Thai festival, South East London
I attended a Thai festival at Bexleyheath in South East London last weekend.
Much to my surprise, one of the performers on the festival stage was the fantastic Georgia from Bangkok´s equally fantastic Ad Here Blues Bar. Georgia did some Blues and Jazz standards for a crowd of several hundred Thai and local punters…a great day with Pad Thai, soft ice cream vans,ghost rides, Chang Beer one had to drink in a cage-like fenced off enclosure, Thai music and lots of Thai smiles, spread across a big field below Danson House, a handsome 18th century mansion.
The Thai community in Britain is visibly growing (or perhaps it is emancipating itself). Besides numerous Thai festivals taking place around the country, a plethora of new Thai restaurants in London, I noticed that many of the shops in Camden market, London´s largest weekend market, are run by Thais. Many of the products on display - clothes and little gadgets - appear to come straight from the trendier corners of Chatuchak Weekend Market in Bangkok and give textiles from Latin countries a run for their money.
August 13th, 2010 at 4:01 am
Glad to see you’re enjoying your break from Thailand.
August 13th, 2010 at 9:40 am
The complete experience - more smiles than the rest of southern England can muster, great food - superior soi food in fact - stalls selling all manners of Thai products from wooden Buddhas to triangular pillows, massages and beauty products, and even a godawful song called Amazing Thailand, blasted from the stage, with excruciatingly nationalist lyrics.