Thonburi, goldfish, and a police roadblock

This morning we went to Thonburi to take the Ricoh GR digital in for repair. We went to the Ricoh distributor for Thailand. We needed a map to find the location. It was in a very commercial area of Thonburi. When we crossed the river we ran in to the taxi driver that lives in our neighborhood so he took us. We ended up using him to get to the distributor and back home through Phra Pradaeng. The distributor will send the camera back to Japan, hopefully for no cost. It will take about a month. The distributor was interesting, it looked like the used to import Bronica equipment and they also distributed professional photographic lighting. They must have done other things too, during lunch there were about 20 uniformed workers who left for lunch. Anyway the camera is on its way to being repaired.

As we were leaving we were waiting for Keenon. There was a gold fish pond in a rectangle concrete box about 10 feet by 5 feet and maybe 2 feet tall by her house. There were some beautiful plants and many goldfish. The odd thing is that I have walked past the area many times and never noticed it. Again my experience in Thailand is being so overwhelmed with so much to see that I miss the details. There was also a very nice concrete pattern around a tree. I took a few photographs for my memory.

On the way to Thonburi there was a police roadblock, maybe 15 policemen. They were stopping some people, I am not sure for what, maybe seat belts. About a half mile further there were more policemen. I assume to capture escapees. At least, from my experience, people will flee the police if given a chance. Coming back we were stuck in traffic and a policemen walked up to a truck and got some papers. He then motioned for the truck to pull over when the traffic cleared. Saturday must have been a big police day.

Once you get off the main roads in Bangkok the activity seems to increase, the roads are narrow and packed with activity, people trying to make a living. I look down even narrower streets and there is commercial activity. The competition for making a living is intense. There are so many people doing similar things, and the prices are so cheap. For people to live their living cost must also be cheap. I think in many cases it is many people in a family pooling their incomes that allows families to survive. Bangkok is dense!

As we were stuck in traffic the car next to us had a sign, Moon eyes Sensitivity In Motion.

When we got home we went over to the park to eat at Nah and Noy's. There were people there who were working on promoting the park. Jit had a long conversation with them. I asked about what had happened to cause all the destruction in the other end of the park. I was told that there was corruption and poor building materials, but I do not think that is the whole story. Why did they build a park entrance where there is no road or place for people to get into the park? I have read some reference that the park was a part of a larger project and they were going to have all the communities move out. There was some kind of objection, thankfully, and like many projects it was never fully implemented.

We went home, and I read the newspapers and prepared for our trip tomorrow to Cha Am and Hu Hin. I might not post anything to the blog until Wednesday or Thursday because of the trip. I will be taking notes and making photographs so I will have a lot to share.

We got an email from one of our friends in Fairbanks Alaska, she works in Surinam's restaurant in Fairbanks. When she was in Thailand she ran an Internet cafe. She is coming to Thailand with her husband to have a Thai wedding. We have been invited. It will be in January. We will try to go. The wedding will be in Supanburi.