TRAVEL WATCH: October 4, 1999 VOL. 154 NO. 13

Detour
By MORRIS DYE

ALSO IN TIME

Seek Enlightenment, Off the Beaten Path Since the dawn of Buddhism, pilgrims have worn the soles off their sandals visiting the religion's hallowed sites Trend Spotting Not a fusty old guidebook, but a deck of cards, 53 of them, as user-friendly for visitors to Hong Kong as it is for residents Detour Cabbages & Condoms is no ordinary restaurant chain: it serves prophylactics in the place of after-dinner mints Off the Shelf Become the complete Richard Branson-branded traveler by picking up one of his new Virgin City Guides Web Crawling Doug Dyment's site is an obsessive's look at the joys of traveling light Hot Tip The world's top gymnasts will bounce, leap and vault their way into Tianjin, China, this fall for the World Gymnastics Championships

"Our food is guaranteed not to cause pregnancy" says a sign on the wall. Not the sort of assurance you look for when dining out, but then Cabbages & Condoms is no ordinary restaurant chain: it serves prophylactics in the place of after-dinner mints, for goodness sake! The chain aims to raise funds for Thailand's Population and Community Development Association (pda) and to boost awareness of family-planning issues. Conceived by Mechai Viravaidya, senator, safe-sex crusader, economist and pda's chairman and founder, the restaurants reflect his knack for injecting a healthy dose of sanuk--fun--into serious matters. The carpets are embroidered with condom motifs, the walls are decorated with French letters from all over the world and the post-prandial latex comes in two sizes, "World Bank" and "imf".

Thankfully, the menu itself is no joke, with a tasty and reasonably priced selection of Thai fare. At the Bangkok branch, patrons can eat out in the garden patio or in the air-conditioned dining room. However, male diners would be well advised to make sure they are in the right place: pda's vasectomy clinic is just one door down and the service there is ... well, at the cutting edge. So if the "Condoms" bit is perfectly clear--what about the "Cabbages?" It turns out it's Mechai's wish that condoms be as ubiquitous in Thailand as the humble vegetable.

The original Cabbages & Condoms restaurant is in Bangkok, at Sukhumvit Soi 12. It's open daily from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. To book a table, call (662) 229-4610. There also are branches in Chiang Rai, Nakornratchasima and Buriram. For more information, visit pda's website at www.sli.unimelb.edu.au/ pda/ index.htm