I can say that the strongest impact I have had with Thailand so far has been through water, from the first moment I stepped off the plane. I landed in a rain-soaked Bangkok and it continued to rain almost continuously over the next few days. After all, we are at the tail end of the monsoon and the temperatures are very high. These Thai days are a mixture of rain, humidity and sweat that alternate in a continuous cycle. But the water here takes on different meanings and facets depending on what you are looking for and perceiving, and as the days go by, you pay more and more attention to it. Bangkok is a city on water and the canals of the Chao Phraya fill it like a beating heart in a fluid state. It is on this heart that the identity of this people is forged, an identity of serenity, cheerfulness and kindness. But also of the enormous strength it takes to adapt to the difficulties of life in the wet season.
A boat trip on the Chao Phraya, born as an exercise in photographic style and taken in one of the rare moments without rain, becomes an opportunity to observe from the middle of the river, at a respectful distance, a glimpse of the daily life of these human beings on the banks that run through Bangkok. Wooden stilts resting directly on the water. Accompanied by crumbling bridges and enclosed by rough curtains that serve to maintain a minimum of privacy from curious eyes like ours. Inhabited by men and women who snooze, work, watch and live their lives in perfect harmony with the water and the sky, with all the fatigue of those accustomed to periodically cleaning their homes of the debris brought by the monsoon. Observing them through the occidental filter, it is impossible to avoid wondering how they can know that everything they have could be swept away by the violence of the water and still go on with their lives as if nothing happened, without worrying about it. As the days go by, however, we discover something more and realise that every minute we look around with our hearts we understand the city and its inhabitants a little more. Their philosophy, their way of life and their soul, are liquid, quiet and strong like the river that keeps them alive.
