after all, the key is communication

Sunday, my 4th day in Bangkok, this is what I put into my diary:

City of contrasts.

• crazy
• crowded
• intense
• Asian
• Thai
• European
• exciting
• disgusting
• challenging
• repulsive
• accumulating

Contrasting? Let’s start with the simple things. Outside, it’s hot. 35 degrees with a humidity that feels close to 100%. Inside, it’s all air-con. You forget about the real temperature and once you step back out of the door, the heat is hitting you right in your face.

You have huge shopping malls which don’t look too different from those in Europe (except they’re a lot bigger), but then you get out and find yourself surrounded by the chaos and smell of thousands of small food stalls and small roadside shops. Traffic, people, noise and smells are attacking all your senses.

Poor and rich. Not as extreme as I thought it would be, they mix quite well. So far, that’s what I can say. Still, you can imagine someone selling lychees for 10Baht/kg has a different idea about money than those who take a taxi to go anywhere.

Thai Culture, Western Culture. I can’t really tell. Not yet. How about German Culture? Aren’t we westernized, americanized, whatever you want to call it, just the same? It is sure quite different from what it was like 50 years ago and that goes for Thailand just the same. Get the point?

So far for now. I have to see and understand more before I can add things here. I really do.

Pictures? See the Gallery!

Last Modified : June 7th, 2007
Filed under : Bangkok, something.anything.
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