Thieves Market, Giant Swing, Mae Hong Son, and Biking on the back roads

12/23
Today we rode the bus in to Phra Pradaeng and then took the Green bus to near the Grand Palace. I wanted to explore the Thieves Market area and also see some photo stores that I had read about. On the way there was a large fire, I could see a lot of dense black smoke, but no details. Riding the Green buses is an adventure, they are fast, full, and sort of erratic. Jit wanted us to get off, so we just jumped off the bus, but after Jit jumped off it started moving so I had to jump from a moving bus, foolish, but I succeeded. I had to decide quickly what to do. I was a little irritated with Jit for not thinking before she acted, but oh well.

Near the Giant Swing there is an area of stores that sell Buddha statues and temple art. I want to go back there for sure and wander and take photographs. There are whole stores full of large Buddha statues. I think people purchase them for their temples.

After we got off the bus, barely, we took a taxi over to the Thieves Market area. On Charon Krung there are some pretty good small photo stores, we looked around and I got an excellent camera bag, a Domke clone, but a different size then any Domke that I have seen before. As always it is fun to explore Thailand markets, especially the long established ones in Bangkok.

Before we leave I want to spend more time walking and taking photographs. I find my impressions change with familiarity, less a sense of wonder and more a sense of respect for the energy and history of an area. People in Thailand work hard for a living with intense competition and in exhausting conditions. Imagine working and living in the same area for generations. Every day getting up and dealing with the intensity of the day.

On the way back to our home we passed the Hua Lamphong railroad station. I have gone past it many times, but want to go inside and maybe take a short train ride. I think that in two or three weeks I want to focus on exploring Thailand and doing photography. I think I want to cut back on my STOU activities before we return to Alaska. I am definitely starting to think about Alaska more as we get nearer to leaving.

As we were returning I saw a wedding shop named "Beautiful Mary Women". There was a front window with impressive traditional, in the United States sense,

As we were walking to the Kong Toey dock a motorbike deliberately ran over one of the elephant skin dogs, the dog ran off whining and limping, it made me feel sad. I have been seeing dogs with coats on, I thought it was because of the cold, but it is really a way to put medication on the dogs skin to help their mange and itching. The black dog in our community has a coat on now, I hope it helps him.

The new road to our community has gone past Jit's house, everything is torn up and open, no more shade. I guess it will be OK in the end, but some of the charm and beauty of the place has been lost, at least for awhile.

I the evening Jit's mom and dad went over by the community tree, people were gathered around eating, playing table tennis, it is a good feeling. Jit's parents have moved into the new house, it is good for them to have moved, especially with the construction on the road.

It is Juke's birthday today, he has some friends over, they will party. I sure wished people did not drink as much.

We turned on the hot water for the first time today, it is hard to imagine when it was so warm the cold water was a cooling relief. I think humans, or at least this human, has a short memory for physical discomfort. Whether it is hot or cold that is what I experience, I do not remember the other experiences, except in abstraction.

Tomorrow we go to OTOP City again with Nuk and Nick.

12/24
We went to OTOP City again with Nick and Nuck, we purchased some things to take to Alaska, saw many new things, there are three halls stuffed with booths, on the back wall of one of the halls people were selling ad hoc products at discount, sort of bringing them to the back wall and setting up on the floor. The textile products from Mae Hong Son were beautiful, the textiles have multi-colored geometric designs and are functional. We bought some for selling in Alaska, or maybe just gifts. Nick and Nuck were involved, I think Jit is preparing them to be business partners.

Children's day is coming to the community and Jit is working to arrange some kind of bike tour for the young people. There are bikes to rent on the weekend in the park. Nick, Nuck, Ton and I went exploring on bikes with Jit and Ohy on the motorbike. We took the concrete trails to the Bang Nam Phueng Wat and floating market area. Riding the trails and back roads is interesting, there are many communities, stores, nice houses, farms, and the quality of life seems great. Going around the corners I slow down, because the concrete path is about 6 feet off the ground.

After we went to the floating market area we rode to this strange place with a large gate, looking inside there are some pretty impressive buildings, it is all abandoned, the gate is locked. I man with a large curly mustache opened the gate and went inside, he had a key. He said he was gong fishing. From what I can piece together they were building something for the Kings, but he told them to stop it. There was also mention of corruption. I assume it all happened 8 or 9 years ago. I wished I had the bandwidth for Google Earth, I would go exploring.

We then rode the long way back on the roads, it was fun, the traffic was not too bad, and it was cool for Thailand. I want to go exploring more places. I need a guide though, there are so many paths and trail branches I would not have a clue where I was going. A really fun day. I like exploring.