remnants
I have been asked recently why I appear to be so much in love with Bangkok by a native no less and somehow the answer didn't come too quickly. True the last trip was fun, it IS tremendously difficult to say that a 2 bedroom serviced apartment plus good food, drink and company every night isn't. But fun just doesn't seem to do the destination justice. So I have decided to document some vignettes from my trips to Bangkok and maybe in doing so, find the answer there.
Billboards
These have really stuck with me since my first trip and I always get a familiar feeling everytime I see them on the way from the airport. For me they exemplify Bangkok the sense of the surreal. In Bangkok, the new is built on top of the old, or just going around it. Its as though the city planners just decided to forget that most of the place is crumbling in some kind of mad race, and just piled something on top of it while below life happily goes on. The path of least resistance maybe. There is this sense of the old and new that we don't really get in Singapore all that much. I remember having a champagne martini at H1 bemused that across the street, a bus that looked like it was in service since world war 1 rumbled past.
Bangkok taxis
One of the more enduring features of Bangkok, a typical conversation from my visits goes:
Me: Silom Village?
Driver: Yes!
after 40mins
Me (murmuring) : Oh fuck where is this place?
Driver: Yes!
Annie the Clock Seller
I saw Annie on a trip with my family in 2003 and here I must apologise, her name isn't Annie, it is a name i affixed upon her as a passing observer of her life. A name which stuck for a lack of effort on my part. Her simple makeshift stall sat in front of a closed store front and there she sat on a stool surrounded by her clocks, probably none of them telling the time of the moment, or at least they could not agree. She wears what is to my mind, a checkered jacket. If I could have photographed her I would, but I didn't have a camera with me. All I have are a few scattered sketches of her solitary figure fringed by the clocks which hung about her, still arguing about the time, though not very hard.
The whole scene struck me as quaint and I wondered what it must be like for her. Putting on her jacket before leaving her house, hauling her bag of time from her home to this location. Waiting for customers to come by. I wondered if she ever did get confused about what time it was, I know I would... all the bleddy clocks don't agree and I can't remember which one tells the time anymore maybe... If someone came over and asked me for the time, I probably would have to reply in all honesty; "Choose"
either that or punch the fucker in the face for being an arsehole - if he doesn't buy of course.
See, I wouldn't make a very good thai, too not non-violent.
Billboards
These have really stuck with me since my first trip and I always get a familiar feeling everytime I see them on the way from the airport. For me they exemplify Bangkok the sense of the surreal. In Bangkok, the new is built on top of the old, or just going around it. Its as though the city planners just decided to forget that most of the place is crumbling in some kind of mad race, and just piled something on top of it while below life happily goes on. The path of least resistance maybe. There is this sense of the old and new that we don't really get in Singapore all that much. I remember having a champagne martini at H1 bemused that across the street, a bus that looked like it was in service since world war 1 rumbled past.
Bangkok taxis
One of the more enduring features of Bangkok, a typical conversation from my visits goes:
Me: Silom Village?
Driver: Yes!
after 40mins
Me (murmuring) : Oh fuck where is this place?
Driver: Yes!
Annie the Clock Seller
I saw Annie on a trip with my family in 2003 and here I must apologise, her name isn't Annie, it is a name i affixed upon her as a passing observer of her life. A name which stuck for a lack of effort on my part. Her simple makeshift stall sat in front of a closed store front and there she sat on a stool surrounded by her clocks, probably none of them telling the time of the moment, or at least they could not agree. She wears what is to my mind, a checkered jacket. If I could have photographed her I would, but I didn't have a camera with me. All I have are a few scattered sketches of her solitary figure fringed by the clocks which hung about her, still arguing about the time, though not very hard.
The whole scene struck me as quaint and I wondered what it must be like for her. Putting on her jacket before leaving her house, hauling her bag of time from her home to this location. Waiting for customers to come by. I wondered if she ever did get confused about what time it was, I know I would... all the bleddy clocks don't agree and I can't remember which one tells the time anymore maybe... If someone came over and asked me for the time, I probably would have to reply in all honesty; "Choose"
either that or punch the fucker in the face for being an arsehole - if he doesn't buy of course.
See, I wouldn't make a very good thai, too not non-violent.
posted by Shininggoat at 2:31 AM
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