"Are you looking for an authentic Thai thing to do while you are visiting Thailand?" says one of the many "Boat Canal Adventure" websites, that sell tours of the Chao Phraya River and its canals. A tour of "Venice of the East", as they call it.

The river, also known as the ‘River of Kings’, has long been the source of life for Thailand’s capital and has an extensive network of man-made canals, the Khlongs. Many of Thailand’s cities and towns were traditionally protected by moats, and Bangkok’s first waterways were dug for this purpose. Settlers chose this full of swamps territory, for its fertile land and strategic position, which later was made The Thai capital. Many out of the 13 million residents of Bangkok who live below the poverty line are still settlers of the canals. Passing through beautiful temples, devasted homes, and settled neighborhoods shows how the Khlong tour not only highlights poverty in the city but also shows the stark differences between the rich and poor. In a way, photographing the area is an act of privilege, given the fact that one should travel and pay for a boat tour. It is a self-reflection, personal and as a society, on how much we interact with others and if a tour of "Venice of the East" could actually touristically benefit the locals.

"A river boundary naturalizes a nation's edge. But forcing rivers to perform the role of international boundary proves very difficult without tremendous, even violent, effort to control the river's behaviour. A river, especially a desert river, is essential to the life that surrounds it. In this way, rivers function more like centers than edges, providing sites of hydration and gathering for all the species that rely upon them... Attempts to control rivers, and control their related phenomena, thought effective in some ways, are rarely effective for long. For the most part, this failure of architecture and other modes of intervention to control rivers has resulted in greater and more violent forms. And that doesn't begin to address the impacts, both intentional and unintentional, which these interventions introduce." Tim Johnos, "A Note fo Al Rio/To The River", T.A.N.J. Magazine, vol.2