9/1/2005 @ 7:51 PM

Date: 9/1/2005 @ 7:51 PM
Category: Thailand

Peanut butter and jelly sandwich for breakfast, sort of like Jit having soup for breakfast
Last night it rained and a black hairless dog slept on the doorstep.
In the morning we went to look for the lizard, we heard it. We continued walking to the abandoned part of the park and found a large observation tower, as we walked up to the tower the black dog came running down, weird.
There is a girl in the village who has a little cerebral palsy, she was carrying a sling shot, I wonder what she was going to get, fish, dog, or a bird. I teased her a little bit.
When we were walking we talked to a person who prepares lunch for the bike tour. She said that the reason the park is falling apart is no money. The people who try to maintain the park have "no life". We also found the house where the worker stays, pretty interesting. There are guards that guard the gate for the park and only residence can drive in, it is still beautiful, in fact the overgrown part of the park might even have more appeal because of the return of a natural, undisturbed, environment. There is much to explore. At night, and during the day, I see people jogging, exercising, and today even a remote controlled boat. The boat was stuck on an island and the boy swam over and turned it around.

In the village there is a group of women who create a dessert that is covered in banana leaves, it is great to watch the enterprise. The first time I came it was working, the next time no enterprise, and this time it is working again. The people work hard for money, everywhere. There is even people who sell fish food to the bike tourists. I think that the bike tour is a sign of hope for income for the community.

Watching people build the house is an education, welding, cement work, improvising, the people have real skills that they have picked up from their dads and mothers. Thinking of computer training again, good internet access and examples of successful usage is the key to technology. Everybody has cell phones and they meet a real need, computers, without Internet access meet a marginal need.
The post office that I observed yesterday was Pak Lat.
As I think of IT I think of same and different, is the use of computers in small business any different in Alaska?
When we took the bus from Bangkrachow to Papradang it was an old Mercedes with a whole in the floor, pretty derelict, but it worked.
There is a whole herd of buses at Bang Krachow waiting to run the route to Papradang, pretty picturesque.

This morning we took a motor bike tour around the Bangkrachow peninsula. We saw many docks and many Wats and also where the Banglapoo flouting market is on the weekend. Sound like another sign of hope for the communities on this peninsula.

We went to the Papradang this morning and caught the Bus 6, non air conditioned, Jit wanted an air conditioned bus but I wanted to go on the other bus because the windows are open and it is like a carnival ride, you can see, hear, and smell everything and because the windows are open you can take photographs, it was great. I want to take Bus 4 because it goes through China town.
We got off Bus 6 by Kho San Road and Banglapuu. Walked around and then took a taxi to the far end of the Sky train. We rode on it to the other end. The difference in the experience of the Sky Train is an order of magnitude different then riding in an non air conditioned bus. It is like being in a different city. If I am visiting I think I like the bus, if I live here I will like the Sky Train.
We backtracked on the Sky Train and got off at Pak Nam and went to the Tesco Lotus and bought some stuff from home, I bugged Jit because I did not see how we could carry it all home, but we did, Taxi to Klong Toe dock, boat across the river, and then ridding motor bikes home. Pretty fun exploration, seeing many new places and posing a million questions. I wonder if I will ever be able to know where I am in Bangkok, each street is another world.

The dogs howl in this community like Alaska huskies on a winter night, it sure is an echo experience.

Tony, Jit's brother was at the house when we got back. He makes me uncomfortable. I do not trust him and it makes me feel like we must lock and protect everything. After long and emotional discussion he finally left, I do not think I want to leave valuable things here as long as he is around. He is really at a sad state saying he needs money for his baby in the hospital and then answering phone calls in English that sounds like he is being pressured for money, not a good situation.

Jit spent a long time talking with the communitee leader, Lek, it was loud and persistent, he had the courtesy to listen. I can pick up a vague sense of context.

I went to the park to get away from Tony, it was beautiful watching the sunset and the people enjoying the park.

At night there were a group of people in the village shelter who were sharing a meal, it was a warm situation.

I also finally got a good Bangkok map that shows the whole metropolitan area. I found where STOU was, it is near Ko Kred, and also could see some of the places we have been exploring.

I wonder if the Black Hairless Dog will show up tonight.

They are still working on iron railings around the house, the welder is powered by two bare wires pushed into socket, electricity here is 220. People really make do.