Arrival in Bangkok

Pokemon is great. Every core game follows the same formula. You play as a young person traveling alone, connecting with people and animals as you explore a region. You learn to appreciate geography and biodiversity. Speaking of biodiversity, isn't it just neat that principles of ecology relate to principles of society? I don't want to go into too much detail on this subject, so just imagine the common words like niche and diversity. Principles that govern sustainable systems, natural or manmade, I call them Permaprinciples. Sustainable design is much bigger than farming, yet permaculture offers guidelines that we can apply to other aspects of life. I know this is kind of tangential; I just want to throw it out there.

So I arrived in Bangkok. I took a shoulder bag and a backpack. You could say my Pokemon trainer class is Backpacker Priyam right now (as opposed to Youngster, Super Nerd, Scientist, Ace Trainer)

I got in pretty late to the first hostel (Ekanek). I couldn't see SHIT. So hot and muggy. Typical torrid zone. This was my first night at a hostel, period. It's pretty chill. The next day I moved to another, more hipster hostel (Kinnon) where I'll stay through the weekend. I'm using a desktop in their co-working space one floor above the lobby which is adjoined with an organic cafe. The coffee is not hipster quality, unfortunately. Still super chill, replete with positive vibes and affirmative quotes painted on walls. The neighborhood is between Bangrak and Silom, with many art stores.

It's a very green city. It really is not the jungle city I had imagined, yet it is definitely closer than anything I've witnessed before. Granted, I visited Singapore once as a child and I remember a lot of greenery, but I also remember a ton of concrete. Perhaps this is unavoidable given the way humans build these days. Still, I envision a lush city teeming with both busy humans and native fauna, designed and governed with Permaprinciples in mind. Restore natural biodiversity to revitalize stagnant land. Throw in extra plants and animals for biophilia. Demonstrate that nature and cities can coexist in harmony. Audacious, yes. Impossible, no. The tropics offer the most potential as they inherently harbor the greatest biodiversity on the planet. This is apparent just walking the streets of Bangkok, noticing all the trees. Mostly doves and not many crows outside Lumphini Park, as far as I could tell. It feels good seeing my corvid homebirds. They talk differently in this part of the world. I can't wait to compare this city to the others I'll visit on this journey.

I stopped by a Devi mandir in the neighborhood. It's called Sri Maha Mariamman Temple. I'm not supposed to take photos inside, which is a shame because it's really beautiful. I especially appreciate a corridor guiding worshippers to a statue of Goddess, the ceiling painted to represent each of her 9 incarnations. I imagine this place lights UP for Navratri.

I'll pause to explain why this is significant. I personally identify as a Hindu, maybe not the most devout in terms of religious practice, but a firm believer in the spirituality. Within the diverse beliefs set that fall under the umbrella term "Hinduism," I most strongly identify with Shaktism. It is dualistic, represented by the composite deity Ardhanarishvara. Half man, half woman, this Hindu figure represents Tao. Shiva is stillness, the consciousness that pervades the universe, the zero point of reference. Shakti is universal energy, the force that drives change throughout the universe. Shakti worshippers opt to favor the Mother Goddess for this reason. She represents life and death, rebirth and renewal, time and action, power, love, beauty, emotion. The nine-night festival Navratri celebrates her victory over evil and her incarnations during her battle with Mahishasura. This is a bigger deal than Diwali and I bet you it's why many Indians have summer birthdays. I often say that opposites are the same, as one cannot exist without the other as a reference. Ardhanarishvara embodies this. If I apply my reductionist brush to my core theological beliefs, I'd say that 3 = 2 = 1 = 0. Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva are one God, as are Shiva and Parvati. Nothing and something are the same thing. Mathematicians hate me!

So yeah, this was a chill stop with a quick little prayer in that epic hall with the Navdurga ceiling. Pretty cool seeing a bunch of Thai Hindus, too. It really underscores the fact that India strongly influenced the kingdoms of southeast Asia. Culturally, I'm really digging it here. The food is spicy and amazing. The people are friendly and relaxed. The air is muggy and sometimes smells of sulfur, but that's big city life. It's pretty much like the Thai teen drama Hormones that I saw on Netflix. I do not intend to participate in the sex industry here, but I will say that Thai women are gorgeous.

I stopped by the aforementioned park, only to experience a pouring thunderstorm. After a brief respite at the hostel, I reembarked to seek music in Sukhumvit. I went to Studio Lam, a cozy bar with a good DJ. Next door was a Japanese-style karaoke bar, catering to an oddly specific clientele. "Japanese only," a woman told me and I'm like "The fuck? Nandatte?" and I got in. Unnecessarily confusing, always fun. Amazing how years of watching anime makes me so much more comfortable speaking broken Japanese than Thai. The next morning (today) I met some cool travelers over breakfast. Maybe I'll see a rooftop bar tonight. Or I'll keep questing for music, this time in pursuit of Thai jazz.

I honestly don't know what else to do in Bangkok. I'm sure the palace is beautiful, and I know the food is good. I don't really need to buy anything from shops and markets. It's funny because my guidebook starts the section: "Bored in Bangkok? You've got to be kidding!" Man, I'm so comfortable with just being that I can revel in boredom virtually anywhere. There's so much activity inside of my body, much like the city itself. The world outside is a reflection of the internal self. Just keep breathing!

Where do I go from here? Monday, I'll go wherever I feel like going. That boils down to a binary decision: do I go north towards Chiang Mai or do I go southeast towards Angkor Wat? Opposite directions of a mainland Asia route passing through Vietnam and Laos. Additionally, there's a festival during the full moon (Nov. 22). It's celebrated differently in different places, Chiang Mai with the Thai Loi Krathon and Vientiane with the Lao Boun That Luang. These two cities are not close to each other, so I'll have to decide where to go. I haven't heard much about Vientiane, other than it's a chill city with Franco-Soviet architecture and (hipster?) coffee. The more I hear about Chiang Mai, the more I want to be there. The music scene in Vietnam seems promising, so that will be fun.

In the future but not too far, I'll head south the Indonesia and Malaysia in December. Maybe I'll stop by Bali before it gets too inundated with tourists. Mostly, I want to see how the archipelago's last bastion of Hindu culture survives and differs from that of India. I'd like to catch a shadow puppet show depicting one of the classic epics. Yogyakarta draws me, for some reason, maybe just the cool name. And Kota Kinabalu, too, situated in Sabah, northeastern Malaysian Borneo. Borneo would make a killer Pokemon destination. Not as much as Hawaii, I think it inspired the Alola archipelago because of Oranguru. Borneo, after all, is famously home to endemic orangutans. It's also home to one of the earth's oldest extant forests. 140 million years old, the forest in central Borneo remains untouched by intrepid loggers and palm planters. Great! Where else can you find a dinosaur? If I find a dinosaur, I'll teach it to ride a ball.