Jatujak or Chatuchak market and Lizards eyes.

11/25
Today I worked on my STOU presentation. I will be creating a presentation on gathering and using information using the Internet next month. I will be creating a web site, hand outs, and step by step examples. It should be fun, and the material that I create I will also be able to use in the courses I teach at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

I have been walking in the park with my binoculars. I watch for birds and the Monitor Lizards. The Lizards are very alert and I am learning their habits. If I surprise a lizard they freeze, they do not even flick their tongue. When I look at their eyes with my binoculars they are very alert and beautiful. If I move closer, or move away, they will quickly move into the water. If the lizard sees me first they will slip into the water, I will hear the movement in the water or see a ripple. Some of the lizards sun bath on an island. I love to watch them get out of the water and crawl onto the island. Even if they are on the island they will watch me, and sometimes freeze, or return to the water. One of the lizards had its back to me, as I walked I could see it turn its head to watch me. I walked from one side to the other and the lizards followed my movement. Their eyesight must be excellent. When I am using the binoculars I can see the pattern of their skin, their eyes, and also watch their tongue investigating the air. The lizards seem smart, and very alert. Lizards eyes are really beautiful.

The park is supposed to be getting paddle boats, I wonder how the lizards and the paddle boats will get along. There is also supposed to be a food stand opening in the park, two of the community members will run it. I hope that the increased activity does not disrupt the lizards life, or the number of birds that I see, but I know that it will.

11/26
Today we went to Jatujak or Chatuchak market, their were two signs, right next to each other, with the different spellings. The Chatuchak Market is an excellent place to shop. It is not a tourist place, there are things to by of high quality and excellent design. There are also pets, many puppies, but no real Thai dogs that I saw, and fish in plastic bags. We did our Christmas shopping and then shipped our gifts to my daughter Margaret, in Fairbanks Alaska, to organize and mail to others. The shipping people, TNT shipping, are really excellent. We used them last year and the communication was excellent. We had some professionaly packed dried fruit and a glass candle with an image of a Buddha that we wanted to send. It was recommended that we do not because of customs. The idea, which I appreciated, is that we did not want to give customs the opportunity to use judgement. There was the potential for complications if the package was inspected.

When we went to the Market in 2004 it was May and June. The Market was overwhelmingly hot. We mostly looked for clothes with my daughter. Today the weather was nice, a little cloudy and cool, meaning around 80. We got there about 9:30. We mostly looked at handcrafted items for presents. The selection was excellent, and Jit was excellent at bargaining. There was a Chinese Buddhist ceremony. There were monks chanting and also a dragon. The dragon went around the market, the dragon was followed by drums. I took many pictures. I used the small Ricoh GR1v with the 28mm lens since we were primarily shopping. I will not see the pictures for a week or so. We got home around 2:00.

I want to go to the market again with photography as my goal. When the weather is cooler the market is an excellent place to wander and explore. As we were leaving it was getting pretty crowded, for me the best time to go would be the first thing in the morning.

When we got home we took Jit's mom over to watch the community volley ball game. Both teenagers and adults were playing. People play until it is too dark to see. The games are very relaxed. We then went to a birthday party for one of our friends kids. It was a good evening.

Tomorrow their is supposed to be some kind of sports day in the park, people want me to take photographs, so I will. I think the games begin at 8:00 in the morning and many people from different muu's will attend.