Bangkok Rising: City Skyline at Dawn

The title of today's photo of the day's blog is in part borrowed from an article in the Australian last month: Bangkok Rising.

The article was ostensibly about Bangkok re-building and bouncing back after the riots earlier this year. In essence it looked a bit more like an advertorial for Thai Airways and the Hilton than particularly good journalism. While I can see why the Australian would want to play up the rebuilding process, I suspect even the author realises that the line "I have returned to the Thai capital in the aftermath of the riots to find a city slowly getting back on its feet...," is a bit rich, because he goes on to reminisce about his earlier days living in Bangkok rather than really advancing on the theme. The fact is that its been business as usual in Bangkok for months.

No doubt the numbers are still down at the Hilton, but elsewhere in Bangkok, apart from lower tourist numbers, you have to look really hard to find signs of any sort of slow recovery process. Slow recovery is certainly not the Thai way.

I did however like the title, because it describes what has been happening in Bangkok in the time that I've known the city, which is really only 4 years now and certainly before. The changes in that time have been immense. Bangkok is a city rising. Slowly and steadily to be one of the most likable modern capitals.

For this photo, the title is however apt in a literal sense. It was taken at 5:30 am this morning. A time where the only real activity I could detect was a few fishermen and the security guards at my building still working. This time in the morning is probably about the only time in bangkok where you'll find things moving slowly. People here by and large aren't "morning people". Between 5 and about 10:30am when most shops start to open things happen slowly and steadily. After that the pace becomes far more of a bustle.

Still, I was up for a change, and finally got a shot from the boat pier near at my apartment that I've been wanting to get for a while: Bangkok Rising!

Edit: this image has now been accepted to iStock's vetta collection and is available for license there!