Bonds, brawls and Basil in Bangkok

“I’m stuck in traffic” soon won’t be the excuse it once was in Bangkok. The Silom Road may still hold you up – and worry you with its well-displayed admissions that pollution levels are higher even than Thailand’s recommended doses of lead and carbon monoxide – but the air-conditioned cars of the new Skytrain elevated metro ought to take people off the streets and make the roads clearer.

That said, few stations have escalators to the lofty platforms, and the climb, in definitely non-air-conditioned stairwells, has so far deterred even the most athletic.