bangkok’s discarded murals and why i spent a night chasing them
i woke up to the smell of street food and immediately regretted it. the apartment smelled like garlic and hope. i had planned to sit outside but the 18.84c air decided it was ok to fog up everything. literally everything. i spent 30 minutes trying to fix my camera lens because the humidity was trying to murder it.
so i just checked and it’s 18.84 there right now, which is basically a damp hug from the sky. i hope you like that kind of thing. if you don’t, we’re both in the same boat. a sinking one.
the person next door was blasting some dubstep and eating durian. i don’t know why they didn’t just make a restaurant out of that combo. neighbors here either add flavor or they don’t exist. this one adds flavor.
someone told me that there’s this weird street art spot near the river where people just paint on anything. like concrete walls. old phone booths. that’s how i ended up walking around at 3am with a flashlight and a sticky note that said ‘do not steal my art.’ turns out it was real. someone had painted a giant phoenix on a dumpster. it looked like it had just emerged from the dumpster. weirdly alive.
i took three photos. one of the phoenix, one of a random guy sleeping on a bench next to it, and one of my face in the rain because i forgot an umbrella. Unsplash gave me:
. don’t ask why i picked those. i don’t remember.
i heard that the market there sells some weird beans. like, actual beans in a sack. someone warned me they might be stolen. i bought one anyway. it was smoke bean. tasted like enthusiasm. or maybe it was my head. who knows.
if you get bored, Phuket is a 45-minute drive away. don’t tell me you don’t want to go. i’m just here to remind you that life is a series of bad decisions.
i overheard a group of kids saying that the phoenix mural was stolen last week. was it? i don’t know. i saw it. it was there. maybe they’re liars. or maybe they’re true. doesn’t matter. i took a photo anyway.
someone else told me that the best way to experience Bangkok is to get lost. which is true. i got lost for 2 hours trying to find this dumpster and now i know why people here call it the river city. it’s literally full of dumpsters.
i also saw a Yelp review from 2021 that said this exact spot was ‘haunted by a guy in a tuxedo who steals coffee.’ i don’t believe it. but i will say, i didn’t drink my coffee until i saw the phoenix. that moment? worth it.
tags: travel bangkok human vibe messy