absolutelyBangkok archive · Interview
Originally published Nov. 6, 2007
Meet Aaron Frankel, founder and owner of Groovy Map.
Groovy Map? It’s not your dull map to find an address. Groovy Map’s motto is Fun Mapped Out! “Our maps,” Aaron says, “make Bangkok even more irresistible.”
You better trust this man. Aaron knows Bangkok inside out. Aaron — seen here with his buddy Miss Universe — knows every corner of Bangkok so to say.
As Bangkok is his life. In the City of Angels he had started his business of foldable cities. Which soon expanded. Aaron’s groovy maps became a world’s unique.
In our talk with Aaron the indefatigable American shares ways and means about Bangkok not even his insider maps can cover.
Aaron, who are you.
I’m a gnat. Because I want to describe to people our product with the attention span of a gnat. I’m always on the rush and bugging around.
There was no alternative to becoming a gnat?
I always wanted to become an actor. First I was in advertising, but I’ve been fired from every job I had. I was not meant to work for somebody else. Then I launched Groovy Map for fun. It became serious. And a business.
You built up quite a respectable business!
Yeah, I love our office in this old Thai house here. We converted it to our needs, added storage and went from 4 to 22 people.
What keeps them busy?
Packing our maps.
(Quiet)
And arranging displays. We have a 1,000 plus outlets.
You’re a Bangkok pioneer Aaron. How does that make you feel?
(Gives a slight cough) I just think we keep on trying to improve our product. Guess what, each year I throw away thousands of maps. Last year a waste of 700,000 baht. Yes, I’m a kind of perfectionist. No, I am not the easy going person I seem to be. That drives people crazy.
Throwing away practically new maps — Bangkok changes that fast?
Each year we change colors and add things. The actual map doesn’t change at all. The map is perfect! We just add information — and some things work, some don’t, such as small fonts. People’s eyesight doesn’t get better.
What’s Bangkok for you?
Bangkok to me means one of the most exciting and fun cities in the world. Because Bangkok has an amazing energy. There is always people. Things happen all the time. Nothing is planned, Bangkok grows like a virus. It’s simply amazing that things like water and electricity work. There is no master planning.
Somehow the city remains a village — you drop into people you know all the time. You feel that?
You call 12 million people a village? The other day I was driving back from Hua Hin. From 45 kilometers out the city starts. Massive.
Does your map help me through Bangkok’s nightlife?
Of course! But we have to be very careful. We cannot use words like prostitution. Instead I use Soapie Mistress or Good Time Girl. We show the red light district with stars. Naughty massage you find under the headline:
Massage your ego. But my wife cut out all the juicy bits.
For tourists: Does Bangkok still have that old image problem as that city of cheap pleasures?
It’s a cliché, it’s all changed. Bangkok is no brothel at all. It as a lot of things to offer.
Sounds like a perfect city! Bangkok has no need for change.
Let’s face it. Whenever you come from a — I hate the word — first world nation, Bangkok is slightly difficult for you. But she of all the nations, Thailand has the two greatest things no other country can copy: The people and the food. Forget about the order and the services. As a Westerner it drives you crazy. I’ve given up on hopes that we gonna have things organized. Technology though and the progression of ideas cannot be stopped. Eventually it will happen. They even make parks now! The city has become more livable.
Your secret spots in Bangkok?
Buy the map.
Any favorite restaurant?
That must be The Face on Thonglor. A beautiful old Thai house they put together. If Jim Thompson had had the money, he had have done it that way. I am not sure they make any money. But the food is great. A great place to hang out. But you don’t go there every day. It’s a special treat. Our map has those categories: „Cheap — on me.“ „Medium — on you.“ Then there „Time for credit card“ and — the special treat — the „Blindfold“.
The Face hurts.
Favorite bar?
I still like Bed Supper Club. I love design.
First time visitors to Bangkok: What should they do?
Definitely go to the river. The Thai river is unique and still used every day, for commuters, transport, the laundry, you name it. Most rivers in Europe and America are not used anymore. River life in Bangkok is beautiful.
Then: The Jim Thompson house is a great place, it has a wonderful style about it.
Third? You gotta eat at the street. No matter how dirty or dangerous it is. The food is great. Eating out on the street is an experience not to be missed.
What you recommend to people who think they know Bangkok?
How about do the research. And: It’s impossible to get bored in Bangkok. I would say you reinvent the Bangkok you think you know. You go back to museums and ask yourself: What’s missing, what’s in there. I for myself have to go back and back to The Londoner. The place always feels like some action happening.
You’re not the common guy. The strangest thing that can happen to a guy like you in Bangkok?
(Thinks. And thinks. Then:) Despite being a big city, people in Bangkok are so friendly and familiar with each other. It’s — as you said — it’s like a village. Living in this massive Bangkok is like being part of a small village. A truly strange thing.
Aaron Frankel’s
Groovy Map
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