The weather was very nice with bright sunshine so I took a boat ride to visit an old temple near the Grand Palace. It’s nicer to travel there by express boat as I could avoid the traffic jam on busy roads. The boat journey took about twenty minutes as the boat had to stop at various piers along the Chao Phray River.
The Sathorn Pier has been renovated and transformed into modern looking pier with more space for coping with hundreds of tourists. The new ticket office and waiting area has been modernised with more benches. The management of the pier seemed much better than before with staff in uniforms and more proactive.
These local staff seemed to have been trained with basic English words and phrases which enabled them to answer questions by tourists. But their English conversations often put smiles on my face; those tourists must have been pretty psychic as they understood the local staff perfectly.
Usually passengers had to wait from ten to twenty minutes for the arrival of the express boat. I always tried to get the front seat nearest to the captain of the boat. That’s where I could have very good views of the scenery along my journey. The morning sun would be coming from the left side so it’s best to sit on the right side where one could take photos of buildings along the riverbank.
There has been some building along the river during the last few years. Some new apartment blocks had been finished with lodgers. Fortunately there were still some old houses left untouched by real estate developers. There used to be many wooden houses built illegally on riverbank some fifty years ago. Some residents has been evacuated by new building projects while some old houses became too dangerous for living after major flooding in the past. So, some people were forced to leave their houses by force of Nature.
Old mansions, the Catholic Church, and the old Portuguese embassy with lots of big trees could be easily spotted on the right side of the river. Old temples which used to be outstanding during the reign of King Taksin could be seen on the left side of the river. King Taksin’s palace was on the left side of the river. The old capital city of Siam called Thonburi was established on the left side of the river. King Rama l established Bangkok as the capital city on the right side of the river. He also built the Grand Palace for his new dynasty.
Consequently, the right side of the river has become very developed and modernised. The banking and financial center, all the government buildings and famous landmarks have been established in Bangkok over the two hundred years. The Thonburi side used to be full of fields, orchards and agricultural activities. The contrast between the two realities was quite striking some thirty years ago as people were still rowing small boats along networks of canals.
Since the land on the Bangkok side had been bought up by developers, the expansion of building projects had to look for new land on the left side of the river. So, we began to see condominiums on that side during the last twenty years. Big hotels and shopping malls have recently become popular during the past ten years. So, changes on the riverbanks have become dramatic as population growth in Bangkok meant more demand for housing and recreational centers.
But with the forecast of sudden decrease in population growth, I wondered whether we would have the same problem as the Japanese. Some towns in Japan were full of empty houses, empty schools and buildings. I couldn’t imagine half of Bangkok condos and houses become empty in twenty years’ time. Probably I wouldn’t be aroubd to witness these drastic changes or to make a post on Hive blockchain.
Trying to live in the moment and today, I have to restrain my imagination and become more focused. I had to remind myself that there’s only today! Tomorrow hasn’t arrived yet. Today would become tomorrow any way. So, I tried to appreciate all the beautiful scenery around me and enjoyed the fresh air during my exhilarating boat trip. Changes would be inevitable any way, so we had to be in good physical, mental and spiritual conditions so that we could weather uncertainty and changes in the future.
Wishing you peace, good health and prosperity.
Stay strong and cheerful.