American photographer Austin Bush spent a year exploring the back streets and main drags of Yaowarat, Bangkok’s Chinatown. His cinematic images depict the realities and oddities of life in one of Bangkok’s oldest neighbourhoods: the tiny alleyways with creepy old men and smoking teapots; the clacking of Chinese chess pieces and choppy conversations in Tae Chew; tired prostitutes and lotus bud-shaped coffins; bespectacled dogs and beggars. Unlike other Chinatowns around the world, which often seem little more than culturally-themed shopping centers, Bangkok’s clings to its roots and continues to be a living, breathing, albeit gritty community. (www.austinbushphotography.com)

European team captain Jose Maria Olazabal of Spain, left, shakes hands with Asian team captain Naomichi Ozaki during an opening of the Royal Trophy Conference Europe versus Asia Golf Championship in Bangkok, Thailand, Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2009. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)

Europe captain Jose Maria Olazabal of Spain (3rd L) shakes hands with Asia captain Joe Ozaki of Japan (3rd R) during a news conference while (L-R) Pablo Larrazabal, Oliver Wilson, Thongchai Jaidee, and Liang Wenchong look on in Bangkok January 6, 2009. The Royal Trophy golf matchplay contest between Europe and Asia will be held from January 9-11 at the Amata Springs Country Club in Chonburi province. (REUTERS/Kerek Wongsa)

Thai-Muslim activists hold placards and chant slogans during a protest outside the building where the Israeli Embassy is located Monday, Jan. 5, 2009 in Bangkok, Thailand. About 200 activists took part in the protest against Israel's military action on Gaza where more than 510 Palestinians were killed and over 2,500 were injured. (AP Photo/Apichart Weerawong)

Kate Moss has kick-started baby rumors after a sighting on Surin Beach in Thailand. The supermodel was snapped up rubbing what’s being called a baby belly during an afternoon in which she relaxed shoreside with boyfriend Jamie Hince, daughter Lila Grace, and a few friends. As for the baby-on-the-way rumors, Kate previously told friends and family at Jamie’s 40th birthday party in December that the pregnancy rumors were false. (celebrity-gossip.net)

Thai villagers walk on a flooded bridge following heavy rains in Thailand's restive southern province of Narathiwat on January 4, 2009. (Getty Images by AFP/Getty Images)

Traffic clogs a street in central Bangkok. At least 278 Thais have died in road accidents during the New Year holiday, with drink driving causing more than 41 percent of the crashes, the interior ministry has said. (AFP/File/Hoang Dinh Nam)

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Thai police officers inspect the site of a car bomb blast in Thailand's restive southern province of Narathiwat on January 2, 2009. Police said 40 kilograms (88 pounds) of explosives were packed in a car parked by a train station and detonated by mobile phone, but the police escaped death as they were travelling in an armoured vehicle. Two bombs planted by suspected separatist insurgents have killed one person and injured nine others in the Muslim-majority south of Thailand, police said as Thailand's troubled south marks the five-year anniversary of the start of the insurgency on January 4. More than 3,500 people have been killed since separatist unrest erupted in January 2004. (Photo from Getty Images by AFP/Getty Images)

Injured members of a Thai bomb squad rest on hospital beds following a car bomb blast in Thailand's restive southern province of Narathiwat on January 2, 2009. (Photo from Getty Images by AFP/Getty Images)

BangkokFire and Rescue officials remove the dead from the scene of a night club fire Thursday, Jan. 1, 2009, in Bangkok, Thailand. At least 60 people were killed in the New Year's Eve blaze. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)

Thai policemen and rescuers stand by the bodies of victims of a fire that ripped through a nightclub in Bangkok. At least 60 people were killed when a fire ripped through a popular nightclub in the Thai capital Bangkok early Thursday as people were celebrating New Year, a local police commander said. (AFP/Pairoj)

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Denkaosan Kaovichit of Thailand celebrates after defeating Takefumi Sakata of Japan in their WBA flyweight title bout in Hiroshima, Japan, on Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2008. Challenger Denkaosan knocked out defending champion Sakata in the second round. (AP Photo/Kyodo News, Masanori Takei)

Denkaosan Kaovichit of Thailand, right, and Takefumi Sakata of Japan exchange punches in the second round of their WBA flyweight title bout in Hiroshima, Japan, on Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2008. (AP Photo/Kyodo News, Masanori Takei)