Chao Praya River

It has become a routine now. I wake up early near dawn. Take a walk down the sleepy avenues and buy some iced coffee from a vendor. I come back and work and write on the patio until I am hungry.

Then I walk across the street and down the boulevards sampling whatever catches my eye. Barbequed pork with sticky rice and hot pepper sauce, deep fried tofu and bean cakes with sweet and sour sauce, suated greens on rice with chicken, and sticks of satay just off the grill. Mmmm, Bangkok...

Late in the afternoon I walked the streets for excercise and caught one of the water boats down river deep into the city to get lost and discover someplace, any place. When I got off it turned out to be in the China Town district. Narrow cobbled streets with innumerable shops festooned with round Chinese lantersn. Piles of heavy shipping equipment, stores full of cheap toys, baskets and containers spilling out from warehouses, and huge bags of rice and cloves, dried tamarins and hibiscus flowers. Cracked sidewalks and decrepit but stately buildings festooned in ancient latticework. Dock workers loading supplies onto nearby barges and little old men walking resolutely down the sidewalk with newspapers in hand. I always love simply exploring a new city at random to see what I will find...

I snapped this shot on the last water boat heading back up river for the day. The light was soft and creamy, backlighting the spires of some of the innumerable wats, or temples along the banks of the Chao Praya. When I returned I ate the best Tom Yam soup at a food stall by the canals and was treated like an honered guests by the family serving up a brisk bussiness of locals come for whole carp simmering on the coals stuffed with lemon grass.

Later I met a new friend at the guesthouse, Vanessa from Germany. We drank beers and talked and wandered the streets snacking as we went towards the river. All peaceful with the skyline of Bangkok lit up and dreamy. At the riverside bar nearby a band played western pop songs in sing song Thai and the breeze down the avenues was just divine like the perfect summer night full of the fragrance of flowers....