Bangkok

The Nepalese people really have no regard for road rules. As I made my way to the airport to leave the country, my taxi driver, carefree as a cat strolling down an alley enjoying the sun on a lazy spring day would just weave in and out of traffic as freely as he wished, even if it meant driving on the opposite side of the road. He just drove wherever really, one side of the road or the other, simply ignoring oncoming traffic. All with a grace mind you, his stoic expression never changing, never once stressed, just eyes straight ahead. His thoughts probably wandering what he may have for dinner that night, or perhaps reflecting on how his favourite sports team did on the weekend. Mine on whether I was actually going to make it to the airport. Yet somehow there was no road collision, and in my time in Nepal I never witnessed one either. I think everyone is tuned into a different station there. People and traffic just know how to avoid each other like how two positive or negative facing magnets repel each other. Well I'm still here. Still alive! I'm in Bangkok!

Stepping from Kathmandu into Bangkok couldn't be so different. From Kathmandu's dusty streets, its ramshackle buildings that cram into any available space, how people swarm down streets, through alleyways, scurrying through traffic, Bangkok seemed from the very moment I stepped of the plane, 500 years into the future. I don't mean that in in a derogative way, Kathmandu has it's charm and one that I grew to appreciate, but I can see why Thailand is the premier place and gateway into South East Asia for first time travellers and families.

Bangkok is Western. It is also Asian. The two converging to offer something comfortable, but at the same time something unique, something tangible to get your teeth into. Bangkok is a city that really likes to put on a show, its exotic, exuberant, extravagant. This is not just in its modern sensibilities - skyscrapers, mono rail and technology for example - but through its history as well.

Walking around the Grand Palace, Wat Arun and Wat Pho - the ceremonial house of royalty and Buddhist temples respectively - is an exercise of walking through extravagance and grandeur. Compared to Nepal's simplicity the temples in Bangkok feel way over the top - but man are they spectacular, they're beautiful. Decorated in porcelain flowers and various mosaic design, repeated patterns stack on each other to produce spires that reach up and up into the sky. You can't help but draw your breath around each corner. Colour pops out at you everywhere. Temples are bold, vibrant but at times elegant and restrained too. Maybe because of the over bearing heat ( mid 30's!) the splendour can start to wear thin - I felt that there was little character in some of their designs - they are all a design in the spectacular, at least each temple in Nepal had character. It is in the smaller moments that you can really appreciate the temples, the small details in the decoration or the smaller spires that accompany the taller temples. The Reclining Budda - my sort of deity - was perhaps the highlight for me. It's beauty is its simplicity which pronounces its craft. Standing at about 15 metres tall and 50 long, it is a elegant gold leafed plated statue of Budda lying on its side. It's design is restrained, particularly the length of its body, but that allows the detail and craftsmanship in the head (back and front) and feet to flourish. It's a wonderful piece of art.

You get a sense that Thailand, alongside food, is positioning itself as the premier gateway for art and culture in Asia. The temples showing it has a rich history in aesthetics, accompanying the temples are sprawling tapestries (though I think they are painted on material such as wood rather than textile) illustrating stories from its history and Buddhist culture. It is a city that has plenty of light and space, a city that is rich visually, from boats ambling or speeding across its main river, to a city that is being informed by modern popular asian culture. Art, tradition and new technology has its place in Bangkok. It feels like Thailand is at a stage where it is looking back on its history and using it to inform the present and what may lay ahead in the future. Exciting times!

This is all encapsulated in the Bangkok's Art and Culture centre, a wonderful space dedicated to contemporary art and it is a statement of where Bangkok is in its history right now. It is situated right of the BTS line (mono rail) sat in a sprawling courtyard emphasising space and light, the building inside and out curves in on each other, maximising space, light and flow through the gallery. The gallery's programme is impressive, dedicated to emerging Thai artists (as well a couple of international inclusions) working from everything from video through too textiles. They had plenty of topographical photography on display examining present day Thailand which was right up my alley, whilst surrealism seems to be popular amongst young painters. It seems that Thai artists and culture is in a place where people are comfortable enough to examine Thailand , but also relflect on the self, what inner feelings, monologues and emotions exist in relationship to modern day Thailand. I'm looking forward to visiting Chaing Mai in northern Thailand as that is meant to where everything is happening in regard to the arts in Thailand.

A more tradiotnial Asia exists on the streets of Bangkok, down side alleys in particular. Leafy street gardens are in abundance, residents tinkering away at one thing or another in door ways, cats sunning them self without a care in the world, insects bouncing between potted plants and many of the small canals that feed through Bangkok. You are never far away from the aroma of street food, it is everywhere! Food is everywhere in Thailand! Within a few meters of each other you can find everything from Street food, to fine dining. Street dining is massive in Thailand and it is a great to place to eat, eating amongst throngs of pedestrians , and traffic may not sound to appetising, but it feels a very authentic experience. Food is cheap and plentiful and locals like to eat this way, sitting amongst them and watching the world go by sure has its moments and a good way to observe Thai life.

Amongst these street diners are street markets too, a lot of it is knock off products, in the busier areas such as Silom, and Khao San Road they are aimed at the western tourist (and often situated in the err.. the more risqué areas of Bangkok), but at the weekend, Thai's and westerners descend en masse to Chatuchak weekend market, a sprawling street market city. And it is huge! Everything and anything you wish to buy is sold here. The market is made up of a network of streets (Soi's) which you can just fit about two abreast down, you can just wander to your hearts content, choosing which direction to go in next, Left, Right, Carry on. It's up to you. After an hour of wandering, maybe even two there is a fair chance that you wouldn't have doubled back on your self and visited the same place twice. Each street has its own aura, its own feel, smell and array of colours. I actually enjoyed shopping for once. One of the charms of travelling Is watching tv adverts and looking what things you can buy. And there is not a shortage of inane but wonderful crap you can buy here.

Shopping seems to be a huge component of everyday life in Bangkok. As well as street markets there are countless malls too. Some like MBK which is basically Chatuchak but in mall form through to various malls in Siam which sell high end products, and is a high end experience in it self. Roof top bars anyone?

Bangkok is like most cities then, shopping, food and art dominate in its offering to the traveller. I can see why it is an ideal place for first time travellers, It as all the modern infrastructure and western amenities you could wish for, however it is also distinctively Asian too. And I guess that is the allure of Bangkok. It offers that tangible difference to ensure you are experiencing something new and the more you dig the more you are rewarded. Bangkok stands as its own thing. Around the city there are pockets of life that offers something different. The way architecture sits, its style - which changes progressively from its main river out, the way the streets are formed, what is happening in those streets, the food you can try and buy, the way culture flourishes and how people go about their day to day life.

Leaving Nepal I was left with memories that I will keep for life, particularly one that I am so happy I will always have. As my plane gradually rose to 10 thousand metres, again I was left with astonishing views of the Himalayas, this time getting to see Everest. Incredible! Incredible! Incredible! iPhones images don't do the Himalyan mountain range justice at that height. They don't capture the scale and size of them, how they really sit on the landscape, their physicality, how they live above the clouds and how their geometry reflects and absorbs light. Seeing them as given me a new perspective for sure. Flying at 10'000 metres (Everest is just short of 9000!) you get to see the way clouds drift over farmland, cities or hillsides. How small they look flying above them, but how big they would look if I was looking up at them. How those mountains push their summits through above the blanket of cloud. How you can see how cities are formed, how at night, towns and cities sit like golden lotus leaves in the darkest and deepest pond stretching out to the horizon. Life just stretching out and out beyond what you can see. Hopefully Thailand will give me more memories I can cherish like the mountains of Nepal have given me.

Tomorrow I take a train ride to Kanchanaburi, where the tragic death railway was built in World War 2, known famously in western term as Bridge over the River Kwai. Which I'm looking forward to from a photography perspective. My photography senses haven't been firing too well in Bangkok, and I have struggled to find things to photograph, so hopefully a change in scenery will change things.

Take care, Joel.