Putting the walk back in sidewalk

It's a good thing that Oraya Sutabutr gets unhappy sometimes. She quit teaching English at a famous university because she was unhappy with the bureaucracy. She was unhappy with all the unnecessary noise in the Thai capital and launched the Quiet Bangkok Group, which promotes, among other things, whistle-free zones.

More recently she's become unhappy at having to do the Hokey Pokey every time she strolls down the street, so she's embarked on a new project, the Bangkok Sabai Walk, with the goal of sprucing up the footpaths.

"Did you know you can fall into a manhole in the heart of Bangkok?" she asks.

Elephants certainly find out, although they're not supposed to be in Bangkok in the first place. And the well-known Thai fashion model Sophia famously took just such a plunge in Siam Square.

Sophia was pulled out, injured, by the man who would become her husband.

Usually these stories have no such happy ending, though. Oraya's father went face down on the pavement when he tripped over a protruding manhole rim. At least that manhole was covered.

But Oraya despairs at footpaths in general in their awful condition - littered with trash and crumpled and completely unsafe underfoot at night, not to mention befouled by air and noise pollution.

In Sao Ching Cha district, she points out, stores clutter the sidewalks with religious statues and other items. She likes the wide walks on Ratchadamnoen Avenue but would love to see more trees. Downtown walkways offer multiple problems since the advent of the Skytrain.

The best place to stroll in town, Oraya says, is on Rajdamri Road, which the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration gave a makeover - after Oraya and other condo dwellers there raised the money for it.

"We got funding from organisations based on the road, like the US embassy and the Royal Sports Club. Now it's the most beautiful footpath in Bangkok."

The Bangkok Sabai Walk project is intended to keep the momentum going, financing repairs in conjunction with the BMA and the private sector. Next target: the pavements around the Siam Skytrain station, which Oraya says are poorly designed and jammed with street vendors.

"I walk in Siam a lot, but with difficulty, because the surface is uneven in some sections - no good for wheelchair-bound people. It's also hard to hail a taxi there because there's no taxi stand.

"If you're in a wheelchair and want to cross the road to the Siam Square side, you need to use the lift at the Skytrain station. If you want to go to Mah Boon Krong, you need to use the lift inside the Bangkok Arts and Culture Centre.

"We mustn't forget that less mobile people have every right to use the pavement, just like us."

The makeover for the Siam sidewalks would cost about Bt1 million for levelling the surfaces, widening the pavement, grading it for wheelchairs and planting some decent-size trees.

Clear a path!

Help flatten out the walkways by attending the fund-raising "Art Auction for the Aesthetics of Pavement Walk" on September 21 at 5pm at the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre.

Paintings, photos and sculpture by leading artists like Thepsiri Suksopha, Saiyat Semangoen, Chalit Nakpawan, Ngarmpan Vejjajiva, Kongpat Sakdapitak and Somnuek Klangnok will be on sale.

Visually impaired musician Hack and his Ionian Band will entertain.