An odd building for the "Supreme Commander"!

During the King's birthday I was in a large crowd, we were listening to politicians and holding lighted candles. I noticed, with surprise, that I was not short. I am 5 feet 4 inches and in the United States I am the shortest. In crowds I look between people. It was sort of a disorienting revelation to realize that I was not short, I could look over some people. I had never experienced being not short.

When we were going to the Royal School in Hua Hin we turned off one road too soon. There was a gate and a watch house, which is usual, but what was sort of intimidating was a soldier with a very real machine gun. I guess we were trying to enter the King's palace. I am not used to seeing live, real guns that could shoot me. I must say I did not like the experience.

When we got to STOU today, we ran over to the Continuing Education Department to meet the people, I stumbled into the bi-weekly staff meeting. We were introduced and talked for a little while, but we had to leave for our lunch meeting. I am not sure what the expect of me yet, I will have an office and I have heard rumors of developing a database. I will spend time trying to match their expectations with my ability, a good idea:).

The time we have left in Thailand is filling up! Jit and I went through the calendar of commitments. I still want to do a little traveling and exploring that is not sabbatical related, but we shall see.

At STOU we went to a department lunch with the E-Learning people. We drove through the popular condominiums at Muang Thong Thani. Some were undeveloped and others looked packed. The buildings look like they would be brutal blocks to live in, but inside there is an open square. The closest experience, in the United States, to what I saw, would be those huge public housing projects in Chicago. These condominiums though are middle class housing. I was told that many government workers live there.

The ambition of the Muang Thong Thani development and the conjunction between very busy and empty is sort of spooky. There is a lot to explore in the area, from the abandoned towers to the popular condominiums. The fact that the development is so close to the Impact Center seems to mean that there is potential for the area, but it is still a very odd place, large incompletely realized ambition.

After lunch we had a meeting to explore providing educational tours to Thailand, sponsored by STOU, for students or adults from Alaska to. I referred the people to Elderhostel as a possible means to the end of providing tours. There is an excellent potential to bring students to Thailand under university sponsorship, maybe offering a Summer School course in conjunction with the tour. Until I get back to Alaska and talk with the International Relations office I will not be able to ground any of our ideas in reality, but it is a project I would like to help implement.

As we were leaving the Muang Thong Thani place I saw a very strange building. I had seen it before from the airplane and also from the expressway. Nobody who I asked knows what it is. At the restaurant, which is right across from the building we were told that it was for the "Supreme Commander". The building is in the middle of a military complex, but it is not hidden. The center of the project looks like a large American football standing on end, or a fat rocket ship. There are buildings with odd structures on the top, sort of sculptural, maybe for air conditioning. If I would guess, without any knowledge, I would have thought that the building was a futuristic university or an amusement park. In any case, until I get better information, it is the building for the "Supreme Commander". Anybody can see the building, it is near Muang Thong Thani, and I saw it when we were driving to Nakhon Nayok. If anybody has more information I am sure curious. It is on my list of Google Earth searches when I get bandwidth.