Siam Paragon, watching a confused Ant, and -43.

1/27
Sometimes experiences that I did not blog about come back, I forget to mention that when I was in Ban Samkha I was shown a bag of bats. I think people gather them for food. People were kidding me when they showed me the bats.

Today we are going to Pantip Plaza to sign up Ton for a hardware class. I think that the course will include building a personal PC. We also need to pay our Phone and Electrical bills. There was a lot of traffic so Ton jumped out of the taxi and took a motorcycle to pay the electricity bill, he paid the bill and got back to us while we were still in the taxi.

People say Thai people do not read, I am not sure that is true. There are many Thai bookstores and news stands. I know though that I do not read as much, I do not have as much time to read. Getting around Bangkok takes a lot of time. When we are home people are coming over or we go visiting. There is not much solitary time. Reading is a solitary activity. At home in Alaska I read all the time.

We got a cell phone call from STOU, Monday they want more Word training, they have a list of specific questions about Word, great. It is fun to teach people who are ready to learn.

From the taxi I see a sign on a shop, Food and Drunk. I have also noticed T Shirt that and decals on the back window of some cars that say "Drunk 24 Hours."

We sign up Ton for the course at Pantip Palace and then go to pay bills and look for some bookstores, first we will pay the phone bill. We have to search for the TOT bill playing place, we then walk to Siam Paragon, the elevated walk is a nice way to move around Bangkok. By using the elevated walk I think you can go from Central World Plaza to MBK. Walking above the street is a very different experience from being at street level. At the Siam Paragon we find both of the English language bookstores, Asia Books and Kinokuniya. I find a few books to read. I want to make sure I have some good books for the flight home. I bought V.S. Naipaul's latest book, Magic Seeds and J.M. Coetzee's Waiting for the Barbarians. I also bought Phra Farang about an English Monk in Thailand. When we purchased the books they were put into plastic book covers, which is nice, but also a lot of work. I read in Thailand that books are respected, maybe the plastic cover is part of that respect. People might be shocked by the way that I take care of books! After exploring the Siam Paragon for awhile we go to Siam Center and eat at their food court F. The music is load and a there is a light show of flashing lights.

To me both the Siam Paragon and the Siam Center are boring. I love to look for good value and good design when I shop. I like to purchase things that solve problems and show good quality and good design. In Seattle and Anchorage there are REI stores that sell good quality clothing and outdoor equipment. When I shop at REI I can trust that I will be getting good quality and fair prices. I am not the audience for Siam Paragon. In the United States there is a huge mall in Minnesota, it is called the Mall of America. I was there for a conference and brought my daughter. She took me through every floor of the mall, it was also boring and predictable for me. I would rather look through Bopae market then go to Siam Paragon.

We take the taxi home. Nuke comes over and taught me some Thai. I also taught her some English. I have stopped trying to memorize the alphabet, I do not want to memorize the alphabet, there is not enough time to make it useful, I want to learn useful words, words I hear every day. Before I return to Thailand I will finish my Rosetta Stone CD. By the way while I was at Pantip Plaza I checked whether they had illegal copies of the Rosetta Stone Learning Thai CD, they did. I think we purchase our CD for about $300. The price at Pantip with about $7.50.

1/28

We go to Bang Su to see Jit's uncle and his family. As we were ready to go I watched a confused ant on the porch table. The ant was a large red ant carrying a piece of food. It was looking for a way off the table. It kept trying different paths but always ended up at the edge of the table, there was a plate of Star Fruit on the table and it crawled up there, looking for a path, From my perspective could not see a way for the ant to succeed. Another ant was nearby, I was hoping to see if they were going to communicate. Jit came out with a plastic bag and put some of the Star fruit in a bag to take to her Uncle. I did not see the ants again. When I was young I used to wonder if we looked like ants to God!

We walked to the small boat but the water was high, I did not want to wade through the junk so we walked back and took the motorcycle to the large boat.

On www.2bankok.com there is information about a new river boat express route that would be perfect for us, it would start from the large boat dock and go to all the different stops in Bangkok. We asked the ticket taker at Klong Toey and he did not know about it. The idea is good anyway

There are many fire crackers going off for Chinese New Year. I also see small burn barrels on the curb of the street. At first I thought it was for garbage but it is really to burn Chinese money for the dead, the money is fake.

The visit at Jit's uncle is great. Both his daughters graduated from STOU. The whole family works for the same government agency, I think it has to do with Pharmacy.

Jit's uncles place is surrounded by buildings. There is only a small narrow road into the property. Inside the buildings there is the family compound with. I think four or five traditional wooden Thai houses in excellent condition. I took pictures of the narrow road because I could not believe it.

After visiting we got a ride to Chatuchak Market to talk with the TNT shipping people. We have had excellent luck with them shipping things to Alaska. We arranged for them to come to our house to pick up things that we need to ship to Alaska. If we have any wooden things they will need to be fumigated and we should not ship any food items. Jit bought some fish for the large pots in the front of the house and also to put in to the canal.

When I got home I had a fever so I am going to sleep, take tylenol and try to get well. Monday will be a busy day so I need to me ready.

Last night Jit visited with her aunt, they talked about history and people in the community. She told Jit about how it used to be in the community, both the good and the bad. She wished she could have a large Thai house again but realizes that people are busy with work and life. She hopes that when she dies that she will not have to suffer and that she will not be a burden on people. Jit's aunt is a wonderful person, she does have a large extended family living with her, but it must not be as extended as it used to be. She has live in Mu9 all her life. She is always busy and is helping to raise her grand kids. Her two daughters are building a new house for the family right next to the old wood house. Listening to old people and documenting their memories is important. In Thailand, just like in Alaska Native cultures, people respect their elders.

Today in Fairbanks Alaska it is -43. There is always one or two very cold spells in Fairbanks. We are gaining 6 minutes a day of day light so the dark and cold will soon end.