Mess. Fuss. Chaos. Huge traffic jams. Tuk-tuks. Motorbike cabs. Dirty streets. Rats running around. Smelly river. Trash. Smog. But at the same time peace, temples, smiley faces, prayer, colors. Life.
Just like the jing and the jang. The good and the bad complete each other and create harmony. Everything good has something bad in it and vice versa. It might seem a little chaotic at first, but once you’ve peaked in lots of corners of the city you’ll find that there is a lot of peace inside chaos.
I’ve always loved this interference in a city, because it’s what best represents life. Balance seems to be established. On one hand there are tons of motorbikes just coming from every corner, but on the other there is a temple at every corner as well. There is smog coming from such traffic, but there is also healthy fruit from the fruit stands all over the city. Huge fancy buildings and small poor houses. The river is dark but the markets are colorful. The streets are loud but the temples are quiet. The people speak poor English but they’re super nice and they smile. There are lady boys but there are tom boys as well.
I don’t know, I guess it kind of depends on your point of view and how you see life, but Bangkok impressed me, even though many would disagree. I could go on and on talking about which temple or palace I’ve seen, but the fact is that street life is what impresses me in a city. Getting lost in the streets of an unknown city gives you a special kind of thrill. You might as well be going around in circles, but who cares – at least it s a circle you’ve never seen before.
