25/08/2009 - The Mall Bangkapi and SF Cinema City

Our nearest mall is The Mall Bangkapi. We thought this wouldn’t be as big as the beasts you get off Siam Square, but it’s a contender.  

We’ve been shopping there a couple times before but to celebrate E starting work and her recent promotion we thought we’d come out for a meal and movie. Well, we may just become regular cinema goers again after last night. We went to probably one of the smaller branches of SF Cinema City (www.sfcinemacity.co.th) located on the top floor of the mall but for 100 Baht each (just under 2 quid) we got a seat in one of the cinema’s 14 air conditioned theatres. Think reclining business class sized seats (not that we would know…) with enough leg room for Peter Crouch and you get a good idea of how comfortable it was. You can check the times of the English shows on the website as the other movies are overdubbed in Thai. The movie we saw? The quite brilliant Tarantino flick ‘Inglorious Basterds’ (http://www.inglouriousbasterds-movie.com/). By far the best Tarantino movie since Pulp Fiction. Yes, the Kill Bill’s were good and Jackie Brown was passable but trust me, this is a special movie and what a great place to watch it. It seems that cinemas in the UK have a health and safety limit for the amount of decibels you’re allowed to be subjected to but this isn’t the case in Thailand. At times E and I had to actually cover our ears (and we’re hardened musicians…). You do, however, get used to the volume and now I will refuse to watch a movie unless it gives me tinnitus. You actually feel the gun shots on screen reverberate in your chest and you can hear the creak of Colonel Hans Lander’s Nazi leather jacket (played by the quite brilliant Christopher Waltz – give that man an Oscar).

In Thailand they play the national anthem before every movie, so don’t forget to respectably stand and keep your arms by your side when you do so. In the UK you are free to publicly criticize your monarchy but if you are caught doing so here then you may be facing at least 3 years in prison. Lèse-majesté is a crime taken very seriously here.

We know there are bigger cinema’s in Bangkok where you can get the full VIP treatment but this isn’t bad for a local, especially when you can have a plate of sushi down the hall at the Kobune Japanese Restaurant for 25 Baht. The cuts of fish, rice and meat are served on a plate that floats by your table on a mock pirate ship!

Tally:

Two cinema tickets = 200 Baht

Two bowls of noodles = 100 Baht

4 sushi plates and two cokes = 150 Baht

Total = 450 Baht (8 quid total – 4 quid each)

For any of you teachers out there about to hop on a plane to teach abroad, E is going to write some stuff about her experiences teaching at an international school soon. After I’ve corrected all my grammatical errors on this blog, I’ll fill you in on how my intensive 4 week TEFL course is getting on – I start in about 10 days!