Bangkok is for Optimists

There are two ways of experiencing every situation. In Bangkok this is particularly pertinent. It is a city of severe dichotomies; where hyper affluence meets extreme poverty, where modern architecture neighbors tin & bamboo slums, where asian tranquility collides with the hustle-bustle of a mega-city and where culinary delicacies are served side-by side with gag-worthy rarities. Bangkok and dichotomy might as well be synonyms. In order to survive in this city it is a requirement that you view it through rose-colored glasses or else it will leave you limping for the border. Case and point:

It is Monday morning. I am walking to the BTS station, a long, knee grinding trip on uneven sidewalks. A jack-hammer grinds into concrete a mere 3 feet to my right, taxi drivers honk incessantly to my left, I step in dog shit and nearly wipe out banana-peel style, wrenching my neck in the process. The smell of piss emanates from a nearby wall and I watch as a taxi driver adds his aura to the smorgasbord. My eyes burn from the stench of fermenting squid that a food cart is peddling for breakfast, my stomach gurgles and the fruit I ate for breakfast revisits my esophagus. I walk through the throng of people, pushing my way through the throbbing crowd. A sweat breaks on my brow and a wave of claustrophobia pours over me. I emerge from the crowd and look down only to see an armless man begging for change. He clenches a plastic cup in his teeth and nudges it towards the crowd, his face caked with dirt and his shirt tattered. I wonder why the hell I am living in this god-forsaken place. Homesickness pangs surge in my chest, my eyes bristle with tears behind my sunglasses and I take a deep sigh of relief as I step onto the escalator carrying me above all that is wretched in this city.

I could start each day with a thought process similar to that above. Every point detailed is a situation that I have encountered, numerous times, while walking the streets of this city. The combination of them all together would be entirely feasible. If I allowed my mind to grasp and amplify the negativity present in my everyday activities, I would be beyond miserable. But, just as I said before, this city is a living dichotomy and the picture I painted above is a mere half of the equation:

It is Monday morning. I am walking to the BTS station, a refreshing walk in the short-lived morning cool. A broom peddler rings a bell rhythmically with his step and I momentarily step in time with his beat. Moments later I walk by a soi kitchen and catch a momentary melody sung by its owner as she sweeps out her floors and prepares for her first customers. I take a moment to tickle the whiskers of one of the loving soi cats that hold territory along my walk, I have even saved a small morsel of sticky rice to ensure his friendship and compliance. The smell of jasmine wafts from the flower dealer to my left and wreaths of marigolds and roses shimmer in the morning light. I catch a hint of tamarind sauce emanating from a food cart and debate whether I am hungry enough for a second breakfast. I shuffle along with the crowds of people and become humorously aware that I am a head taller than most of the women. Occasionally I catch eyes with a stranger and they flash me a toothy smile. I reach an ebb in the crowd and notice a child playing just inside a store front, giggling as his mother tickles him. I smile to myself and step onto the escalator with a sense of comfort, certain that today will only get better from here.

The above is an idealized example of my thought process. There are times where my mental dialogue is as rosy as the portrait I painted. But, admittedly, there are days where a few negative obsessions creep in. Regardless, I have made a choice to deliberately focus on and foster my positive experiences here. I know that, for me, it is an act of survival. I would emerge from this experience a tattered and broken individual if I allowed myself to obsess over the negative. This is not to say that I don’t see it and allow myself to experience it... I just choose to not focus on it. I only have so much energy to expend participating in the everyday activities of this city, I only have the energy for optimism.

I leave you with two thoughts:

-A modified Aristotle quote: “You are what you repeatedly do. [Happiness], therefore, is not an act but a habit” and

- An excerpt from Max Erhmann’s Desiderata “Be cheerful. Strive to be happy”