Songkran in slow-motion

Successive cloudless days gradually elevated the temperature to above 40ºC.

In the distance, the heat is visible, softening the edge of high-rise buildings as if they were melting.

Crowds gathering in the air conditioned malls where the artificial coolness lingers.

Meanwhile, the streets outside are emptied.

Occasionally people appear here and there.

Dotting the cityscape with their presence.

I went for a walk on both sides of the Chao Phraya river

and started to notice the physical changes in the city. . 

Old buildings were gone

Replaced by condos and malls.

In this shifting cityscape, some old parts of town are surviving in some miraculous way.

Squeezed in between towers.

It’s through this contrast that Bangkok reveals itself.

Someone told me that he could not see any beauty in this.

But my feeling is different.

The imperfect cityscape conveys the energy of life itself.

In this city, the present matters much more than the past or the future.