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The Beauty of Bangkok
20 February 2007
Bangkok

Bangkok is a beautiful city, if you know where to look. Sitting at the desk in our room, one looks out of a giant window, and the view is one in which flowers predominate: a huge bougainvillea with radiant pink flowers and thorns the size of a thumb, offset by the more subdued salmon of what seem to be crab-apple tree flowers. Small birds pop in and out, resting on the branches of a tree, the name of which we don't know. The tree is covered with tiny, dull green leaves that give an aura of hard-working ambition among the showier flora. This tree partially blocks the view of the looming gray and glass-blue that dominates the local skyline. There is great beauty in this city, which is at once bustling and energetic, yet relaxed enough to make us feel quite comfortable.

And, it's hot! The humidity makes it feel about 105° F. At night it cools down some, but we suspect it never gets much below 90° F. This is a steamy city, indeed! Due to the high humidity and constant heat, mosquitoes swarm all day, but especially at night. Another reason for the multitude of mosquitoes is that people here leave tanks of standing water for several days. Charlee's Artists' Place, where we are staying, has storage tanks in the washrooms for when water cuts occur. Last night, Andy observed a constant flow of newborn bloodsuckers emerging from the water tank. Apparently, mosquitoes are taken as simply a fact of life, so people prefer to deal with massive swarms of the little bastards than risk running low on water in the event of a city water cut.

It's easy to be friends with Charlee, the owner and manager of The Artists' Place. Yesterday, he taught us some Thai and we helped him to fine-tune his English. While the Thai language is completely different than anything we've tried to learn before – even Arabic is much more closely related to the languages we know, all of which have at least a foot in Latin – the people here are so happy to teach you that we're very excited about learning. We've even begun to consider extending our stay here: Charlee thinks he can arrange a job teaching English. It's just an idea, but we'd really love to spend more time in Thailand!

• Bangkok Photos
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