Physical graffiti: Photos from Bangkok’s khlongs

Two young volleyball players pose in front of a graffiti mural beside the canal
© Andrew Brown/2015/Thailand

Another photo project from my time in Thailand (following Ghost Tower). Bangkok used to be known as the ‘Venice of the East’ with canals – or khlongs – providing the main routes through the city. In the Nineteenth Century, wealthy citizens built houses fronting on to the canals, a few of which like Jim Thompson’s House are still there. Times have changed and many of the canals have since been filled in. A few remain and narrow khlong boats provide a faster alternative to congested streets. The only problem is that the khlongs now weave their way through slum districts with poor sanitation, and the waterways double as rubbish dumps and sewers. The smell was unpleasant, to put it mildly. I used to sometimes take the canal boat on my way home from work but I always had to have a scarf handy in case a boat came the other way and I got splashed with a faceful of fetid water.

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Photos: Climbing Bangkok’s Ghost Tower

A view of the Bangkok skyline from an overgrown balcony half way up Ghost Tower
© Andrew Brown/2015/Thailand

Sathorn Unique Tower, to give it its official name, is an unfinished skyscraper in Bangkok, Thailand. Originally planned as a high-rise apartment block, construction stopped around the turn of the century, most likely due to the Asian Financial Crisis (accounts vary, others link it to a high-society murder trial). However, it is much better known to locals by the more sinister name of ‘Ghost Tower’, and once you go inside it is clear why. Overgrown and flooded balconies with broken railings contrast with the shiny new skyscrapers opposite, while dark stairwells thread the dingy interior of the building, full of helpful graffiti like: “Abandon hope, all ye who enter here,” (in blood red paint). Sunset creates an even more dystopian mood, with views reminiscent of Blade Runner or The Windup Girl – a science-fiction novel set in a future Bangkok full of abandoned skyscrapers.

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Preparing for PrEP: a new weapon in the fight against HIV

Vu discusses his experiences of using PrEP at a coffee shop in Bangkok
© UNICEF EAPRO/2016/Andy Brown

Vu, 24, grew up in the countryside outside Ho Chi Minh City. Rural Vietnam was not an easy place to be gay. At the age of 12, Vu told some friends he liked boys. “My friends were supportive, but the guy I liked told everyone I was disgusting,” he recalls. After that, Vu kept his sexual orientation secret from his friends and family. When Vu finally came out to his parents, they didn’t take it very well. “My mum said I would die of HIV because I’m gay,” he says. “We stopped communicating for several years after that.”

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Billy the Hero: teenagers stay safe online

Nicole, 14, from Malaysia with her creation ‘Billy the Hero’
© UNICEF EAPRO/2016/Andy Brown

From social media to online chatting, the Internet has countless avenues for sharing and connecting with friends and communities. But this open network also carries many risks, especially for children. After falling victim to cyberbullying, Nicole is on a mission to make sure the same doesn’t happen to her peers.

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People of Bangkok sois

© Andy Brown/Thailand/2014

Over the last few months, I’ve been exploring the backstreets or ‘small sois’ of Banglumphu, the neighbourhood where the UNICEF Asia-Pacific office is based. One of the things I love about Bangkok is this maze of alleys, just wide enough for a motorbike to get down, that exist a few blocks back from the main roads. Here, the din of traffic fades away, and people sit around outside their houses, chatting or playing chess during the ‘cool hours’ before sunset.

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After the tsunami: Thai fishing village, ten years on

Ampai with her three children outside the family home on Koh Lanta
© UNICEF Thailand/2014/Jingjai N.

It’s been ten years since the Indian Ocean tsunami hit the Thai island of Koh Lanta on 26 December 2004, but talking about it still brings tears to Ampai’s eyes. “I often cry when I talk about the tsunami,” she says apologetically. “It’s always at the back of my mind, like a scar that doesn’t heal.”

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Young people set the agenda at AIDS congress

A migrant worker activist shares a joke with the HIV virus on the parade
© UNICEF EAPRO/2013/Andy Brown

I’ve been to many international conferences in my time and the word ‘fun’ doesn’t immediately spring to mind. But the 11th International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific (ICAAP), held in Bangkok, really was fun. This was largely because of the enthusiastic participation of young people and HIV activists from around the region.

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Shooting Chinatown: the Worldwide Photo Walk

© Andy Brown/2013/Thailand

On Sunday 5 October 2013, nearly 30,000 photographers – myself included – went on over 1,200 photo walks around the world. This is the Scott Kelby Worldwide Photo Walk, and it’s the largest social photography event in the world. After the walk, every photographer is asked to submit one photo for the award. Choosing a single photo was in itself a challenge, and I recruited my Facebook friends to help me decide.

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Home and Away: children with disabilities go to a Man Utd match

Pichit and other children respond to a near miss by Man Utd
© UNICEF Thailand/2013/Jingjai N.

This article was first published in the Bangkok Post on 23 July 2013.

Among the 60,000 football fans packing out Rajamangala National Stadium for a Manchester United football match last weekend were 36 children with intellectual disabilities. The atmosphere was buzzing. Many fans arrived in the club’s trademark shirts, waving balloons, scarves and banners.  The children, who were invited to the game by the Manchester United Foundation and UNICEF, had only seen the football stars on TV, and were among the most enthusiastic in the audience.

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A chance for change: young people learn a trade

This article was first published in the Bangkok Post on 19 January 2013.

At a university dormitory in Bangkok, 21 young people from disadvantaged communities line up to pull the name of a top hotel out of a bag. Behind them, teams of hotel staff in uniforms wait to meet their new apprentices. For 19-year-old Daojai, a cabbage farmer from a Mon hill tribe village in Petchaburi province, it’s an exciting moment. She reaches in and pulls out a piece of paper saying ‘JW Marriot’ and her new life begins.

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