Do you have a hiding place? (Bangkok, Phnom Penh, Saigon)
Update: 31 July 2024
Phrom Phong forms the center of Bangkok’s Japantown. The neighbourhood has several good hostel/hotels, the best second-hand bookshop in the city (if not South East Asia), large shopping malls, a Japanese style public bath and several amenities. You can eat cheap local street food or try the fancy upscale places. There is even a North Korean restaurant. All of these places are walking distance from the Phrom Phong BTS (Skytrain station).
Phnom Phong is not as crazy as the adjacent tourist hotspots of Ashok or Nana but it is still accessible via the Skytrain. This is one of my hiding places in South East Asia.
Update: March 2023, I returned here after a long gap and some places have disappeared. It's still a fun neighbourhood to explore. These days I end up staying put in Soi 33.
The Tibet Gate is my hiding place here.
Update: July 2024: My new hiding area is the Sukhumvit 69 alley near Phra Khanong BTS station. The alley has good food around, not too busy but nice cafes, some places that place good music, some Japanese “snack” bars. You hear Thai, Burmese, Japanese, Chinese and Korean.
Other hiding places
The Russian Market area of Phnom Penh
A mischievous staff at a cafe here is the main reason for me to love this plce. When the occupancy is low, she switches their contemporary pop hits playlist to my favourite Ros Sreysothea (1960s Cambodian rock star) and waits for my reaction. I am busy writing something and it takes me a little while to notice the change. When I look up, I find the girl looking at me with a sheepish smile. I love it when someone plays a happy trick on me. Besides this, the neghborhood is mostly residential. People are kind here.
Pham Viet Chanh in Saigon
This is the smaller, newer less naughty Japanese town. You can see the giraffes (in Saigon zoo) for free from across the canal. I am often hiding at the Be Cafe during the day. At night I am at one of the little bars - Hermit or Palette, the Sake place or any of the little Japanese places, except the naughty ones - I am a good kid.
Used to be my home pre-covid. The Vietnam Republic Coffee and the pretty Tokyo Moon cafe are where I hide when I am in the old Japanese town.