I have been to Bangkok, Thailand’s capital city many times over the last 10 years. Also referred to as Krung Thep, Bangkok has to be one of the most fascinating and exotic cities that I’ve been to - and truth be told, despite my numerous visits there, Bangkok still remains an unsolved puzzle to me.

Walking through the Streets of Bangkok, you’ll find a vibrant urban culture – street vendors selling an assortment of goods and makeshift portable restaurants on wheels as well as ornate Buddhist shrines and spirit houses in front of many buildings.

Throughout uptown Bangkok, there are some very elegant HISO shopping centers like the Emporium, the Siam Paragon and the new KP Village. It seems that in the heart of the tourist district – along the Upper Sukhumvit Blvd - that every other shop is either a massage parlor or beauty salon.

Sadly, you’ll also encounter some of the poorest segments of Bangkok’s populous begging on the streets and near the entrance of the many Skytrain stations – mostly the crippled and deformed as well as homeless mothers with infants.

Admittedly, I have a love/hate relationship with “the City of Angels” but I keep on going back there, hoping to solve the puzzle which is Bangkok.

In China, it seems that the most popular and most practical way of getting around the city is by motorbike. Most of these bikes are electric, and while they are not as powerful as a conventional motorcycle, these electric motorbikes (more commonly referred to as electric scooters), they are relatively affordable for the masses. Let’s face it - a car is still a luxury item in China, something only the professional person or the upper classes can afford.

When I was in Guilin, a medium size city in Guangxi province, I stopped at major intersection where I witnessed at least 50 people on motorscooters – both men and women - waiting for the traffic light to change to green. All around the city, there seemed to be more of these motorscooters than cars.

The electric scooters are silent - which is a both a good thing and a bad thing. The good thing is that these scooters are environmentally friendly. The bad thing – because these scooters are allowed free access to the sidewalk, they can be a real hazard for the pedestrian especially when the bikes are approaching from the rear.

To give you some idea, I was walking on the sidewalk on a major thoroughfare in Guilin, and then without a warning, two electric motorscooters passed me by. Because they were completely silent, I had no idea they were coming. Thank G_D that there was sufficient room on both my sides for the scooters to pass. To pedestrians, these electric scooters can be very dangerous and I can only imagine how many accidents they have caused – they are the silent killers of China.