Hello Bankok

Wow a few days ago I did the radical transformation from Paris in Autumn into tropical Bankok.

The flight itself didn't seem too bad. 2 x 6hr flights, broken by 6hrs in Dubai Airport. On the last leg I even had 3 seats to stretch across and snooze.

Arrived into Bankok after midnight, got through immigration without a fuss and caught a cab for 500bhat to the hotel Siam11 as a smooth ride. I followed Jonothans crib sheet for all the info.

Crashed out til 1pm.  But the next night and the night after that I couldn't get to sleep til 3 or 4am . But I did finish reading my book - The Physician.

I ventured out and took Rhonda's suggestion of taking a facial, in the backlane behind the Hotel.  Infact the backlane was abuzz with foodsellers, bars, massage places and clothes stalls. The facial was a beautiful relaxing treat.  I wandered around the streets as it got darker, lanterns lit up, and the crowds increased.

I looked at the street food but was not adventurous enough to try. Partly because I know Thai food is hot and I don't like any more chilly than half a thumbnail. It's a shame because I like other spices.

So I settled for a place made for westerners and had beer and stir-fry in oyster sauce.  I do feel self conscious being an older female westerner sitting alone. I see Western males sitting alone too.  on the plane I met 2 Western males who had made Bankok their home.

I know people who absolutely love Bankok, Thailand. The people. The food, the cheapness, the beauty.  I suppose I don't know it after 2 days. I can see the kindness of people, their gentleness, their Buddhist codes for living, and pictures of the king and Queen everywhere.

But Im also conscious that there are elements of predatory Western males who come to Bankok for their own particular self-interest and prey on young girls, or boys who do what they do for poverty,,  Their role is to provide for their families. There seems to be this mutual need going on sometimes. The males looking for wives to meet their every need without complaint. And the females to provide for their families of origin.

So anyway there's me, alone, in the midst of it and making up theories.

On the 2nd day I ventured down the river, then up the river in the public ferry. The boat was a long and crowded one, that crossed the river to stop at terminals on either side. As we came in, a crew member whistled over the top off the chug chug. Under Jonothans suggestion I took the ferry right up to Stop 30.

I couldn't believe the place was teeming with fish. All hopeful mouths to the surface. I later found that the colourful rice crispy looking things they sold in abundance at the kiosk was actually fish-food. Here are kids buying fish-food to feed the fish. The water is thick with them splashing about.

I thought they were free-will fish who could swim to the river if they needed more space, but Rhonda assured me they're netted in and they get netted.

Such a mix of old and new Bankok, roads that form spaghetti loops like another lacy layer above the city. Skyscrapers that are getting experimental in their design, like dissolving pixilations.  And here below in tiny buzzing streets that sell all manner of food and wears busily frequented by locals and a smattering of tourists, I buy freshly squeezed mandarin juice.

I think to my primary school geography lessons and the TV programs we watched back then, recalling all the exotic tropical fruit sold in sampan markets on the river. These tropical climes are made for growing food and flowers in abundance.

On the boat I notice that when a seat becomes available that parents invariably make sure their children are seated before themselves. I find this reverence to children remarkable and uplifting.I'm sure roles and responsibilities in families are really demarcated but here there also seems to be so much kindness.

Thai national identity has been incubated. They've retained their independence while neighbours had been colonised. It is staunchly Buddhist and the aesthetic of this kind of Buddhism is found everywhere in the shapes they choose and the way they decorate. It's like ascendant flowers. And for tourists, elephants.

I know we think of Thailand as a peace-loving country but this has been sorely tested recently both internally, in the south with its Muslim minority and the north with deathcamps for Rohingya. See no evil, hear no evil and speak no evil also has a dark side.

Anyway I shall return to this intriguing and mysterious country before I leave to return home to Australia on 20th Nov.