Thailand as Inspiration

Hiya,

I find that I get the best inspiration here in Bangkok. I was walking down the street the other day and found myself amazed for the so many-th time how people working on the street (food vendors, milk tea carts and just ordinary people selling a bunch of nick nacks on a mat) manage to carve themselves a little space out of the sidewalk to peddle their wares. It's just another one of those things that makes you want to look everywhere at once. There are little niches in the wall where hidden ATM's are (somehow I see that as a treasure), little stalls of goods through which you have to maneuver (not unlike a labyrinth) and a multitude of little coffeeshops, pastry outlets and food carts that are there one day, gone the next.

The saying goes: if you find something you want on the streets of Bangkok, buy it. Chances are you'll never see it again. And it's a good life philosophy in general anyway. I wanted to write this story my Muses keep haunting me with, and why not? I can literally do anything I want in the story and make it mine. It really is as liberating as walking down a Thai street. Full of treasures to pluck from and sights to wonder about.

The temple grounds here of course are even more insane, littered as they are with plant pots, statues of fable like deities and creatures and small little maze like passageways in which one can get lost (and invariably does). It really is like living in a fairy tale city, what with the exotic clothing people wear, the smiles and wai's (bowing gently with hands folded together) you get everywhere and yet the bizarre assault on the senses of cars, roasted meat, air conditioning and delicious Thai food and drinks. Sometimes I need to actually just get out and soak up the atmosphere to get me going.

Thailand and Bangkok will definitely star in Book 4 of the series, which is all about the great cities of the world and the mysteries hidden within...