Early morning Bangkok

I don't know what it was about what I was seeing this morning while waiting at the bus stop but I had to take a photo.  It was speaking to me at the moment.  Nothing momentous, nothing dramatic!  It just spoke to me. 

As usual I was at my bus stop by 6am to get the bus to work.  It is better to go early so as to beat the traffic and so not waste lots of time.  Right by my bus stop is one of the innumerable spots on the streets of Bangkok where people just place their rubbish for it to be picked up later by the rubbish man, and it works.  So the pile of rubbish is there every morning. 

This morning was a little different when along comes a decrepit looking, old lady in her pyjamas.  She hobbled along so as to reach the pile of rubbish near me and purposefully scrounge through it.  I was watching in amazement.  What is she on about?  Is she so poor that she is rummaging through the rubbish seeking some possible item of worth?  I am thinking how can she go through other people's rubbish with her bare hands, and in her pyjamas.  No class! 

Then I see the end product of her quest.  She had seen a box and was after it at all costs.  The determined, old woman got her prize.  She left with it and I still wondered - what is she on about?

Maybe the question for me really is this - why did it attract so much of my attention early in the morning.  

What I saw was an old woman able to act to get what she wanted.  While doing so, she lived in her own world, not being aware of anyone around her.  She was totally in her own bubble, determined and totally focused.  And on what?  One item in a heap of dirty rubbish. So what was it for me?

• That, in a society so ruled by appearances, this woman did not care one iota what anyone else may think.  She just did it.

• That this woman was so poor that she needed to do this as she could not get what she wanted by normal means.

• That this woman was resourceful and just saw an item she could use and so why have it wasted.

• That she was alone in a society where family and their elderly are so important and people just cannot understand why you would live alone.  

• That this woman was poor and no one really cared in a society so strong into order.

• That, for a people so concerned with cleanliness, this old woman was dirtying herself in public. 

This early morning scene not only grabbed my focus but, for some reason, shocked me.  I am not sure why but I can see that what I experienced was touching on a number of central themes arising in my Bangkok.

Amazing Thailand remains ever the mystery.