My many visits to Bangkok and its broader region have shown me three very different faces of coastal Thailand, yet each reveal how quickly the tide of urban change can reshape a city’s relationship with its shoreline. I walked the edges of forgotten khlongs in Bangkok, which were once the city's lifeblood but were now choked or paved over, their ability to absorb seasonal floods diminished with each concrete encroachment; in Pattaya, you can see the unrelenting march of high-rises and beachside developments pressing against the land's natural contours, funnelling stormwater into narrow streets and leaving little room for nature to absorb the shock of heavy rains; and in Songkhla, which is quieter but no less vulnerable, I stood where mangroves once formed a living shield.