Snakehead by Anthony Horowitz 7th post

'He certainly wasn't impressed by his first sight of the city, a sprawl of ugly, old-fashioned skyscrapers. blocks of apartments that were like discarded boxes piled up on top of each other, electricity and satellite towers. They stopped at a toll booth where a woman sat in a cramped cubicle, her face hidden behind the white mask that protected her from the traffic fumes. Then they were off again. Next to the road, Alex saw a huge portrait of a man: black hair, glasses, open-neck shirt. It was painted on the entire side of a building, twenty stories high, covering both the brickwork and the windows. "That's our king," the driver explained. They left the highway, driving down a ramp into a dense, chaotic world of shrubs and food stalls, traffic jams and policemen at every intersection, their whistles screaming like dying birds. Alex saw tuk-tuks-- motorized rickshaws-- bicycles and buses that looked as if they had been welded together from a dozen different models. He felt a hollow feeling in his stomach. What was he letting himself into? How was he going to adapt to a country that was, in every last detail, so different from his own? Then the car turned a corner. They had entered the driveway of the Peninsula Hotel and Alex learned something else about Bangkok. It was actually two cities: one very poor and one very rich, living side by side and yet with a great gulf between. His journey had brought him from one to the other. Now he was driving through a beautifully tended tropical garden. As they drew up at the front door, half a dozen Thai men in perfect white uniforms hurried forward to help-- one to take the luggage, one to help Alex out, two more bowing to welcome him, two holding open the hotel doors' (Horowitz 76).

I chose the above passage mainly because of its great imagery. The author uses a lot images and metaphors to paint a very realistic picture of the city of Bangkok for the reader. He uses similes like the "policemen at every intersection, their whistles screaming like dying birds". The author also does a good job of describing the huge differences between the rich and poor parts of the city, saying that both parts lived side by side and yet apart. Another reason why I chose this passage is because it also gives more insight into the character's feelings, and his reactions to the vivid images created in this passage.
Some of my questions about the text include: What has caused Bangkok to be divided like it is?
How much has Western influence changed the face of the city?