Beyond the skyscrapers and lush temples, there exists another Bangkok, one that you only enter if you know how to stop for a moment in the middle of the maelstrom and observe. It doesn’t take great attention, for that other Bangkok reveals itself immediately before your eyes as soon as you give it a different look.
Perhaps the first things that appear are the colors, scattered across all the streets as if someone had been hiding them with the mischief of imagining the smile that will appear on the face of the one who finds them. And yes, you indeed smile when discovering brushstrokes of pink capable of portraying with such simplicity the complex concept of beauty.
Colors of all shades and intensities that, over the gray of the asphalt and cement, go about drawing a city full of life as if on a canvas. Sometimes they don’t even hide but instead, for example, show themselves in bursts on the tower of a small Hindu temple, fighting one another with force to see which one stands out the most.
And that restless gaze with which you entered this other Bangkok will immediately show you everyday scenes, details that you miss if you only look where the tourist map tells you. It’s enough to wander the streets a bit to know how Thais live in the bowels of the city, to see the backstage of that scenery of modernity and technology that, at times, they insist on presenting. Because you turn a corner of a luxury street and stumble upon a chicken coop in the literal sense; because there is nothing better to kill time while waiting for customers than to play a game on any step; because sometimes the highlight of a temple is on the sign telling you to take off your shoes… And wandering aimlessly, you suddenly appear in a small cemetery where you feel like an intruder but whose silence traps you unintentionally.
The smells, elusive to photo and video cameras, assault you without permission during any walk and never leave you. Sometimes they are delicate, soft, evocative of sweet, relaxing moments. Others are strong, too intense, making you wrinkle your nose or frown. In any case, on many occasions, they intermingle to weave the olfactory map of the city. Bangkok smells of incense, noodles, candle wax, exhaust pipes, jasmine and other offering flowers, dried, fresh, or fried fish, overheated humidity, ripe fruit…
If you want to continue discovering that other city, you must listen to its soundtrack because the sounds that shape it speak of it perfectly. Bangkok is inextricably linked to the noise of traffic that incessantly and mercilessly tramples its streets, to the thousands of honks thrown hurtfully against the sky. If you listen very carefully, you can distinguish among them the origin of one in particular, like the one coming from a small van, loaded to the impossible, fighting furiously to survive between cars and motorcycles.
A clamor, but much more orderly and tender, is that of the songs heard whenever you pass by any school. Children’s melodies that contrast, however, with the silence of other children who seem not to have a school to go to and sing, and beg in the street or stay next to their mother at the street food stall. And that silence, undoubtedly, is unfortunately also part of that other Bangkok.
Just as much a part of the city are the Buddhist monks who inspire so much respect the first time you see them walking the streets. Little by little, you realize that they are not so different from other people; they also take a nap anywhere when sleepiness hits, use the latest generation mobile phones, surprisingly succumb to consumerism, and impart their teachings to the little ones who, once again, repeat the lesson with a musical rhythm.
I stay without hesitation with this Bangkok, the most interesting from my point of view; the one of colors, sounds, everyday scenes, smells, monks without the aura of being untouchable. Practical information is saved for another occasion, for when you want to visit the touristy Bangkok which, of course, also has much to offer. In the meantime, wander, get lost, forget the map, the guide, and travel through the city without expecting anything, aimlessly but with humility and with a smile that will open you up to its people. Savor its slower pace, its more modest corners, and above all, walk with your eyes wide open, with a different gaze because, sometimes, the most interesting things are also the least striking.
