I don’t quite know what the stereotyped view of Bangkok looks like. I’d hazard a guess that it’s something to do with rushing traffic and neon lights at one extreme and ornate, gilded wats at the other.

This aside, I think that the nice thing about staying in Banglamphu, an old section of the city that lies near the river, is that there are plenty of secret Bangkok mini-universes available for the taking. In a perverse way, it pleases me that these things all lie a stone’s throw from the carnivalesque revelry of Khao San Rd; that seems to sum up Bangkok’s many natures very nicely indeed.

The fantastically graceful suspension bridge that spans the Chao Praya River manages to be modern and stately all at once. No matter when you try to photograph it, Bangkok’s smoggy weather conspires to make the sky and the river blur into the one seamless concrete-grey mass. I think that the little bits of water-weed bobbing aimlessly in the foreground contrast nicely with the sheer scale of the bridge itself.

A familiar sight in any Asian city, Bangkok manages to take the urban art of tangled electrical wiring to new levels of sinuousness.

Tired and in need of a nap? A quick kip on a ledge overhanging the river sorts all of that out.

Potplant-mania is the order of the day in any Thai town or city. They sprout in the most unlikely places and from all manner of containers.

Shopfronts, electrical wiring and airconditioning units make a heady combination. Look closely on the left-hand side of the picture and you can just make out a near-life-size cardboard cut-out of the Thai King perched on a shop awning.

An aquamarine Vespa lies idle in a typically dingy doorway.

Surely the perfect combination of whimsy and over-the-top ornateness that a house and its front gate have ever expressed?

A street cleaner stops mid-route to check out the latest offerings in a discarded newspaper.

In some moods, Banglamphu reminds me of the noodle-shop-heavy streets of Georgetown, Penang – in others, it makes me think of Chiang Mai.

Ultimate Bangkok – the sacred and the profane nestle up together in a vision of trash and treasure, rubbish and temple.

The stark industrial nature of a pier on the Chao Praya coexists with voluptuously green waterplants gone mad.

Finally, street art is kind of the same in every city, and yet highly unique as well.