Same-Sex Partnership Bill Panel Discussion at FCCT

So it has admittedly been quite a while since I last updated, so let's try to catch up on what I have been up to in the LGBT advocacy world of Southeast Asia. One event in particular that stood out in the past few weeks was a panel discussion on a same-sex union bill that is currently being drafted and presented to the Thai parliament by Wiratana Kalayasiri, a democrat from the southern Thai city of Songkhla. Held at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand (FCCT) in Bangkok, the panel consisted of leading activists from the lesbian, gay, and transgender communities in Thailand as well as Kalayasiri. 

Thailand has perhaps become internationally famous for its seemingly open and accepting attitude towards LGBT people, but the reality of the situation is more complicated and reflective of a passive tolerance. For instance, while kathoey (trangenders) may be very visible in larger Thai cities, this does not necessarily translate into acceptance or integration into larger society. Non-discrimination laws do not exist for LGBT Thais and among some Buddhists there is the belief that LGBT people were born this way because of misdeeds in their past life. As you do not see the same level of violent homophobia and transphobia compared to other countries, Thailand seems to suffer from a different kind of problem: how do you create a social movement when there is a perception that society is already (relatively) tolerant? Do you need a certain level of visible oppression to galvanize a movement?

The debate on same-sex marriage started last year when a gay couple in Chiang Mai decided to try to get married, an act clearly prohibited by the section 1448 of the Thai civil code. After being denied by the local government, they took their case to the Parliamentary Human Rights Commission, the Administrative Court, and the National Human Rights Commission, claiming that Thailand’s constitution guarantees them equal protection under the law. This politicization of the case grew into the current work to draft the civil partnership bill, which notably exists separately from the Thai civil code.

Legally speaking this can be interpreted in various ways. As Anjana Suvarnananda, the founder of Anjaree, a leading Thai lesbian organization, pointed out during the panel, the civil code is what ultimately needs to be amended--a process which is undeniably challenging. This bill, as it would stand separately, risks being seen as a case of granting "special rights" to same-sex couples. Accordingly, LGBT activists on the panel were adamant that rather than naming gays and lesbians, the law needed to define marriage as a union between two people. 

Effectively, rather than campaign for same-sex marriage, the goal became to advocate for "gender-neutral" marriage.

Personally, I see this as having several advantages. In particular, it is much more cognizant of transgender individuals. Prempreeda Pramoj Na Ayutthaya, a transgender panelist, explained that pushing for same-sex marriage was something that many transgenders felt uncomfortable about. Would this mean that their relationships would be defined by their sex at birth (which Thai transgenders cannot legally change)? Are transgenders rendered as homosexual or heterosexual? What if two transgender people are together? 

How do we even talk about marriage when neither partner sees themselves as a man or a woman?

Rather than striving to mark difference, by coming back to the basic principle that marriage should simply be considered a union between two people, it avoids making this an issue specific to LGBTs. Be that as it may, the bill remains deeply problematic. Aside from the fact that it is a stand-alone bill, it states that the legal age of marriage for same-sex couples should be 20. The legal age for heterosexuals is 17. The reasoning behind this discrepancy has yet to be clearly explained, and it is still unclear if parliament will even pass this bill as is. 

A greater issue is finding agreement with the Thai LGBT community on the bill. While some wish to see the legislation pushed through--even with its flaws--others, like myself, remain concerned that this bill could lay the groundwork for making future amendments more difficult. I tend to take the approach that legal recognition of LGBT people should not be done purely through the creation of new, separate legislation--revising current laws, like the civil code, to be more inclusive is the ultimate goal. For now, the bill is still being revised before it is officially presented to parliament, but it does serve as an interesting comparison for same-sex marriage debates in the West and certainly sets the stage for this topic to be debated in other countries in the region.

Jamison Liang

MA Candidate, Anthropology & International Development

Sigur Center Grant for Asian Field Research 

The Similan Islands make up a small archipelago that sits off the coast of Thailand. The entire region has been designated as a national park and it is known for being a fantastic spot for scuba divers, something that is abundantly clear in the video below. The short film was shot near the islands back in February and gives us a glimpse of the amazing sea life that inhabits the region. This is both beautiful and tranquil. Quite lovely.

GoPro: Similan Islands Scuba Diving from Marcus Pai on Vimeo.

Sawatdee krap/Selamat pagi!

Well, it has been a couple weeks since I arrived in Thailand, so perhaps this is a good time to introduce myself and my research this summer (generously supported by a Sigur Center Grant for Asian Field Research).

My name is Jamison Liang and I am currently in the middle of my MA in Anthropology & International Development at George Washington. My research focuses on the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights movement in Indonesia—particularly in Aceh province—where I look at the intersection of international, national, and Islamic law and how they have been applied to issues of gender and sexuality. Aceh is coming to an important crossroads this year; the provincial legislature is debating how to formulate its Islamic criminal bylaw (qanun jinayat), which could potentially criminalize homosexuality. One of the central questions I am investigating this summer concerns the influence of international development and human rights organizations, ultimately asking how effective (or ineffective) a purely rights-based argument is in producing societal change on the ground.

As advocacy for human rights of LGBT communities has gained traction among international organizations, especially the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), Indonesian NGOs have followed suit, adopting human rights-based rhetoric. Yet how do international actors and local NGOs implement these abstract strategies, especially in areas where they appear to contravene societal morals, religious beliefs, or local laws? What happens when government officials and local leaders explicitly reject queer communities? My research aims to answer this question by focusing on the intersection of LGBT rights advocacy and international development initiatives in Indonesia, noting how global LGBT rights policies are “translated” into culturally appropriate and effective messages by local activists.

So, why am I in Bangkok? As it turns out, I am doing this research while helping the United Nations Development Program Asia Pacific Regional Center (UNDP APRC) with their project “Being LGBT in Asia: A Participatory Review and Analysis of the Legal and Social Environment for LGBT Civil Society in Asia.” I am largely in charge of helping write Indonesia’s national report, though I am also assisting with the social media side of the project, posting about LGBT-related news across the region in bahasa Indonesia and English.

At the same time I am identifying people from various international development and human rights organizations to interview in Bangkok—the hub of the development field in Southeast Asia. Accordingly, these individuals should be able to talk about how rights-based advocacy is practiced at a regional and international level by tracing the flow of recommendations from civil society to policy dialogues at the UN. To be sure, I remain critical of how development agencies have historically interacted with “sexual/gender minorities” solely through the lens of HIV—a discourse which I argue has “medicalized” their identities by linking them to the HIV epidemic. While this issue has rightfully opened up space in development to talk about sexuality and gender more critically, it has also made it harder to see other social problems as legitimate.

Once my research wraps up in Bangkok at the end of July, I will head to Indonesia (Jakarta and Banda Aceh) for a spree of interviews with CSOs and international NGOs. To be sure, there will be much to learn in the coming months! In the meantime, if you’re interested in the Being LGBT in Asia project, check out:

- Crowdmap: http://beinglgbtinasia.crowdmap.com

- Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/lgbtinasia

- Instagram and Twitter: @beinglgbtinasia

- QQ-tencent: t.qq.com/beinglgbtinasia 

- Weibo: www.weibo.com/beinglgbtinasia

- Douban: www.douban.com/people/beinglgbtinasia

Jamison Liang
MA Candidate in Anthropology & International Development

Sigur Center 2013 Summer Grant for Asian Field Research

Site: Thailand and Indonesia

I don't want to ruin it for anyone, but #46 is... Paris. Like after you've been to Burma's Mergui Islands, Republic of Congo, Ningxia (China’s answer to Bordeaux), Houston, Delhi, and Pecs (Hungary). And Marseille-- which comes in as the #2 destination of the year! "Whether you travel to eat or shop, surf or ski, new adventures await," this week's Travel Section promised. OK, but if you're looking for any good ideas about where to go... well, I should be fair. There are some. But you have to be discerning enough to remember that they're recommending Paris because "it has a new allure: a green and walkable Right Bank."

Where once there was just a busy road, there are now alder trees, native Seine grasses and wide walking and cycle paths, all due to a 35-million-euro beautification project led by Mayor Bertrand Delanoë. Wooden furniture to stretch out in has been installed along the banks, where visitors can relax while taking in the view of Notre Dame Cathedral, and five adjoining islands in the river are being turned into “floating gardens.” Across the river, ambitious steps are being taken to transform a nearly 1.5-mile stretch of the Left Bank free of cars by this spring, with 11 acres of new green space between the Musée d’Orsay and Pont de l’Alma.

The recommendation right before Paris, Casablanca, is the Moroccan destination of choice. Not mine, though. I've been to Morocco over a dozen times and to Casablanca several but... Fez, Marrakech, Essaouira, Taroudant, even Tangier all go before Casa, even if it has lovely architecture, North Africa's tallest towers and is "developing one of the most interesting modern art scenes in the Arab world." To be honest, the reason I do like going to Casablanca-- usually to catch a flight somewhere else-- is because it boasts one of the most spectacular seafood restaurants in the world, Le Port de Pêche, a hidden gem most people who get their travel advice from the New York Times would probably miss ("scary" location on the docks). But-- with a discussion of the relative merits of the art, architecture and cuisine saved for another day-- I think most tourists would get a bigger kick out of Taroudant than Casablanca.

And the Times' #1 destination for the year? Rio. OK, I want to go there too. But I don't know if my reasons are related to the Times'. South America's first Apple store? Gimme a break!

Fifty-three years after Brazil’s federal government decamped to Brasília, and decades after São Paulo took over as the country’s business capital, Rio is staging a comeback. With the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Summer Olympics (plus an oil boom) providing the impetus, the tropical city perhaps most famous for its Carnival hedonism is on its way to becoming a more sophisticated cultural hub. In January, the Cidade das Artes, or City of the Arts, was inaugurated as the new home of the Brazilian Symphony Orchestra. On March 23, Casa Daros-- an outpost of the Zurich-based Daros Latinamerica Collection-- will open in a renovated 19th-century building with an exhibition of Colombian artists. March will also mark the opening of the Rio Museum of Art in Praça Mauá, a once decrepit port area now being revived. (The Santiago Calatrava-designed Museum of Tomorrow, also in the port area, is scheduled to follow in 2014.) Shopping, a Rio obsession, got a boost in December when the luxe VillageMall opened; it will soon house the city’s first Gucci outlet and South America’s first Apple Store. Special events also dot the coming year’s calendar, including the Catholic Church’s World Youth Day in July, the biennial Rio Book Fair starting in late August, and September’s Rock in Rio. And, of course, there’s soccer: the finals of the Confederations Cup, considered a dress rehearsal for the World Cup, will be held in a completely overhauled Maracanã Stadium on June 30.

Some of the more worthwhile suggestions include Accra (Ghana), Mongolia, Bhutan, Amsterdam (yes, the Stedelijk and the Rijksmuseum are finally reopening), the Yucatán, Porto, Istanbul and Koh Phangan (where a German tourist was partially devoured by a shark last time I was there. They also recommend Kalpitiya, Sri Lanka, not one of the incredibly beautiful island's best destinations by any stretch of the imagination, and the Falklands, although why someone would go there rather than Tierra del Fuego is as hard to fathom as what rhyme or reason went into the list of 46 to begin with.

Read more »

Photo ©2012 Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved

Before going to Chiang Mai for the Foundry Photojournalism Workshop, I researched locations and venues for muay thai (the Thai kickboxing), and the most prominent ones were unappealing for what I had in mind.

Despite its ancient history as a self-defense martial art akin to kickboxing, I had read that muay thai had gone through a rough patch. It was revived some years ago as a popular glitzy sport activity and held in large modern arenas...but it wasn't what I wanted. I wanted the bouts that had been relegated to seedy areas, surrounded by gambling and other nefarious activities. It was this side of muay thai that I had in mind.

It wasn't difficult to find what I wanted...the area known as Loi Kroh Road was the setting: a rundown gym with a decrepit ring amidst a "mall" of girlie and ladyboy bars, the boxing ring patched up with duct tape and tarted up with adverts for Jack Daniels Whisky, play-acting fights, the actual smell of sweat and the ambience of the sex for hire, ...and of course, shady nak muay, as the sport's pugilists are known.

I bought a front seat row for my first evening there, and subsequently discovered I could have a drink at one of the bars instead, walk a few steps to the ring and photograph at will. At some point, I wasn't very popular with a half-sober and rather beefy European spectator, who (rightly) claimed I was in his (and his -possibly underage- girlfriend's) line of vision, but the tense moment soon passed.

So here's The Art Of Eight Limbs, a collection of monochrome photographs made at the Loi Kroh arena, and made with the Fuji X Pro-1.

I've said it earlier, but I'm very pleased with the Fuji X Pro-1's performance, especially under the conditions I was shooting under. As one can imagine, photographing a fast-paced sports such as muay thai in dim conditions and under uneven lights is tough for any camera, but the X Pro-1 didn't let me down, except for an occasional slip with its slow focusing or because its auto-focus was fooled by the action.

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved

Whilst teaching at the Foundry Photojournalism Workshop the past week or so, I've also managed to set aside some time to fit some of my favorite style of photography, and shooting from the hip with the Fuji X Pro-1 has been high on my list to do, especially at night.

Here's LK Road, a collection of street photography scenes made in one of the grittiest mainstream streets in Chiang Mai; Loi Kroh Road. The photographs are grouped under the title page of Katoey Or Not?, but I chose not to title this post with that particular name to avoid having visitors being referred to it by search engines for purposes other than photography.

Loi Kroh in Thai means "washing one's troubles away", and it's one of Chiang Mai haunts for tourists principally for the preponderance of girlie bars on its approximately one-mile length...some of these bars are staffed by young women, and/or ladyboys known as katoeys.

Apart from the bars, Loi Kroh Road hosts some restaurants, massage parlors for tourists with aching legs and feet, and tattoo shops. That said, I found its ambiance a little sad and melancholic despite the blaring large screen television sets then showing some Olympics sport event, the occasional clicks of billiard balls, the forced laughter of the young women (or ladyboys) working the bars and the ubiquitous and hopeful "sawasadee...massage?" yells at every corner.

The areas seemed to me to be way past its prime...perhaps it was the off-season as well...but the bars were less than half-empty, even when there were muay thai fights held at the seedy boxing ring. Most of the fights seemed (at least to me) to be staged, with spectators generally consisting of drunken middle-aged European men.

I was asked why I chose to shoot from the hip on Loi Kroh Road, and if it was because it was risky. Not at all...although I imagine some of the bar clients wouldn't relish being photographed. The real reason is the same as whenever I choose to shoot from the hip: it allows me to capture the subjects unawares with natural expressions.

Lastly, the ladyboy in the above photograph, extroverted and very "sociable", reminded me of Ru Paul. I was super prompt in buying her a drink to get rid of her unwanted and rather heavy-handed attentions.

Finally, the Fuji X Pro1 performed extremely well at night, and I have nothing but praise for its performance. Its auto-focus let me down a few times, but its overall performance at high and very high iso is nothing short of spectacular.

Photo © Maika Elan-All Rights Reserved

Here's the work of Maika Elan titled Ain't Talkin', Just Lovin', which -in my view- is one of the three photo projects that attracted me the most during the final evening of the Foundry Photojournalism Workshop in Chiang Mai.

Maika attended Maggie Steber's (known as "the incomparable Maggie") class The Power of Images in Today’s Media, and presented a photo essay depicting individuals living in Chiang Mai with close bonds to their animal friends. Whether these were cats and dogs, or exotic snakes, the mutual relationship and dependency between the two were brilliantly captured by Maika's lens.

While this photo essay most certainly stands firmly on its own two (or is it four in this case?) feet, I somehow wished it had been accompanied by an ambient soundtrack; perhaps a short snippet of a conversation between the young man and his cat purring...as an example. Imagine that!?

Maggie Steber used a wonderful phrase in one of our recent email exchanges...we (the photographers) need to go beyond the tyranny of the photographic boundaries. Yes, we do. Very much so. And adding ambient sound collecting to our panoply of skills is one way of doing it.

Maika will be soon working with me during my Vietnam Photo-Expedition-Workshop, and I'll make sure she's up and running insofar as multimedia is concerned.

The other two projects I particularly liked during the final Foundry Workshop presentation were Ulises Baque's Oui Nan, and Cheryl Nemazie's Night At The Naga.

Photo © Insiya Syed-All Rights Reserved

The Travel Photographer (Me) Presenting The Cult Of Durga...A Multimedia Photo Essay On Kolkata's Durga Puja...During The Foundry Photojournalism Workshop.

The presentations were held at the very impressive facilities of the Chiang Mai University.

As you read this, I'll be on my way to London.

Photo © Ahmed Shajee Aijazi-All Rights Reserved

Ahmed Shajee Aijazi is another graduate of my Multimedia For Photographers class at the Foundry Photojournalism Workshop held in Chiang Mai. Titled Under The Ramadan Moon, it's Ahmed's personal take on how the Muslim community in Chiang Mai observe and experience the month-long fast during Ramadan.

This is one of the three multimedia projects that were made in color, and Ahmed exerted much effort to gather its image and audio files despite fasting himself. Difficult under any circumstance, but Ahmed persevered, and completed a worthwhile project he ought to be very proud of.

Ahmed Shajee Aijazi is a Karachi-born photographer, with a formal background in art and design. Known as Shajee (Arabic/Urdu for "courageous"), he has been involved with professional photography for over five years now. His works have received regular press coverage in reputed papers like Dawn, Express Tribune and AAJ News.

Well, the Saturday evening presentations of the Foundry Photojournalism Workshop were held at the Chiang Mai University, and I can confirm that the evening was a total success.

My Multimedia For Photographers class presentations started with Near Sky, a monochromatic photo essay documenting the production of the Chaw Fah (symbols atop the spires of temples) by Alycia Down,  followed by Close Encounters of the Foundry Kind by Amean J...consisting of clips of Foundry students expressing their expectations from the Workshop, then followed by Loun Steve, a personal insight into the life of an American expatriate living in Chiang Mai, afflicted by Tourette disease and Huntington's Disease by Christina Malkoun.

Then it was Ahmed Shajee Aijazi's turn for his personal take on Muslim life in Chiang Mai with his Under The Ramadan Moon, which depicted the Islamic tradition of fasting during Ramadan, and this was followed by Aroy May? by Adelina Abad-Pedrosa, a photo essay of the vibrant street food culture in Chiang Mai, which was followed by Cheryl Nemazie's Night At The Naga, a monochromatic look (complete with the foot thumping music of the legendary Johnny Cash) of a tattoo parlor on Loi Kroh Road.

Three of the audio slideshows were in black and white, and three were in color. All of them different from a visual standpoint and content.

NB: It is indeed a small world. I met a photographer who turns out lived on the same street I am on now in New York City...she moved a few years ago, but what are the odds of that happening? And another photographer who saw me on Sudder Street in Kolkata last October...she also stayed in a nearby hotel and ate at some of the same restaurants. Incredible isn't it?

Most of the photographers with whom I spoke to were following my The Travel Photographer blog...which chuffs me a lot.

Photo © Ahmed Shajee Aijazi

Well, the week passed by like a flash! The hard work during my Multimedia For Photographers class (yesterday -Friday-, my students and I spent around 12 hours non-stop in class putting the finishing touches to the multimedia projects) paid off, and the projects are very well done, imaginative and personal.

Tonight is the night when all the students attending the Foundry Photojournalism Workshop will be presenting their individual work...and I bet some haggard-looking people will be walking around like zombies by the end of the day.

Despite spending long hours in class, I find that reviewing portfolios is the most difficult and exhausting of all the tasks I do during the Workshop. It's challenging to provide honest but candid yet constructive opinons about the work presented by the photographers...much of the work I've seen during the portfolio review session was thoughtful, interesting and some outright beautiful...and all was needed was a few suggestions here and there.

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved

I was very glad to have attended a late night Muay Thai at the Loi Kroh dingy and grubby boxing ring. I had access to wherever I wanted to go, which included chatting up the bar girls (and the ladyboys) who work at the bars and drinking spots surrounding it. The most incongruous was a store selling Muay Thai paraphernalia such as gloves and shorts at the entrance of the area, and owned by a veiled Muslim woman. She didn't seem to be fazed by the going ons at the abutting girlie bars.

I had my Fuji X Pro1 fitted with the 18mm lens, and used it whenever the fighters came close to the edges of the ring such as the one above. I also had my Canon 7D with a 70-200 as reserve when I needed the reach.

I am buzzed by the scene in that area....the hardness of the Muay Thai fights and the "softness" of the bar girls...two extreme, and probably motivated by the same thing; the need to make money.

All Photos © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved

Loi Kroh Road is an interesting byway in the Old City of Chiang Mai, and a section of it in particular has been a magnet for the type of street photography I do.

Lined with girlie bars with television screens and billiard tables, it also has its shares of tattoo parlors, Texas-style saloons, and fortune tellers. It's also where I met Thom who's a bartender/bouncer at one of the girlie bars in an alley that leads to a grubby Muay Thai boxing ring.

I also meeting Tia, a little person, who supposedly is a Muay Thai fighter but is more of a clown (as I discovered later on). He is a very effective poser...and looks fierce in his outsized gloves.

As for the lovely young woman who was tending bar at one of the many establishments, I assured her that by placing her photograph on my blog would bring her not only luck, but many suitors.

I'll be in Chiang Mai in a few days for the Foundry Photojournalism Workshop which formally starts in a week from today. I wasn't keen to haul my usual gear with me, especially with my stops in London and Bangkok, so I have just what you see in the picture.

Depending on whether I have the time or not, I intend to shoot a couple of personal projects in Chiang Mai so I chose to take a Leica M9 with an Elmarit f2.4 28mm and a Voigtlander f1.4 40mm, a Fujifilm X Pro-1 with a Fujinon 18mm and the Tascam DR-40 to record audio. All of this fit in my small Domke F-3X (with room to spare); a small and tough shoulder bag I've been using almost incessantly for a couple of years. I shouldn't forget to mention my iPhone4S, which will be useful for ah hoc photography.

Heck...the Tascam audio recorder is larger than either of these two cameras!!!

I will post sporadically during the coming two weeks...with most of the posts from Chiang Mai and the Foundry Workshop.

Photo © Christina Feldt-All Rights Reserved

"As far back as I can remember, I have been fascinated by other cultures, faces, customs and ways of living."

And this is in essence how Christina Feldt started her photographic career. She was not joking...she writes me that she's just back from a 9 months trip through Mongolia, Myanmar, SE Asia and Ethiopia; a trip that generated enough galleries to occupy its viewers for quite some time. She has also established a Photoshelter website which you can view here.

I've gone through most of them...starting with Ethiopia, Myanmar, Indonesia, Laos, Cambodia, Mongolia, Bangkok and Singapore, and when I got to Vietnam...I paused at Christina's lovely photographs made against the yellow walls of Hoi An.

That done, I read the compelling blog post she wrote about Mai, a 31-year old Hmong woman from Sapa, who told her that her dream was to see the ocean and to be able to read and write, so she could read the text messages on her cellphone.

It's no surprise that I stopped at her Vietnam gallery...after all, this is my forthcoming destination where I'm holding a 15-days photo-expedition/workshop, and her photographs serve to reinforce the 'visuality' of Vietnam and its people.

Photo © Christian Witkin-All Rights Reserved

"You can read people's faces, you can see how they treat themselves, what kind of lives they live, it's all in the exterior." 

Here's the work of Christian Witkin, a Brooklyn-based photographer known for his advertising and editorial work for major publications, who's now returning to fine art, the foundation of his personal photographic work.

His current projects include a massive 16-year study of India, Women, Ethiopia and a Thai Ladyboy project. I was curious to see how an advertising, celebrity and fine art photographer would depict the beauty of the Ethiopian people, and you can judge for yourself how well he's done it.

I was very interested to read in article on Cool Hunting as to how Christian took a medium format camera to 14th Street (which is one of my favorites spots for street photography) in order to build his portfolio, and that he now uses a 4 x 5 Linhof Technika (a large format camera system) when he travels. He also espouses the style of rarely cropping his photographs.

The Thai Ladyboy portraits are also masterfully photographed and composed.

Introduction
An exotic, hot and spicy dish that is never, ever boring. Bangkok has dominated Thailand's urban hierarchy as well as its political, commercial and cultural life since the late 18th century. Join the urban orbit in this rowdy metropolis that never sleeps, always eats and specialises in a good time.

Bangkok proper seethes on the east side of the Mae Nam Chao Phraya (Chao Phraya River), drawing rural Thai folk into its cluttered fold daily. The city is reportedly sinking at a rate of 5cm (2in) every year, but there's too much sànùk (a Thai sense of fun) going on for that to get anyone down. 'As Calcutta smells of death and Bombay of money, Bangkok smells of sex, but this sexual aroma is mingled with the sharper whiffs of death and money': Paul Theroux

Metropolitan Bangkok covers 1569sq km (612sq mi) of southern Thailand, sitting smack in the middle of the most fertile rice-producing delta in the world. A network of natural and artificial canals crisscross the city, feeding to and from Thailand's hydrological lifeline - the broad Mae Nam Chao Phraya - which snakes through the city providing transport for passengers and cargo. Bangkok is divided in two by the main north-south train line.

Old Bangkok, where a large proportion of the city's temples and palaces and its Chinese and Indian districts are found, lies between the river and the railway. East of the railway, comprising the main business and residential districts, is 'new' Bangkok. Of course, outside of these general classifications, Bangkok spreads in all directions with a mixture of commercial, industrial and residential areas.

Destination Facts
Time zone: GMT +7
Area: 1569
Coordinates: 13.75 latitude and 100.516670227 longitude
Population: 12390000
Languages: Thai is a complicated language with its own unique alphabet, but it's fun to try at least a few words. The main complication with Thai is that it is tonal: the same word could be pronounced with a rising, falling, high, low or level tone and could theoretically have five meanings!
Currency: Baht (Bht)
Area codes: 02

Getting there and away
Bangkok is a major Southeast Asian air hub, and dozens of airlines fly regularly between the Thai capital and the rest of the world. Bangkok is the centre for bus and train services that fan out all over Thailand and into neighbouring countries. Bus and train services to Southeast Asian countries are not so reliable, direct or fast.

Getting around
Getting around Bangkok may be difficult for the uninitiated, but once you're familiar with the transport system the whole city is accessible. The main obstacle is traffic, which moves at a snail's pace during the day. This means advance planning is a must when you're attending scheduled events or making appointments. If you can, avoid the traffic and travel by river, canal or Skytrain. Over the years boat services along Bangkok and Thonburi's klorng (canals) have diminished, but with mounting traffic woes there may be plans to revive these water networks.

Weather
Bangkok and Central Thailand are well within tropical latitudes and experience alternating periods of a dry and wet monsoon climate. The south-west monsoon arrives between May and July and lasts into October. This is followed by a dry period from November to May, a period that begins with lower relative temperatures until mid- February (because of the influences of the north-east monsoon, which bypasses this part of Thailand, but results in cool breezes), followed by much higher relative temperatures from March to May. According to the official Thai agricultural calendar, the rains begin in July; however, the arrival of the monsoon can vary.

Occasional rains in the dry season are known as 'mango showers'. In Bangkok it usually rains most during August and September, though it can flood in October since the ground has reached full saturation by then. If you are in Bangkok in early October, you may find yourself in hip-deep water in certain parts of the city. During the cool/dry season (November to February), night-time temperatures may dip as low as 12° C (54° F), with normal daytime temperatures averaging around 28° C (82° F). During the rainy months (June to October), the temperature averages 32° C (89° F) in the daytime, and 26° C (79° F) to 28° C (82° F) at night.

Add four or five degrees to the latter temperatures for the hot season (March to May) average. As the city climate is very humid for most of the year, perceived temperatures are often higher than thermometer readings. During the hot season the humidity is compounded by air pollution - the high level of particulate keeps the moisture in the air from evaporating. The lowest humidity occurs between November and May, especially when the occasional upland breeze arrives from the Khorat Plateau to the northeast and pushes back the humid delta air.

Warning
Anti-government protests have ended in Bangkok, but the political situation in Thailand remains volatile. Go to the BBC for news updates or check out what travellers are saying on the Thorn Tree forum.

Introduction
The sacred city, the sacked city, Ayuthaya is complexly intertwined with Thai nationalism and religion. As the former royal capital, Ayuthaya earned the emerging Thai nation a place among the great empires of Southeast Asia, and placement on the map used by the international merchants sailing between India and China during the era of the trade winds. As a city that was destroyed by an invading army, Ayuthaya is eulogised like a slain hero.

But what is recounted in history and legend is not easily recognisable today. The ancient monuments retain little of their bygone majesty, with only a handful in recognizable forms. The modern city that grew amongst the rubble is busy and provincial, adding a distracting element of chaos to the meditative mood of crumbled kingdoms.

Languages:
Thai is a complicated language with its own unique alphabet, but it's fun to try at least a few words. The main complication with Thai is that it is tonal: the same word could be pronounced with a rising, falling, high, low or level tone and could theoretically have five meanings!

Here's a short video trailer featuring Suchet Suwanmongkol who was recently in Kerala to document the ritual of Theyyam, amongst other of the area's cultural and religious events.

Suchet is not only a well established photographer, well known for his photography in his country of Thailand and beyond, but he's also the owner of the Mandarin Oriental Dhara Dhevi hotel in Chiang Mai, which he painstakingly built in an effort to restore and preserve the region's Lanna culture.

His travel photography website features galleries from Myanmar to the depths of Papua New Guinea, from India to Tibet and from Venice and Cinque Terre to China's interior. He also has an impressive portfolio of fashion photographs.

He has another website SUWANMONGKOL, which I believe is the most recent, and that also features a number of his galleries.

Theyyam is a Hindu ritual exclusive to North Malabar in Kerala, India. Suchet (as I did as well) photographed the Theyyam rituals in Kannur. This is a cult going back several thousand years, with ancient traditions, rituals and customs, and it includes all the castes and classes of the Hindu religion in this region.

The performers of Theyyam belong to a lower caste, and this in itself is unique since only in Kerala do the upper caste Brahmins and the lower caste share important roles in religious rituals.

I am told that the final version of Theyyam ought to be finalized soon, and naturally I will bring it to you on this blog as soon as it is.