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It’s hard to have missed Suan Lum Night Bazaar's latest attraction: the world's biggest transportable Ferris wheel, La Grande Roue de Paris. 
After banishment from its original home, the wheel made a humble start to its World Tour, seeking refuge in Birmingham, Manchester and Amsterdam. Having originally been erected in Paris for the millennium celebrations, Roue de Paris came down abruptly in 2002 after a series of political trysts.
The immigrant wheel was persecuted for its Parisian paint job at its second home. Officially known as The Wheel Of Birmingham, locals were incensed that the individual cars still bore the name Roue De Paris. Further controversy came from a recorded commentary identifying the sites of Gay Paris for the Birmingham passengers, although this was soon turned off.  Wherever there is a public need for a Ferris wheel, it seems that this 60-metre tall hobo will, eventually, answer the call. Bangkok will play host until at least 2007, according to its promoter in Thailand. Malaysia is said to have shown some interest, but the good people of Iran may be in greater need of entertainment by then.
As a cinema lover, it’s hard not to go on a Ferris wheel without remembering the scene in The Third Man (1949) where Orson Welles’ character, Harry Lime, justifies selling watered-down penicillin to hospitals in post-war Vienna. High above the ground, Lime is asked whether he has ever faced one of his victims.  He responds: Victims? Don’t be melodramatic. Look down there. Would you really feel any pity if one of those dots stopped moving forever? If I offered you twenty thousand pounds for every dot that stopped, would you really, old man, tell me to eat my money—or would you calculate how many dots you could afford to spend?
In a city like Bangkok, imagining the potential death of strangers is an everyday thing. Every time a passenger looks over the edge of a skytrain platform, cell phone in hand, a part of them imagines what would happen if the handset slipped down onto the heads of the inter-changeable figures below; just as every time a motorcycle driver whisks a helmet-less passenger between trucks, it is hard for them not to briefly realise their own insignificance.
George Washington Gale Ferris Jr invented the Ferris wheel in 1893 for an expo in Chicago. Fifteen metres taller than the Roue de Paris, it was designed to rival the Eiffel Tower. The original Ferris wheel had 36 cars, each the size of a school bus that accommodated 60 people each. At the time, it was four storeys taller than the tallest skyscraper in the world, but only a quarter of the Eiffel Tower's height. 
While Ferris wheels have, generally speaking, become smaller, towers have become significantly larger and more frequent, which is exactly why Roue de Paris has such a reduced impact. In a city with some of the largest buildings in the world, Bangkokers can dine atop the 309-metre tall Baiyoke Tower or pop in for cocktails at the 37-storey high V9 without making reservations. From within a 60-metre high passenger car, it is difficult to see beyond the nearby buildings. A sign warns those who may “suffer from vertigo,” but passengers may recently have visited Vertigo, a 196-metre tall restaurant in the Banyan Tree hotel. In essence, folks in Bangkok are used to far more impressive city views from far higher up. 
The Roue de Paris begins turning at 5pm, when dusk approaches. This makes sense for an exhibit at the Night Market, except there is very little to see in the darkness. Passengers on the wheel after 7pm will make out the pitch black of the neighbouring Lumpini Park or the rooves of the Suan Lum below. For a public largely de-sensitised to heights, a slow Ferris wheels offers the most minor jolts of mortality. That said, the Roue de Paris looks great and has a warm, retro feel. Business is brisk and will remain so as long as it remains a novelty. Unfortunately, the wheel falls into a weird no-man’s land. It’s not fast enough to be scary, and there’s no view to speak off when you get to the top.
At the risk of sounding like a fairground-bashing killjoy, you may be better off taking your 100 baht to the DVD salesman outside Bug & Bee on Silom Road.
The Third Man is far more exciting.
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