Sexy in the city of Bangkok

BANGKOK – One step into my bedroom at the posh Metropolitan Hotel in Bangkok’s South Sathorn Road, and I understood what HBO Asia’s Caroline Wong and Cheryl Ong, and Virtusio Public Relations’ Lulu and Romy Virtusio meant when they invited a group of Filipino and Malaysian journalists including this writer to enjoy "a sexy weekend" in this exotic city. The room is so elegantly sleek, so deliciously scented and relaxing, there was no way I could not feel sexy.

Pink and black balloons were tied to the wooden sofa with silk cushions. On them were stamped Sex and the City, whose final season, which will premiere in Asia tonight at 10, over HBO, was the reason we flew to Bangkok to revel in "a sexy weekend." We were to experience fun in the city ala Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker), Charlotte York (Kristin Davis), Miranda Hobbes (Cynthia Nixon) and Samantha Jones (Kim Cattrall).

Why all the ado about the season finale of Sex and the City? Well, as the four gals themselves might just say, if you must make an exit, you gotta to do it style. Six years after sashaying into cable TV – and creating a stir worldwide – Manhattanites Carrie, Charlotte, Miranda and Samantha now bid farewell in the sixth season of Sex and the City. And they’re strutting out with the same panache that marked their ground-breaking entry.

Shortly after our arrival, we enjoyed a hearty Thai dinner at the Baan Khanitha restaurant along Ploenjit Road (Carrie, Charlotte, Miranda and Samantha just love eating out in the most "in" restos, after all). Breakfast the next day was at the Metropolitan’s Mediterranean-influenced Cy’an. Then after such a reinvigorating spa treatment at the hotel’s Shambala, we trooped to the hotel’s Penthouse suite for a private screening of where it all began – Sex and the City’s pilot episode which premiered in June l998.

That episode set the pace and presented all the elements that have made the 30-minute comedy a ground-breaking hit, winning over TV audiences and critics alike (the show has five Emmys and six Golden Globes to prove it). The show has indeed been, as HBO noted, "controversial, provocative, and original." That first episode presented the ladies’ hilarious wit, spunk, brashness, and up-front, no-holds-barred adult comedic style which would become the show’s trademarks.

We then enjoyed a specially prepared organic lunch at the Met’s Glow, a restaurant that emphasizes healthy cuisine. Lunch was prepared by no less than chef Amanda Gale, who even shared with us exactly what constitutes organic food, the reasons why it is still best to eat organic, and the nutrients found in higher levels in organic food – information, I was certain, the figure-conscious ladies of Sex and the City would appreciate.

Of course, you can’t talk about Sex and the City without talking about fashion; many viewers, it’s been said, watch the show as much for the fashion as for the comedy. True enough, the show has sent women scurrying to buy everything from Manolo Blahniks to nameplate necklaces, Ray-Ban Aviator sunglasses, plaids, and even fake nipples, after seeing the ladies wear them on the show.

The fashion show at the Met’s Ivory Room after lunch introduced us to Christian Dior’s Fall/Winter 2004-2005 Ladies RTW Collection. Christian Dior and other prestigious fashion names like Badgley Mischka, Helmut Lang, Dolce & Gabbana, and Chanel – among many others – plus the creations of the show’s costume designer Patricia Field, are credited in large part for emphasizing the Sex and the City ladies’ sophisticated, gorgeous personas.

Four models donned Dior clothes, their interpretations of how Carrie (sexy, eclectic, ultra-feminine), Charlotte (conservative, modern preppy, girly), Miranda (classic, elegant, independent) and Samantha (daring, seductive, liberated) might just wear Dior clothes in their distinctive fashion styles. We also watched an audio-visual presentation of the flamboyant John Galliano’s Paris presentation of the Dior Fall/Winter collection.

Four more screenings of Sex and the City were in store for us, this time from the sixth season. They were held at the Met Bar, where we sipped – like Carrie, Charlotte, Miranda and Samantha often do in New York bars – on Bangkok’s favorite Cosmopolitan drink, a mix of vodka, lime and cranberry juice.

During the screenings, I began to have some answers to ticklish questions the fifth season had left me wondering about. After a disastrous relationship with Richard Wright (James Remar), will Samantha ever find another man she can really love? How will Charlotte move on after rebounding from a failed marriage to Trey MacDougal (Kyle Maclachlan)? Will Miranda find happiness with kind-hearted "regular guy" Steve Brady (David Eigenberg) – that is, if they get together at all? And the most intriguing question of all: Will Carrie end up with Mr. Big (Chris Noth)? Or will they forever be just "the one who got away" in each other’s life? Whatever the questions, viewers will get their answers with each subsequent episode that airs Tuesday nights at 10 on HBO.

We had enough time to squeeze in some shopping at the Suanlum Night Bazaar, just a 15-minute walk away from our hotel. Carrie might just enjoy herself here, with so many bargain finds from clothing materials to fashion trinkets.

All that watching and shopping sure made me hungry, so I was glad to hie off with the group to the Bed Supperclub, where clubbers literally sit on beds (when eating) or lie on them (when listening to the music). Recreating Yoko Ono’s 1964 Cut Piece art performance, the clubbers took turns cutting a model’s clothes (they stopped short of the undergarments, though, thank heavens). Just a point of interest: When you watch the sixth season, Carrie and company will hie off to a club of the same name and interiors in New York.

On our last morning in Bangkok, I thought that just as the Sex and the City prides itself for being a showcase of the beauty and spirit of New York, I may as well celebrate my "sexy weekend" in one place that also mirrors the spirit of Bangkok. Those I asked about which site a first-time tourist must visit while in Thailand pointed unanimously to the Royal Grand Palace along the Chao Phraya River, so off to the Palace I went.

As I toured the Palace, built in 1782 by King Rama I (the Palace became the official residence of Thai kings from the 18th to the early 20th century) I marveled at the intricacy, opulence and grandeur of Thai architecture, arts and design. Seeing the youthful monks in orange robes and the faithful quietly praying at the Emerald Buddha Temple within the complex, I could appreciate how Bangkok, like New York, has its own soul and character.

A weekend may be brief but quality always suffices for quantity. Though my "sexy weekend" was over and I had to fly back home, I took consolation in the fact that starting today and every Tuesday thereafter, I could relive that sexy experience by watching the sixth and final episode of Sex and the City. Like Bangkok, I might just find it hard to get it out of my mind.

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