Bangkok

My three days in Bangkok have been characterised by steaming heat and torrential downpours.
Its monsoon season here and the rain comes down with a vengeance everyday from about 6 pm. The sheer volume of water in such a short period can flood small streets with up to a foot of water and on a couple of occasions I've had to take off my shoes and socks and roll up my trouser legs.
Its surreal walking along the street clutching a briefcase in one hand and the fore mentioned in the other along with the commuters and tourists.
The rain plays havoc with the traffic, but the subway and sky train make getting around the city relatively easy.
The mass transit system has made a huge difference to doing business here. You can get around quickly and manage 4 or 5 meetings a day.
Contrast that to the situation 5 years ago when hours were spent in the back of taxis and the only way to make any progress was to base yourself in the hotel lobby and schedule appointments on a rolling basis of customers visiting you.
As customers didn't particularly relish losing their day to traffic jams, this was less than ideal.
I had time to visit 1 temple on this trip.
Wat Pho is the oldest major temple in Bangkok and is home to the "Reclining Buddha"Its 46 meters long and covered in gold plating with mother of pearl eyes and feet.
It is said ( and hotly disputed in some quarters) that Wat Pho has the distinction of being the birthplace of Thai massage.The temple's monks are acknowledged masters of the prod and pinch and dedicate their lives to exploring the techniques of what is considered a sacred ( as well as medical) healing art.
If you have time I recommend a massage from one of the monks in the courtyard outside the temple, (450 Baht/hr). This experience is only open to men: Thai Monks are forbidden to touch women as part of a vow of chastity.
This vow can manifest itself in odd ways.
I watched a woman hand her camera to her male companion in order for a monk to take a picture.
Stories of monks fathering scores of children (and abbots with mistresses) leads me to suspect that strict observation of the rules is practiced in public but discarded when circumstances suit.
I didn't have the time for a massage this trip but on my first visit to Thailand some 20 years ago, I did give it a try and found the experience to be in turns excruciatingly painful and relaxing.

Bangkok is a terrific place to shoot pictures of people and I managed to snatch a few decent ones over the past couple of days.

That's it for today.

I fly back to Hong Kong tonight and will be there until the 7th or 8th of July and then head back to North America.

Stay well everyone.

Love to all

T

People

Pictures of people from yesterday.

Trust me.

During my walk yesterday I went through areas which in another place would have made me fear for my skin.

India isn't like that.

Sure I had a steady stream of crazies cursing me, jabbering at me, trying to sell me something...

On many occasions I was the only westerner and drew curious smiles as well as hard looks.

I felt safe though at times uncomfortable .

Its hard to convey the sense of squalor and the smell at times was over powering.

When I visit India I'm often overcome with the question :

"What does all this mean?"

Its so different from anything familiar, in so many respects, I can't really convey how strange it feels at times.

I'm not saying I've had any sort of life changing revelation, but it has changed me in ways I'll come to understand with time.

Or maybe it will all fade away 24 hours after landing in Dubai.

Hope this finds you happy and healthy.

T

Shimmer Chinodya and Random People

We had a reading at our stand today from Shimmer Chinodya, a Zimbabwean author who is a veteran of the struggle for democracy.

He has a tremendous voice and his writing is full of wit and sadness as well as fascinating insights in the African reality. I bought and had three books autographed.

Not much to say today so I thought I'd post some random pictures of some of the people I've encountered over the past week.


Durban is a dangerous city.

Being driven through deserted streets back and forth from the bubbles of safety that are the restaurants and hotels here, I couldn't help wondering how things could be so bad. Groups of people from the convention (sometimes as many as 10 or 15) are stopped by the police and told in no uncertain terms to go back to their hotel.

Five or six people have been mugged and robbed.

Its too dangerous to walk on the streets.

Johannesburg is even worse.

What's going to happen during the World Cup I wonder?

Sorry for the negative thoughts.

Love to all

T