Bangkok: The City of Angels

In Jan 2015, As I made my way out of Suvarnbhumi Airport, I logged the 5th country of travel/work. At first the Bangkok looked very similar to Mumbai; A vast concrete jungle on both sides of the road, similar warm and slightly humid weather and that hint of a developing country. But it will be only later that I’ll realise Bangkok is a city like no other.

As I entered my hotel, I was greeted with smiles and the gesture of ‘sawadee ka’, so genial that it reaches to your heart. It made me wonder when did, we Indians reduce our ‘Namaste’ to a mere formality. The smile, folded hands, gently bowing your head; its like seeing Buddha in every person. No wonder this country has embraced Buddha like no other.

As I gradually settle into the city; daily walking to and fro for work, taking metro or just some leisure wanderings, these have been the moments of so many observations. Absorbing the sheer ambience of the city, the fashionably clad girls passing by, the street vendors and their ever amusing food, the night markets, each and everything filling my mind with the stories unfolding around.

The city has embraced modernisation as seamlessly as it beholds its very ‘thainess’ in its ways of life. Amidst the crowds of malls, the temples stand as magnificent as ever, the tuk-tuks running lively amidst the metros criss-crossing the city, girls (read ladyboys too) handling their high heels as effortlessly as the dangling packet of rice-pork curry, bought on way to work.

In ways, Thailand reminds me of home more than any other country has, may be due to the shared cultural history between the two countries. Yet I find Bangkok a very distinct city, posing very little resemblance to what so ever I have seen so far in my little travel life.