Concrete Jungle

Bangkok sure is a dirty and unappealing city. Streets filled with old cars and tuk tuk's farting their sickening fumes, canals that are the cities open sewers, concrete buildings radiating the sunshine's heat and echo-ing the street noise that it's hard to have a conversation in these streets.

After a few months of living here, another more eappealing image emerges though. It's that of a city that harbours exciting wildlife between its boundaries. Beginning of June i saw monitors right here in the centre. Well, since then i saw and photographed these awsome waterdwellers several times more across the city, both 1,5 meter adults as well as 40 cm young ones. Seems there is a healthy and thriving population of these monitors !

5 foot monitor in its favourite city habit; a stinky smelly canal.

checking holes and flicking it's snake-like splitted tung hoping to get a whiff of rat-smell, its favourite snack.

A younger 3 feet dark-colored one, photographed from above

In an empty house in Silom, a 20 cm Tokeh Gekko sits on the floor. It's changing it's skin and cant walk the walls right now.

Squirrels navigate throughthis city using the electrical wires and nooks and crannies of buildings.

Bangkok's most prominent animal inhabitant must be the rat. Unlike in the west, people refreshingly seem to be less uptight about these inteligent mammals. A night guard on Silom, making clumsy movements to kick a cornered fat rat, was loudly obstructed by a passerby who jumped between guard and rat so the rat could run away. The guard seemed to be reliefed with this happy ending.

Countless 10 cm lizards on walls hunting the mosquitos near the neon lights. Small bats and big bats speeding through the air for a juicy fat insect.
Bangkok has its fair share of wildlife, a real treat that makes this city more interesting to live in.