BSF 2011.

After exchanging pleasantries with several salseros in the room, I proceeded to park myself square in front of the dance floor, took out my camera, and prepared for one hell of a show!

I hope my humble pictures are able to portray some of the intense awesomeness of the entire event. I managed to take photos of the performance for ALL THREE NIGHTS! Kudos to me!

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Continued in Bangkok Salsa Fiesta 2011 – Part 2 Coming Soon!

Thanks for viewing!

For those of you who like statistics:

Vital Stats for November: 3 posts 348 pics

Vital Stats So Far: 119 posts 4,943 pics

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