Growing On Me Like Mold

*It took me a really long time to get this post finished and published, so it's pretty old now, but I thought it would be nice to have a record of how I felt during those first few weeks.*

Backdated: July 1, 2022

My new life in Bangkok hit a stumbling block when, immediately upon arriving, I got COVID.

I had two days of exploring the neighborhood, and on the third I woke up with a sore throat...

faint line apparently still counts

I spent the next ten days in my apartment, stewing in my limited impressions of the city, frustrated that, after the first three days, I felt completely healthy, yet trapped.

To be honest, I did sneak out a few times – swimming in the pool at odd hours when there was no one else there and lounging on the pool deck in the shade until I got too sweaty, sitting in the garden in the front of the building until I got too sweaty, walking (mask on!) through the neighborhood sois (side streets) until I got too sweaty. 

 

the pool in our building

I explored Lazada (a sort of Thai Alibaba or Amazon), ordering cheap puzzles and shelf liner and a measuring tape, looking for projects to occupy my time. I also worked, of course, but I’d been working from home for months now, and, maybe for the first time in my life, I was genuinely excited to go to the office and meet in person the team I have been working with since January, so continuing online work was underwhelming.

Bangkok has been largely an experience of moisture (see paragraph above on sneaking out, and below on climate) and of scent. So far, I am not a fan. Here are the top things that are making it difficult for me to like this city.

1. Smells

Everything smells. Sometimes good, mostly bad. You get a painful olfactory whiplash from how quickly smells change. Walking on the street, every 10 steps or so the scent landscape shifts. 

Gasoline --> grilling meats --> garbage --> sewage --> burnt cooking oil --> garbage --> fetid canal water --> incense from a little shrine --> garbage.

It's not ideal.

road.

sidewalk.

a section of a building painted whimsically

2. Hot and Humid

This climate is very new for me.

I grew up (ish) in Riyadh, KSA, where it was extremely hot, but dry. I was often dehydrated because I refused to drink warm water, and bottles kept out of the fridge for any period of time quickly grew warm. When I started wearing an abaya at age 9, the black fabric felt stifling, and I wanted to go out in public less and less. The rare semi-annual thunderstorm was an occasion for getting soaked dancing in the rain and making potions in empty pots. 

I spent most of my youth in rural coastal Virginia, where it's humid but not so hot for most of the year, and anyway you're either outside in nature very intentionally enjoying the heat, or inside, moving between air conditioned spaces. 

Tbilisi is both hot and humid (though the humidity is nothing compared to SE Asia) in July-August, but the rest of the year is mild and seasonal. Spring and fall are particularly beautiful, and the little snow that falls in the winter is a special treat.

Bangkok is a different beast altogether. 

It's so humid here in the rainy season that mold is ubiquitous. Even in the glitzy high rise where my office is located, the caulking around the bathroom sinks is speckled with mold. I change out my bath towel every two days otherwise it gets mildewy (plus I shower much more often here).  

It's the kind of heat that, standing still, sweat begins to bead up all over your body. The kind of heat that makes the sunscreen melt and drip off your skin. The kind of heat that makes you cut corners and take shortcuts and bend the rules. The kind of heat that drives people crazy.

The rain often comes suddenly, with heavy clouds replacing clear skies in a matter of minutes. I now keep an umbrella in the office just in case I miscalculate and need one during the work day. It cools things down, but only for the briefest time before it becomes a steam room. 

I've only been in Bangkok in the rainy season - people say the dry, clear blue skies and comparatively cool 90-degree days of "winter" are lovely, but we'll see...

I will say that I love the intense thunderstorms that happen almost every night this time of year. From my apartment windows I have a wide view of the city and often see crazy lightning strikes and flashes that light up the whole sky.

3. Intense

I know that I am more of a country person than a city person. Even so, I can get into city life! I love being able to walk to cool shops and restaurants, I love a vibrant café culture, I love diversity (of people, food, events) and having lots of options for arts and culture.

Unfortunately, Bangkok is not currently offering me any of that.

I can't walk anywhere in this damn weather - too hot, too wet, or both. Even if I just embrace the sweat, dress properly, slather on SPF, still it's unpleasant because sidewalks are poorly maintained, and only exist on major streets where there are cars and motorbikes and tuk tuks zooming past at 100 miles an hour (okay, not so much the tuk tuks) or idling in traffic releasing tons of exhaust directly into your eyes and mouth. The air quality is generally poor, so I worry I'm doing my lungs more harm than good by walking. It's such an enormous city that walking can't get you very far, literally. 

 

A park near my house

 

The park is mostly concrete...

 

There are few good alternatives to walking, as I don't live near public transport (thanks, work...), gridlock traffic means taxis are painfully slow.

Also, the streets aren't pretty. It is admittedly interesting to have a wander around and soak up the newness and strangeness of it all, but there's not much obvious, objective beauty. Buildings are primarily either glassy high rises (not to my taste) or run down concrete blocks. While I would love to investigate the curious nuances of the history and layers of Bangkok, I just don't know enough to be able to identify when there is a flicker of something interesting. So it just looks ugly.

 

rat party

I've tried to take walks after dark (sun sets everyday, all year around 6:30 pm) when it's cooler, but the broken pavement, cockroaches, and rats that feast on the day's refuse, piled high on the curb outside restaurants, makes walking at night more of an adventure than I am usually up for.

One of the nicer sidewalk areas in my neighborhood

Cafes, restaurants, bars, are certainly popular and there is a sort of hipster culture I've nibbled at the edges of that I'd love to explore more, but, very unfortunately, so many of the hangout places are INSIDE SHOPPING MALLS. Like Dubai. It makes sense, in a way. In a city this large, multi-story and high density buildings are the most efficient and smartest approach. As I have already ranted, being outside and walking around are not particularly enjoyable, so the malls become bright, shiny neighborhoods contained within themselves. Logical, practical, unaesthetic (to me). There has been a lot of talk lately about the new Saudi design proposal/ publicity stunt/ future city "The Line" - the Bangkok mall clusters, connected by raised walkways, is something like what I imagine living in The Line might be. 

the rare quiet intersection

just a monitor lizard chilling at a bus stop

monk smoking, watching a monitor lizard

a wild cat relaxing on a bench

I'll note one major achievement of Bangkok's government (?) is the lack of car horns. With so many vehicles, you'd expect a constant, painful cacophony of horns, but instead, the painful cacophony is just engines revving and construction sites banging and vendors shouting and tires screeching. My audio-sensitive brain can barely handle it as is, so if horns were added into the mix, I might hit a breaking point. Thankful for that.

As for cultural events and diversity and all that - I am too new and friendless to have been able to take much advantage of that yet, but I'm hoping to turn the corner soon and embrace the benefits of living in Bangkok!

Despite the weather and the smells and the intense urbanity of it - I think Bangkok might be slowly growing on me...like mold.

Some positives to come in my next post.