karmakurma (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} karmakurma) wrote,@ 2007-08-25 21:55:00 |
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In search of peace in Bangkok
I made one of those unplanned and spontaneous visits to Thailand a few summers ago. I wanted to soak up the culture, and also sample the cuisine, with an emphasis on food from street vendors and local markets. I was in love hook, line and sinker with the primary ingredients of thai cuisine: coconut milk, kafir lime leaves, galangal, lemongrass and basil. On landing in Suvarnabhoomi Airport on a typical sultry summer night, I headed to the hotel and dumped my stock of slide film in the refrigerator. Heat can do a number on film, sometimes rendering them useless.
The next day, I headed to the local markets by the river. These markets by the river are beehives of activity.
I made one of those unplanned and spontaneous visits to Thailand a few summers ago. I wanted to soak up the culture, and also sample the cuisine, with an emphasis on food from street vendors and local markets. I was in love hook, line and sinker with the primary ingredients of thai cuisine: coconut milk, kafir lime leaves, galangal, lemongrass and basil. On landing in Suvarnabhoomi Airport on a typical sultry summer night, I headed to the hotel and dumped my stock of slide film in the refrigerator. Heat can do a number on film, sometimes rendering them useless.
The next day, I headed to the local markets by the river. These markets by the river are beehives of activity.
You not only get to see the locals shopping and eating here, but you also have a steady throng of commuters arriving and departing on the numerous ferries and long boats.
Those who were waiting for their respective boats were grabbing a quick snack. There are a plethora of choices for the adventurous gourmand willing to try the local epicurean offerings. There is an amazing selection of sat-ay, with pretty much every local poultry, seafood and animals having equal representation.
Vegetarians need not despair. There is an interesting selection of fresh fruit typically consisting of lychees, jackfruit, stinky fruit, mangosteen, rambuta, durian and mangos.
As if the aromas of the epicurean delicacies is not enough, one can catch the fragrance of jasmine. Garlands of sweet smelling flowers are a feast to the eyes and the nose, as deft hands expertly weave the flowers into strands of color.
I was catching all this, standing in a corner, trying to be unobtrusive. Then I saw them, less than a few minutes apart.
How could anyone not spot her, with that colorful t-shirt, and pink fluorescent hair. She was at the dock, peering into the boats as they picked up and dropped off travellers criss-crossing the city on its meandering rivers.She seemed deep in thought, lost to herself, an anomaly in the hurry-burry of the commute. As I captured her for posterity on film, I caught a tinge of saffron in the corner of my eye.
It was easy to spot him in the crowd. In a sea of similarly dressed commuters, he stood out, draped in saffron. There was an aura about him, as if he was resigned to his fate. Amid the hustle and the bustle, he stood by himself, calmly waiting for his ferry to perhaps take him home to his monastery.So there she was, perhaps far away from home, where ever that was, and there he was, waiting to take the next boat home. Were they seeking peace? Were they searching for the answers to the questions that we all seek? I wouldn't know. Perhaps I found peace that day in a boat dock in Bangkok. The Buddha works in mysterious ways, so the locals tell me.
Those who were waiting for their respective boats were grabbing a quick snack. There are a plethora of choices for the adventurous gourmand willing to try the local epicurean offerings. There is an amazing selection of sat-ay, with pretty much every local poultry, seafood and animals having equal representation.
Vegetarians need not despair. There is an interesting selection of fresh fruit typically consisting of lychees, jackfruit, stinky fruit, mangosteen, rambuta, durian and mangos.
As if the aromas of the epicurean delicacies is not enough, one can catch the fragrance of jasmine. Garlands of sweet smelling flowers are a feast to the eyes and the nose, as deft hands expertly weave the flowers into strands of color.
I was catching all this, standing in a corner, trying to be unobtrusive. Then I saw them, less than a few minutes apart.
How could anyone not spot her, with that colorful t-shirt, and pink fluorescent hair. She was at the dock, peering into the boats as they picked up and dropped off travellers criss-crossing the city on its meandering rivers.She seemed deep in thought, lost to herself, an anomaly in the hurry-burry of the commute. As I captured her for posterity on film, I caught a tinge of saffron in the corner of my eye.
It was easy to spot him in the crowd. In a sea of similarly dressed commuters, he stood out, draped in saffron. There was an aura about him, as if he was resigned to his fate. Amid the hustle and the bustle, he stood by himself, calmly waiting for his ferry to perhaps take him home to his monastery.So there she was, perhaps far away from home, where ever that was, and there he was, waiting to take the next boat home. Were they seeking peace? Were they searching for the answers to the questions that we all seek? I wouldn't know. Perhaps I found peace that day in a boat dock in Bangkok. The Buddha works in mysterious ways, so the locals tell me.
