Rangsit, Thailand

I thought I’d take a break from posting pictures of either monuments to wealth and power or pristine nature scenes. I took this in Rangsit, Thailand, which is a northern suburb of Bangkok out past the Don Muang Airport. I was there studying at the Muay Thai Institute for one week. (Muay Thai is a martial art and the national sport of Thailand.) If you’re curious about what my experience with that was like, I have posts about it here and here.)

It was fascinating to see what a love/hate relationship water has with these people. It nourishes them. It bathes them. But every once in a while it tries to kill them. A kindly restaurateur showed me pictures of his landlocked restaurant underwater during the floods of 2011. At that time the tree tops you see were probably just jutting out of the water– if they weren’t entirely submerged. (I base this on the height of the elevated express way to the left that I think was at water level, based on pictures I’ve seen.)