8:00 a.m. in Bangkok

While sitting in "au bon pain" restaurant, finishing a croissant with egg and bacon, I look out at a morning street scene in Bangkok, Thailand, close to the Si Lom metro station. Immediately outside the window is a street vendor selling women's shirts and blouses. I take a quick glance, but the frills, colours and styles, just don't fit my taste.

Next to the shirt vendor is a vendor selling steamed buns, perhaps filled with meat and an egg. The Thai and Lao languages are similar, but have different characters and so I'm unable to decipher the Thai sign posted above the steamed buns. Up and down the sidewalk are street vendors selling a variety of things from fresh fruit to watches and gadgets. Sometime during the day these early morning vendors will pack up their wares and be replaced by afternoon/evening vendors.

Across the busy street is McDonald's. I have yet to eat there, but maybe some day I will, just so I can add Thailand to the list of countries where I have eaten at McDonald's. McDonald's has yet to open in Laos, but I've heard rumours of it coming soon, after many years of resistance by the government to allow international food franchises to operate in Laos. Beside McDonald's is Starbucks and then a factory clearance outlet.

Above the street runs the high technology sky train, that provides an alternative method of travel to the very congested streets. Bus #15 filled with passengers, waits patiently for traffic to clear, so it can move forward and deliver its passengers to their final destination.

Below the street is the metro. The metro line conveniently starts/stops at the train station and so I can avoid travel in the crowded streets when arriving by night train from north eastern Thailand and the Lao border.

The streets are filled with brightly colour taxis - yellow, orange, pink, green; moto taxis; public buses; motorized three-wheeled tuk tuks for hire; and private cars, trucks and motorbikes. Where is everyone going at 8:00 a.m. on a Tuesday morning? How different this scene is from the 8:00 a.m. morning scene in Vientiane, Laos!

Aside from the vast difference in quantity of traffic and people, here it's hard to know who is going to work and who has other plans for the day, as everyone is dressed very similarly. In Vientiane however, it is still fairly easy to identify a woman on her way to work, as women continue to wear the traditional skirt to work and wear pants, capris, shorts, or short skirts when not working.

After finishing my breakfast, I join the morning street scene, as I make my way to the guest house where I will stay the next two days while in Bangkok.