Sunday morning in Bangkok, Thailand, and the sky is overcast and the Sky Train isn't running yet. I can see the tracks from the window in front of my desk. They're surprisingly elegant, tall and curvy. When I'm lost -- which is often -- I navigate by the Sky Train tracks, visible above the traffic, and when I sit at my computer -- which is also often -- I watch the trains go by.

Trains are short, with only about half a dozen cars, and covered in advertisements. (Ironic, because one of the reasons I left NYC was because I needed a break from all the commercialism; could there be a more commercial city than Bangkok?) Somehow the marketing on the Sky Trains appeals to me, though, maybe because the graphics make an aesthetically pleasant contrast to the palm trees; also, just seeing the trains go by, in bursts of red-yellow-and-black, satisfies my need for movement, even when I'm sitting still.

I think it must have been the urgency to keep moving that brought me to Bangkok. Well, in addition to the weather and the inexpensive cost and living. When people ask my why I chose Bangkok, my answer is usually "hot and cheap," which ends up being a pretty accurate summary of other appealing elements of Bangkok, too.

Also, I wanted to get back into the whole world, instead of just the piece of it that is the U.S.
Bangkok is fantastically cosmopolitan. There's a lot of Brits (apparently, the British Embassy in Bangkok is one of the busiest in the world) and Australians, as well as Japanese, Malaysian, Indian, Arab... A lot of big companies have at least offices here, and I seem to encounter engineers and people working in the oil industry. As I'm finding is true about Bangkok in other ways, the city doesn't have a particular speciality -- they're not particuarly about technology, for instance, or finance -- but they make it an hospitible environment for businesses in general.

Well, just how hospitible, from a financial and legal perspective is a topic for another time -- but, what I mean here is Bangkok has capitalized on its service-industry culture, and many expats find it easy to get real estate, set up shop, live alongside the easygoing Thais, and go to the beach on the weekends.

There's also fabulous grocery stores in Bangkok -- Villa Market has the single best selection of flour I've ever seen, although it's so hot I can't imagine baking -- and about every commercial good, from computers to chocolate, you could ever want. So far about the only things I haven't been able to buy in Bangkok are socks and underwear. Thai women are tiny people, and I'm always a little embarrassed when I present to them my feet or hips.

The last and probably biggest reason I came to Bangkok was to start a creative life in earnest. I've been reading Twyla Tharpe's The Creative Habit -- which I really recommend by the way. The premise is that creativity is supported partly by inspiration but mainly by building a routine. So far my routine is 7am yoga (if all I accomplish in a year in Bangkok is relaxing my hip flexers, I'll consider it a resounding success), three hours of writing, lunch, three hours of paid work for my nonprofit job in the U.S., and then swimming, running, or biking in the evening. The Phuket triathlon is a dim-and-getting-dimmer goal.

All this makes for a very calm life, if a bit hermetically sealed. It's easy to meet people in Bangkok -- the wonder of expatriate living, plus Bangkok is like a cruise ship and there's salsa lessons, or bike rides, or karaoke almost every evening -- so I don't lack for company or entertainment or even English, since almost everybody speaks some version of it. The only real lacks are books (expensive here) and culture, so the trick is figuring out how to keep one's world and ideas large, even in the middle of a comfortable life.