The 15 baht boat ride

You can't buy much with 15 baht (35p)
You can't buy a coffee
You can't see a movie
You can't buy a book
Or a seat at the opera
But you can buy a boat ticket
At Saphan Taksin
Under the frowning giant
Of the BTS SkyTrain station.
You can buy a 40 minute ride
Along the rushing darkened river
With the bird like shrill whistle
Of the boat man at every stop.
You can buy a ticket to phra artist
Past golden temples and palaces
Past dark and sinister ruins and slums
Past flashing faces half lit in the gloom
Past churches and mosques.
Past giant trees that still crouch by the river bank
Slowly devouring the concrete to get to the earth beneath.
Past expensive shopping malls
And soldiers barracks.
You share the ride with other faces
Of tall beautiful Germans
And bearded Spaniards
Excitable French and the ever present Chinese.
You rush past hospitals and under majestic bridges
Until finally, with one long last blast of the whistle
You step off towards Khao San road.