The crowd awaiting the next express boat mingles restlessly on Tha Thien Pier which lightly but sharply pitches and yaws, jostled by the water, itself kicked up and churned by the river’s heavy boat traffic. I’m snapping photos of a group of boys swimming and splashing in the unfathomably filthy waters of Bangkok’s Chao Phraya river when the boat arrives, sliding just past the pier before going into full reverse. The corner of its tail bangs up against the pier with a shudder, then stays pinned there as the boat’s pilot finds another gear of reverse. People begin leaping to and from the boat’s large, railingless rear deck, now level with the pier, but still only in contact with it at one corner.