The good news our packages from Alaska arrived, the bad news we had to go through customs!

The good news our packages from Alaska arrived, the bad news we had to go through customs!
What I thought was going to be a simple process, become a complicated "educational" experience.
Run called an said the packages had arrived and we needed to pay duty. It is hard to insure packages without declaring a value, but at least they were here. We took the boat and Taxi to Run's school, Rajinibon School, in the Dusit area of Bangkok. The Rajinbon school is an expensive and prestigious private elementary school in Bangkok.

During lunch we ran to the local post office, silly us. We were told we needed to go to the main post office customs department at Hua Lonphong station, the main Bangkok railway station. We jumped into a taxi and, after a few questions found out where we were supposed to go, a dim chaotic place with seemingly multiple places to get approvals. I had to stay out of the way, because they would charge me more. Anyway after multiple signatures and approvals, showing of business cards, and even Run getting a 6 pack of water as a gift we got our packages. It took about three hours. I would have had no idea about what to do with out Run and Jit. There was even a lady, with a small typewriter, filling in forms for people in the waiting area. What a powerless experience. We ended up having to pay only 1500 hundred Baht instead of 6000 Baht.

Run is amazing, on the last trip we were caught in a traffic jam at Prapredang. Ran got out of the van, went and got us some snacks, and got back into the van. She is unstoppable. Run is a PE teacher, when we visited we saw volleyball competitions, and swimming, an amazing person with seemingly limitless energy. While at the school I saw a game, Shairbon, which is sort of like shooting hoops, except that the basket is held by a person on a stool. The person can move the basket to catch the ball. It looked like fun.

After getting back to the school we watched after school activities and then ran through the rain to try to get a taxi. Run wanted to take us to get a cell phone. Couldn't get a taxi so we got a bus, traffic jam, but eventually it worked. While waiting for the bus I had a good talk with a student who spent last year in Missouri. She wanted to come back to Thailand to graduate. I asked her about her parents Internet usage and how they perceived the Internet. My interpretation of what she said is that they saw computers and the internet as an educational tool for the kids, but had little interest in it themselves. Her Internet usage was IM, music, hotmail, the normal stuff. Also MP3.s. Here use of Google was mostly for school assignments. On our last trip we visited with her family in Ranong. Interesting. So far, I do not see that the Internet, or even computers, are having much impact on everyday peoples life.

As we were in the traffic we went past Bobay market and the Prince Palace hotel where Margaret and I wandered around and took many photographs last year. It seemed much less chaotic and strange. I think I am changing. I recognized the context for many of the photographs at my Wandering In Thailand web site.

I also visited a couple Internet shops, email, games, instant messaging, and CD duplication. They were not busy.

Back to the bus trip, we ended up at a very modern and large five story mall, just like any large central Mall, with a few changes. There were many very busy cell phone stores with multiple options. There was also a couple computer or tech stores that were not as busy. Notebooks seemed to attract the most interest. The cell phone shops were packed. Run had a discount certificate so we got a cell phone with prepaid service. Non-Thai people have a difficult time getting cell phones without the right permits and Visa's. I had forgotten my passport, a crazy thing to do. Anyway I got a cell phone, read the manual last night, and wished for a class on how to use all it's options:>. I am having Tone, Jit's nephews, enter a bunch of phone numbers. Hmmmm....