A recent UK study found that residents of the countryside live an average of two years longer than those who spend most of their lives in urban environments. What’s so dangerous about city life? Everything! Here are just some of the things that will kill you in our big bad city—and what you can do to survive.

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Opened last month, Scrap Shop (Open Mon-Fri 10am-7pm, Sat-Sun upon appointment. 1/F, Faculty of Architecture, Kasetsart University, Vibhavadi-Rangsit Rd., 02-942-8960/-3) is the latest (and most handily located) branch stocking the eco-friendly brand Osisu (www.osisu.com)—the other is out at On Nut. For the uninitiated, Osisu products, the brainchild of Dr Singh Intrchooto, are made from discarded industrial materials and cover everything from stationery to tables and wallets.

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"I have a really small appetite and I’m saving it for Kobe beef.”

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To find out just how obsessed we’ve become, our writer kept a diary of how many plastic bags he went through in a normal week.

This year, BK started running a column in our Upfront section titled, “We (Heart) Bangkok.” It’s a sad fact that it’s been harder writing this column than we thought. Apart from BTS extensions and silly PR stunts, we’ve yet to see the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) show real vision when it comes to defining our capital’s future. News flash: there’s more to urbanism than fixing flyovers.

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Ingredients, daily recommended amounts, “sell by” dates—it’s all designed to keep us safe and healthy, but do we even know what it all means? BK peels back the labels and shows you what’s behind the funny logos and mysterious strings of numbers stamped all over our food.

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When it comes to produce, it seems you have to pay to be green. We get the fact that it can cost more to grow stuff without the aid of chemicals but does organic fruit really taste any better?
Non organic: Royal Gala (pack of two, B40) - Winner!
This one is nice and juicy, without being overly sweet. Also has the requisite crisp crunch we demand from our apples.

Organic: Royal Gala (pack of two, B150)
Much drier than the other apple, and it also lacks in texture.

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LAND BK Verdict: 3/3
The Illness:
According to the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration’s (BMA) records, our cement metropolis has 2,923 parks covering over 18.8 sq. km. It might sound like a lot but that’s a mere 1.2% out of the 1,568 sq.km. of Bangkok; Central Park alone covers 3.9% of Manhattan. Scarier is the fact that these figures incorporate every inch of city greenery, including the strips of shrubbery between roads.

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I grew up in Seattle, Washington. It is known for its green spaces, so I grew up surrounded by hills, mountains and waterfalls. I went camping and hiking a lot, so I guess my love for nature started then.
I wasn’t a very good student. I may have disappointed my parents for not being studious. But I was happy because I accepted the fact that I wasn’t a smart kid.
I live happily with my limitations and therefore I don’t set high standards for myself. I just do what I can.

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Apart from now, Bangkok can’t exactly boast the best weather to go walking. But is that the only thing keeping us from enjoying this healthy, free, eco-friendly mode of transportation? Everytime we pound the pavement, we find ourselves tripping over shoddy patch-up jobs, monster potholes and crumbling blocks of cement—not to mention those booby-trap sidewalks that spit gutter filth onto our brand new sneakers. How come walking in Bangkok is such an (mis)adventure? Is it too much to ask for clean, walkable pathways?

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