Summits or Skylines?
Mountains. Why do we love them so much? Why do people spend their lives training for them, climbing them, worshipping them? I suppose there are a million reasons, each one personal to the admirer. I am under no circumstances a mountaineer; I spend most of my time dwelling in forests and being amongst the trees, however, my love for mammoth peaks is no less pure. Growing up in Scotland and being within touching distance from some of the largest mountains in the UK, it’s sort of coded in your DNA to have a love, or at least an appreciation, for them.
Cities. They’re chaotic, busy, overwhelming, sometimes dangerous – but also full of opportunity. I have a love hate relationship with these urban whirlpools. Some cities I gel with more than others. I spent my entire life living in one, from Glasgow to Manchester and now I write this from Bangkok, a megacity. After spending some time in this huge place, it feels somewhat laughable to have once referred to my past homes as major cities. Although they most definitely are in terms of importance, navigating somewhere as vast as Bangkok has opened my eyes to real city life. To my surprise, I fell in love with it pretty much instantly. Would I live here? As interesting as that sounds, the air pollution crushes that idea, however I see myself coming back as many times as my lungs allow.
How can I draw similarities from two completely different entities, in creation and energy? Well, actually, I would argue the energy felt from both mega mountains and mega cities can be somewhat intertwined. Of course, spending time in natural environments is scientifically proven to lower your cortisol levels, whilst living in a busy urban area is shown to increase them – however – I think a lot of us appreciate them for some shared reasons.
Hiking mountains regardless of your experience or fitness level is completely humbling. It chips away at your ego, sometimes completely destroying it. The ruthlessness of the terrain, the unforgiving weather, the depletion of your stamina with every uphill step you take. But none of that compares to the quiet in your mind, the connection to the ground beneath your feet and the appreciation for your body. The reward you feel for reaching the peak is a spiritual and deeply special feeling. The primal itch scratched with each climb. There truly is no better feeling as a biophilic than feeling at one with the nature around you.
Similar to mountains, feeling humbled by skyscrapers and the somewhat organised chaos of cities is not uncommon. I think a lot of us have a desire to feel small, such as we do when climbing. As humans we crave perspective. We often oppose that feeling of modern-day responsibility and importance. Mountains remind us that our day-to-day worries aren’t as grand as we think. Ah, I’m not the centre of the universe, thank god!
I found that being amongst a population of 14 million others in Bangkok gave a similar feeling. Suddenly I’m surrounded by all of these other people, with their own problems and worries, trying to get through life day by day. People with a lot more responsibilities and hardships than a 27 year old backpacker.
Watching the thousands of cars, motorbikes, vans and tuk tuk’s fly past; each person with their own destination, thoughts, feelings, friends and interests. Is it easy to become anxious and stressed in this sort of space? Of course. But if you take a minute and realise that we’re all just trying to get to the next thing, the next task, nobody cares about what you’re doing.
That realisation can be groundbreaking. For someone that has social anxiety, being in a city where the buzz is as intense as it is here, it’s strangely freeing. The juxtaposition of the external noise with the internal peace of going by unnoticed is something I love about this crazy city.
Bangkok also seems to be leading the way in terms of green spaces for its residents. There is a total of 40 large parks across 50 districts of the city, meaning there is a patch of nature nearby, wherever you are. I visited Benchakitti park multiple times over the course of my stay, each time impressing me more than the last. A true, huge, oasis.
Is living in a huge city the same as living in nature? Definitely not. I would choose being among flora and fauna over being surrounded by corporate buildings and sky trains every day, but I can’t ignore the sense of awe and deep awareness of the world’s magnitude that I feel in both landscapes.
