Bangkok Forever, Bangkok, Thailand, August 2009

Bangkok grows on you.  You start off treating it like someone on a train who starts talking, you respond politely but you don’t feel too comfortable with the situation.  It’s not an easy city to get along with, it’s hot and sweaty and dirty.  There are far too many tourists and far too many locals.  Gradually though it got under my skin.  It’s the transport hub for not only Thailand, but the entirety of South East Asia and so I have passed through many times each time I discover something new. 

Bangkok never stops, even in the early hours of the morning when the street vendors have long packed up and the bars have locked their doors the city still buzzes.  The darkness is warm around you and will pulse against your skin like the heartbeat of a giant sleeping beneath.  This feeling is never so strong as in the rainy season when the atmosphere is full of urgency and expectance, late afternoons lying in pokey guest house beds.  A ceiling fan chugging away above you, shutters drawn, slits of pale light dance on your skin, the distant squeal of tuk tuk horns breaks the incessant hum of the traffic outside.  Suddenly the skies break and the clatter of raindrops fill your ears.  When it ends the air is fresh, the city renewed, the cycle begins again. 

Everything is an exotic adventure in Bangkok, the river boats pass grand hotels and ancient temples while the impeccably clean sky train takes you into the heart of a skyscraper cluster.  The Grand Palace, a short walk from the backpacker centre of Kho San Road, is the epitome of sublime.  Ruby red roofs glint atop intricately decorated columns of the many pagodas around the sight.  Golden dragons are depicted in paintings and statues, emerald eyes and Cheshire cat like grins.  The reclining Buddha reflects your face in the mellow gold sheen, as it serenely stares out into the distance, Mona Lisa smile on his face. 

The markets are like mazes, selling clothes for every taste, blue and white porcelain, and knick knacks for the undiscerning tourist.  There are always people everywhere, weaving around you down sidealleys.  The foodstalls create bottlenecks as who could resist a portion of pad thai or spring rolls.  Evening means of steaming bowls of curry and rice accompanied by the standard luke warm Chang.  Every night boasts a festival atmosphere, street bars selling buckets of Sangsom whisky and red bull pop up on every street corner, brightly coloured plastic stools are filled with eager customers.  Once you have danced the night away you walk once again through the quiet streets, the night is calm and you are complete.