Street Cafes, A Matter of Choice from Paris to BaliPrepared by Harold Stephens
Travel Correspondent for Thai Airways International
When I make an appointment to meet friends, I suggest a street cafe whether it be Paris or Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam. Why a street cafe? Simple, I don’t mind waiting if the person I am to meet is late. After all, cafes are made for people watching, to sit back with a drink on a postage-size table in front of you, to relax, and to watch people go by.
The French seem to have perfected the art of people watching but they weren’t the innovators. When anthropologists were uncovering the ruins of Pompeii in southern Italy, they found the remains of street cafes. And as we know, street cafes are found in every major city around the world.
But it is Paris that gave the street cafe its name and reputation with Champs Elysees serving as the world-leading street for outdoor cafes. The Champs reached its height during the turn of the 18th to 19th century when it became the most fashionable meeting place and upper-class residential area in all Paris. Today it may no longer have its one-time aristocratic character, but it has not lost its beauty and elegance altogether; and this includes luxurious shops, theatres, famous restaurants and important airline offices, including Thai Airways International. Movie houses, cafes and fast food places provide most of the entertainment today, and the shops and restaurants are generally overpriced. But in this case, the price is worth it.
There's a saying, if you sit at a cafe on the Champs Elysees long enough, you will see someone you know. Take a seat in a cafe and try it. It may not work but the entertainment is worth it. The last time I was in Paris, it was a Sunday morning and I found an empty table—which in itself is quite remarkable—at the Cafe George V, sat down and waited.
No one passed by that I knew but I did have my note pad with me and scribbled down some notes: "Here comes a real dapper, cane and homburg, with a young buxom, over-dressed redhead, draped in a mink stole, hanging on his arm. Next is a Hindu couple, he with a scarlet turban, and she, walking slightly behind him, in a gold-fringed sari. There’s a Moroccan, frayed jacket, walking from cafe to cafe, selling rugs slung over his shoulders. Coming up the avenue is a Legionnaire, with his white cap, walking with two sailors. A women with slit dress, and thick rogue, saunters down the street, swinging her umbrella, smiling at everyone, except at the Legionnaire and sailors as they pass one another.”
For those who are thinking about going to Paris, Royal Orchid Holidays does include Paris in its tour programme, and ROHS53 offers three days and two nights in this wonderful city. The notation about Paris in the ROH booklet “Discover the World,” reads: “You can never get enough of Paris. Jump on a tour of the city’s many sites, or spend time at your favourite museum or cafe.”
That last statement, spend time at your favourite cafe, is what I would like to emphasize. I can’t think of a better pastime, sitting at a street cafe in Paris watching the world go by. Or, if you are the writer type, like Ernest Hemingway, you can write your novel sitting in any one of the cafes in the Saint-Germain-des-Pres area, or the Left Bank as it is called.
Les Deux Magots is unquestionably the most famous cafe here. It once had a reputation as the rendezvous of the literary and intellectual elite of the city. This derived from the patronage of Surrealist artists, intellectuals such as Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre, and young writers, such as Ernest Hemingway. Other patrons included Albert Camus and Pablo Picasso. The Deux Magots literary prize has been awarded to a French novel every year since 1933.
Lipp's in Saint-Germain, where Hemingway often went to eat, is still a popular cafe on the Left Bank. Its owner and founder, a friend of Hemingway, died only a few years ago.
But it is not only the Left Bank for, like the open food stalls of Bangkok that are everywhere, Paris has open-air street cafes scattered everywhere around town. Some, of course, are more popular than others. As I mentioned, the writers of the Lost Generation made the Left Bank cafes around Saint Germain des Pres known to the world. The Lost Generation of the 20’s was long before my time, but I have to admit, I did spend my youth in Paris in the 50’s, and out of it came my own novel, The Tower and The River, with my descriptions of the street cafes of the Left Bank.
The cafes along Rue de la Paix and the Opera District also draw many street cafe lovers.
That’s Paris, but it is by far not the only city that has street cafes. Every big city will certainly have them, and even small villages. And cold winter days don’t seem to deter much from visiting street cafes. Most cafés in the cold months will have small braziers with charcoal at the tables, and some are even glassed in.
Let’s visit a few cities. There’s Madrid. My favorite street is the Granvia. From the very moment I step out on to the wide avenue, I find street cafes everywhere, crammed, as always, with people watchers sipping tiny cups of coffee and long-stemmed glasses of sherry. What makes sitting at a street café on the Granvia even more exciting is during a feria when lovely senoritas saunter by dressed like dolls. The men too were dressed in traditional garb for the festive mood.
Let’s go to Denmark, to a town like Helsingor. If you arrive in the evening, here is the place to enjoy the street cafes with the view of Elsinore, Hamlet's Castle. Maybe the morning is even better. Find a seat in a cafe, have a slice of Danish cheese, a slab of rich dark bread and a bottle of red wine, and read up on the history of Helsingor. Read what Shakespeare's connection was with Elsinore.
Arab countries love street cafes. Let’s take a look at Istanbul as an example. Photographer Robert Stedman recently visited the city and I asked him for a report. “Street cafes are everywhere in Istanbul,” he wrote. “The Turks make cafes out of every conceivable place. Tea is the big item along with Turkish coffee and baklava. One of the most renowned pub cafes in Sultanahmet is the Sultan Pub. It has been in service since 1975. The seats on the sidewalk of Divanyolu Street in the historic district welcome both tourists and tired passersby. The venue is just 50 meters away from the Aya Sofya (Hagia Sophia) and 150 meters from Topkapı Palace. Sitting here one has a breath-taking panoramic view of Istanbul and one can enjoy the dishes of fusion cuisine and a wide range of drinks.”
Athens, Rome, Zurich; one doesn’t have to travel to Europe to enjoy people watching in a street cafe. I enjoy them in far off places like, can you imagine, Luang Prabang in Laos. Sitting in a street cafe in Luang Prabang, one can capture the mood of the city. The fun here is more than just people watching. It’s eating baguette sandwiches, watching the stars come out above the golden stupa on Phou Si, or just sitting contentedly at one of the sidewalk cafes on Sisavangvong Avenue and watching the passing parade of foreigners and local people. It’s just like the Champs Elysees in Paris, except that you cannot make it a late night affair—the town folds up about ten o’clock every evening. Even the lights go out.
You may hear that Bangkok is one complete outdoor café from one end of the city to the other, and it is, but the street cafes here are not like one finds in Paris or Rome. These are food stalls, mostly make shift, that appear on the streets from out of no where when the sun goes down. They are places to eat, not places to sit and relax and watch people pass by. Many of the malls and shopping plazas have street cafes of sorts but the clientele here are shoppers and not pedestrians sauntering up and down the avenues.
There is one place in Bangkok, however, where people do sit in open cafes and watch the passing parade of people, and that is in Khao San.
Khao San Road is a most unusual place. As a backpackers’ domain it has suddenly appeared on the tourist map. It’s an interesting place to visit, even if you are not an economy traveler. Take a seat in any one of the coffee shops, sit back and watch the parade.
The best street cafes in Southeast Asia are found in those countries that had been colonized by European powers, especially the French and the Portuguese. Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam continue to carry on French traditions, the street café being one of them.
I asked a writer friend, John Cartwright, a long time resident of Macau the situation there. He gave me some good insight about the rapidly vanishing street cafes in this old Portuguese settlement. “I find as cities keep getting bigger and bigger and buildings getting taller and taller,” he wrote,” and Macau is an example, the nice breezes that would come in from the Pearl River Delta no longer do. In town during the summer, it gets really hot and there’s not a breeze to be found. But you take the little ferry that runs about five minutes across to the Zhuhai side and while you're on the boat, down in that cut, it’s amazing how much cooler it is as there are no obstructions and the wind is blowing unobstructed. Same is true in Zhuhai. I'll bet years ago before all these high rises came into existence there were plenty of side walks cafes and breezes to boot. Now everyone just wants to get inside and feel the air con.”
He did, however, give a glimmer of hope. He wrote: “There are a few small Portuguese and local sidewalk places remaining, although not as colorful as ones in Paris, and more functional I guess. Now with advent of big time casinos from USA, we see more "tourist" type cafe's emerging.”
So the next time you want to meet up with friend, name a street café where to meet. It they are late, it won't matter. You are certain to be entertained, people watching.
Next week I will tell readers more about Khao San Road the backpacker’s haven in Bangkok.
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
Q. Dear Mr. Stephens. I read that Bangkok now has an elevated train and it makes getting around much easier. Now I hear that Bangkok has an underground subway soon too. Does this help the commuting problem in Bangkok, which I hear is bad? Gene McDonald, Honolulu, Hawaii
A. Dear Gene. Bangkok does indeed have an elevated train called the Skytrain. It’s now possible to get across town in 15 minutes. Also a new subway system opened awhile back. The two systems have changed the city completely. A link to the Skytrain will soon open from downtown Bangkok all the way to the new airport. –HS
Harold Stephens
Bangkok
E-mail: ROH Weekly Travel (booking@inet.co.th)
Note: The article is the personal view of the writer and does not necessarily reflect the view of Thai Airways International Public Company Limited. | 
