Vespa chic in Bangkok's Chinatown

Here's a little cinematic trivia quiz to kick-start (pun fully intended) your week. Q: How many films can you name which feature a Vespa scooter? I ran out after Roman Holiday and Quadrophenia but the gloriously nerdy Internet Cars Movie Database lists 44 pages of films in which a Vespa appears.  That's no surprise. The Vespa is such a cool bike that it immediately enhances the credibility of any scene where it appears. If you were a script writer penning your potential Oscar winning screenplay, you'd undoubtedly specify "Vespa" in any scene where you wanted the bike-riding protagonists to exude cool. Not that Audrey Hepburn or Gregory Peck needed much help in that department. The Vespa is 70 years old this year and there's a healthy trade in new and reconditioned Vespas in Thailand. A smart, new Vespa showroom is tempting the cool kids in one of Bangkok's more salubrious neighbourhoods. Meanwhile, in Chinatown's narrow back streets and alleyways, you can find a number of...

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