Thursday, July 31, 2008

Interesting NYT article about our neighborhood

Today, I was pointed to an interesting New York Times article about "Soi Arab", a small street that forms the center for the local Muslim tourist community. This is just around the corner from our apartment.

To get to Sukhumvit Road and the Skytrain, Josh and I frequently walk down through this area. It's a fascinating experience-- a bit of sensory overload, true, but a glimpse of a tourist "experience" different from what we are used to. There are lots of interesting restaurants that we need to try, and quite a few incense shops (as mentioned in the article). The latter shops interest me because they sell agarwood/aloeswood, which is one of the most prized incense ingredients in the world and the major incense material in historical Japan (where high-grade aloeswood is known as kyara). I've often thought about duplicating some of the Heian-period incense recipes, but the price and scarcity of aloeswood held me up. It's good to know that I can at least go around the corner and get a whiff of what the good stuff is like, even if I can't afford it.

Boring historical aside over, we should try and get some pictures of Soi 3 and Soi 3/1 at some point.