Canal Trip

Yesterday I took the canal boat from the Golden Temple to the centre of town. The canal boat is the fastest way to reach Siam Square, but the boats only go during daylight hours, which is why I decided to go to the cinema at midday. More rain was forecast and the atmosphere was heavy and thick. The ticket sellers on the boats wear black plastic helmets and balance precariously along a narrow ledge that runs round the outer edge of the boat, their heads above the boat. They lean down to take people’s fares, sidling along the ledge from one row of seats to the next. The boat roars through the canal, past little houses, washing flapping over the canal and all kinds of junk piled up outside people’s back doors. The canal is surprisingly green. Every little house has potted plants. Trees, bushes and vines grow in every available space. At the boat stops, canalside cafes full of potted plants offer coffee and cold drinks to waiting passengers.

I stepped off the boat and climbed the stairs up to street level, finding myself suddenly surrounded by giant tower blocks, a gigantic shopping centre, thick traffic pouring through major roads that pedestrians are obliged to cross by bridge, a world away from the old Bangkok of the canals. Not so long ago Bangkok was crisscrossed by canals, much like Venice. But the great god, the car, has been responsible for devouring most of the canals, transforming them into traffic filled roads.

I went to see Luc Besson’s film “the Lady”, starring Michelle Yeoh and David Thewlis, about Aung San Suu Kyi. A lot of old video footage had been incorporated into the film, which was made in Thailand and the UK. The local paper here in Bangkok slated the film for not focussing on the intricacies of Burmese politics, just showing the generals as a clique of superstitious, shouting tyrants. But the film is about Aung San Suu Kyi, her relationship with her husband and sons and the heart-breaking choices she was faced with, her isolation under years of house arrest, the death of her husband, far away in England, and her courage and determination to stand by her people. Michelle Yeoh was magnificent and I found the film truly moving.

I made it back to Apple just before the torrential downpour.
More rain is forecast for today.