Bangkok in 17 Syllables

 Inspired by the New York Time's recent Haiku contest for its readers, I'm offering up the following as today's poetic observations of Bangkok during the Thai summer.

Heat rises by 8 - 

Orange-vested taxi men

hide out in the shade

Too tired to capture

black mold on condo skyline - 

Must be hot season

Wonder about meat

storage during summer days -

Bangkok Veggie time?

What Thai pop song can

bring glory to the heat, like 

“18 Fon” for rain?

The long-tail boats

on the river boil like prawns.

Air-con hearts stay cool.

One Night (Bike) in Bangkok

I've explored Bangkok a lot, have been in and out of alleys and odd little shops and parks and temples here and there and everywhere, but yesterday I did something new ... and felt ... well, simply joyous, connected to what I love to do (biking and exploring) and reinvigorated a bit more toward this city which I call home.

My wife, Tan, and I were afforded this opportunity via a friend of ours (P'Jum) who invited us along on a trip with William Tuffin, the manager of Grasshopper Adventures.  Tuffin, along with one of his guides, Damri "Seen" Suwamin, was test-running a new "premier" route in the city, a 6-hour special, which began at 4 in the afternoon and circled back home (an office on Ratchadamnoen Avenue) by 10 p.m.  That's a pretty good amount of exercise in the city heat, but it was at a good moment in the day.

Now, let it be known that I have a cantankerous kind of

relationship with the Big Mango.  I have enjoyed the moments, mainly when I've been free of work responsibilities, when I've gotten to wander and explore and connect with all the personalities who wander in between the concrete and glass, but I rail now and again against the insufferable traffic, the heat, the often overwhelmed trash removal system, the crush of people (especially in certain key intersections) as well as the spiritless faces of the commuters who are usually buried in their I-Phones on the SkyTrain and aged buses.

Dates and Reminders

There are little clues everywhere to remind us of the passage of time, to remind us of how important it is to pay attention to the clock.


Yesterday, for example, was a busy day here in Bangkok ... early in the morning, I went to the Department of Land Transportation at the north end of the overhead SkyTrain and endured two hours of bureaucratic queuing and simple eye-hand coordination tests before I upgraded my temporary Thai driver's license to the new “permanent” license which will allow me to dodge motorcycles and Tuk Tuks until my birthday in 2019.


Later that evening, with that date still sticking in my head, I went to see The Lunchbox with my wife, Tan.

Image courtesy of reemsaleh.com

The Lunchbox is a quiet film, existentially circling about the big questions of life and the Mumbai landscape, asking its characters (the contemplative, world-weary Irrfan Khan and sad-eyed Nimrat Kaur) if they're happy to accept their fates, riding the remorseless conveyer belt of life, or if they can choose new courses of action. What is the meaning behind all this? Why do some people eat full-course lunches while others have to make do with a pair of bananas? For what reason do we pack like sardines into trains and buses day after day? These sorts of questions were what this enchanting and poignant new Indian realism were posing.

Always Take the Weather ... *

From freezing to sweating, 
Snow squalls to heat waves, 
Furnaces to air-con units ...

The changes I make my body go through ... some day, I'm going to live in a place where the environment doesn't play such a large role in my day-to-day planning.  Where is that?  San Diego?  New Zealand?

Ah, glorious snow

A little over a week ago, in New England and the mid-Atlantic areas of the U.S., I was in my "fight off the biting cold" routine, which I had adopted for five months ... this entailed:

* Finding heat sources (furnaces, fires, warm cat bodies, heated buses, libraries, etc.) so I could get work done.
* Layering up before heading outside to retain what body heat I could and fending off frost bite (t-shirt, main shirt, fleece, jacket, gloves, hat, scarf covering neck/throat), and trying not to let static "hat-head" frighten others.