bangkok- "city of life".

[bangkok. thailand]
i was safely esconsced in an aircon bus, high above on the highway, but the sights of mega billboards and concrete sprawl soon overwhelmed that single sense.

the bus spat me out onto tourist pit at khaosan road, around which i spent an hour walking around looking for accomodation, getting very accustommed to the peculiar smell of bangkok's streets.

it was probably a combination of my own sensitivities to smells and stinks and being beaten down by the bangkok heat and diesel smoke- i was looking for a ride out by the next evening. i fled to the mundane quiet of ayutthaya 2 hours away.


[bangkok. along thanon ratchadamnoen]


[bangkok. intersection of payathai and rama 1; of the connecting skytrains]
where siam square's mega shopping malls meet, sustained by a continuous stream of people from the connecting skytrains, high and clean away from the steady rumble of traffic beneath.


[bangkok.]


[bangkok.]

bangkok pretty much assaulted my senses, and left me reeling and bruised from the massive tangles of people trying to live and development taking place in the dusty shophouses, encroaching buildings, overlays of road systems- everything spilt from everywhere: cars from roads, tuktuks onto curbs, food from carts, babies from mothers' overloaded arms,sewage from gutters, people along roads, smoke roaring out from vehicles.

it's a dynamic city indeed, and though it took a while for me to disengage from my orderly habituations, i came to appreciate the life underneath the dirt and bustle towards the end.