Thai market

I was still disoriented and jetlagged from the long journey and could not sleep. So I went out at the crack of the dawn to wander the still cool and empty streets of Bangkok down to the river. Bangkok is notorious for it's gridlocked travel. Those in the know use the river. Like a watery artery through the city longtail boats speed up and down the river transporting passengers.

By the ferry piers where passengers board the boats are collections of market stalls with innumerable exotic goods for sale. Along the canal walk there are blocks and blocks full of nursery plants, the local part of town for buying orchids, ferns, pothos and innumerable other ornamentals. Closer to the river plants give way to food items -- raw and alive in water tubs and buckets. Eels, catfish, muddy snails, frogs, and turtles writhe and crawl. By the ferry pier are small resturants where people eat and gaze out on the Chao Praya River. A woman sells pieces of old bread in bags, and as you wait for the ferry you realize they are for all of the catfish that splash and wreathe just below the surface of the pier trained and expectant of handouts like watery pigeons in the muddy lotus reeds.

Arriving down river I retraced my steps to Kho San road, the infamous backpacker ghettos of Bangkok. It is a place full of the garish tourist culture I despise, but a place I know I can find certain things too and I have errands to run. Along the way I sipped on ice coffee, bought a couple t-shirts (best designs I've ever seen here), and looked into cheap air fares over here for Isabelle from the middle east. By noon though I had had enough and fled back down river to nap away the afternoon in my guest house before meeting a friend of a friend for dinner in drinks deeper in the city.

My filmmaker friends Ian and Sharon in New York have put me in touch with Colin, Ian's brother living here in Bangkok now with his wife, a climate and development worker. Colin is a poet and author interested in a lot of the same things as me. Myth, science, history, and art. He recently wrote a book of poetry all about these things in fact and so he is an excellent person to be introduced to! And so it was great to meet with him and I have a new friend here in Bangkok.

Colin is a super nice guy and was so helpful and welcoming. Like anything in a big foreign city getting there is half the adventure. Between the traffic congested tuk-tuk ride, to the uber modern labrythine rails of the sky train over the city, and the busy streets choked with lights, people, and oh so many good smells everything here is some fantastic experience. We ate at a friends' resturant, a food writer featured in the NYTimes who recently opened a resturant. Soul food it was called, a hip but cheap ex-pat hangout of Thai fusion. Green papaya and citrus salad with peanuts and chili, Burmese curry, somosas, Thai spareribs, and drinks like lychee, soda, and lemongrass. Later we moved on to another spot nearby and I met a group of great young people working in the city. We are going out again Saturday.

A warm welcome back to Bangkok!