A room with a view - part II

This is Wat Arun in Bangkok, Thailand. There are better and more photogenic views of it, but this picture stayed in my memory because of where it was taken: a squatters' home.

One of the professors, being in very good standing with the local community for his historic conservation work of the area, had a friend who took all of us on an unofficial tour through the back alleyways and shops. We passed a butcher's, a fish market, an ice maker, an impromptu garden, and a few other non-tourist places, eventually coming to the squatters.

Their home was a makeshift of aluminum sheets, boxes, and old advertisement banners, divided to give each their own privacy. The common area opened up to a small dock into the humble view of Wat Arun above. It was funny because we didn't actually see many of the squatters. They didn't care that we, a bunch of westerners, had just barged in and looked around. But they were there, definitely. I could hear them just casually chatting, occasionally a chicken would also pipe up. There were even a couple of beautifully cut beer can windchimes spinning happily in the breeze.

I thought it would be rude to take a picture of the inside of their actual home, so instead I directed the camera to the view to keep the memory. These people were not "sad" or "poor" in the very least. They had their home, their health, and the view. That was enough.