Bright lights in the big city

Picture this, Bear Grills trying to make his way from one side of Bangkok to the other...and as we're picturing Bear Grills chances are he's facing 'certain death'!

A lot of people associate adventure with remote places, and they're right. However, if your somewhere new and from somewhere small, the city can certainly have its moments. No matter where I travel in this world, I make a point of always staying at least one day in the city and using the public transport and walking, not to anywhere, just 'living it'. I like to get some idea of how the heart really works, and I think sometimes people forget, the city is part of a countries culture too - sometimes confronting and sometimes comforting (I was releaved to see a Boots chemist - how bizaare as we don't have them in Australia, but familiarity brings with it a feeling of safety be it warrented or not?!) Bangkok is definitely an adventure and certainly an extreme environment!

Bangkok is a mixture of the wierd and bizaare, the timid, the meek, the poor, the exploiters, the tourists that fail to realise that the creature lying on the ground in ruins is not a photographic opportunity, but is a person, and amidts it all, the profoundly spiritual and happy go lucky locals who go about their daily rountines.

The city has a unique smell of heat and hawker food and confined space...but spread over a large area. It has a music of its own, an almost early 'industrial sound'. There are cars and bikes, tuktuks, and vendours carrying their livelyhood on their backs, calling to entice and convince you of the urgency of the sale. The air is thick and has a taste of grit and grime only prevelant in a harsh environment. People live on the railway line next to a grand hotel, they sell their wears to anyone who might listen, their direct competition being the multi-million dollar shopping centre opposite...and yet they all seem to survive.

I'm not sure what to make of it yet. In retrospect the picture will become clearer, but I'm glad I've been there and made it across town.

Nat = 1
Bear Grills = 0

PS: This is a light fitting at Terminal 21 - avoiding passing out from extreme heat I entered the one place I truely fear....a shopping center - seriously, give me a jungle any day! Having said that, they do great light fittings here.