Bangkok Street Scenes
Picturing Bangkok, I think gritty. The city is colorful, chaotic, and culturally rich, a sea of motor bikes, tuk-tuks (3-wheeled open air taxis), and trucks, all that make negotiating the streets adventurous. There is a modern, fashionable downtown business district, but you can’t escape the signs of poverty, plenty of dilapidated housing scattered around. I shouldn’t have been, but was surprised to see the tangle of electric lines everywhere (I didn’t realize until I got back to Singapore that all of its power lines are underground).
We saw vibrant outdoor markets and vendors that line the streets and alleys selling food (including hanging dried squid, mango sticky rice, and an array of insects), clothing, souvenirs, and services like massages. And, on the bigger streets you see portraits of the royal family on buildings and as shrines and throughout all of Thailand. We were told that every Thai house has at least one portrait of the royal family.
My friend, Deb, was visiting from my home of Madison, WI. We had the good fortune to have her nephew and his Thai wife who live in northern Thailand as our guides as they know Bangkok pretty well. They were delightful, and their auntie came down to spend a day with us too.
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