Benjasiri Park

This is the park that I see when I eat lunch at Nippon Kai, at Emporium. You can read about it from the info in the pic on the right.







Like all "Green Space" in Bangkok it is well taken care of and well used.

Bangkok has an underside and it has a sad side. Today I saw where the little beggar boy, his mother and sister sleep at night. See previous post - "Bangkok at Night" for their picture. Phrom Phom station is just above the park.

Pic of BTS train approaching Phrom Phom Station.

Soi Cowboy at night

I ended up walking to Soi Cowboy. I figured it had the next best "night lights" to China Town and I was wanting to test the camera. The small street (Soi) was very busy but I felt very safe. I approached my task as a reporter with camera in hand. Few people paid me any attention.

And to this this is only a few blocks from where our offices are located.

Bangkok at Night

A couple of us guys were to go to China Town tonight. I was told I needed to go at night to get the best options for sights and food. And so I was prepared to test out my camera and ate a small lunch. Rain moved in around 4PM and we decided to call it off. The rain stopped, but we had already moved the trip to Sunday night. Meanwhile I set out to test my camera at night close to my apartment on Sukhumvit Road.

Friday night in Bangkok is actually not that busy - well, it is with people trying to leave the city. So the sidewalks are not usually that crowded. Pic on the right, Sukhumvit Road and Soi 24, my major intersection.

Looking on the other side of the intersection, on the sidewalk, there is a girl on a motorcycle. Not just the women, men also drive their motorcycles on the sidewalk. There seems to be no driving laws in Bangkok.

The first public drunk I've met in Bangkok. He was standing between me and the lady motorcycle driver. He said he was sorry, hid his bottle in his left hand and posed for a picture

A view of the traffic leaving the city from Prom Phom BTS (Skytrain) station, looking down from the flyover getting ready to head down the three sets of stairs.

This little guy is at this location on the stairs every day, begging. He recently started bowing all the way to the ground.

His mother and sister, who is also in training, are at the base of the stairs of the BTS (Skytrain)

You may recognize some of these pics from the earlier"My walk to the office" post. This is what it looks like on a Friday night. The city folk leave, so actually the weekends are not too crowded. Still more crowded than my home in the US.

Taking a look back down the path.

Food vendors still working.

So is the lady that runs the local "Blockbuster" store. Not really, these are black-market copies. TV shows are copied on DVD players. Movies are most often filmed by camera in the theater. the quality is not perfect, but for less than a bag of popcorn ($2.80) you can purchase newly released movies. Once they are on DVD, then of course you can purchase better copies - for the same price.

Folks catching a meal on the way home from work.



And the ever present Thai Smile.

Chefs resting from feeding 1/2 of the population

And enjoying the cool air. It rained and the weather was very nice tonight.

Walking past my office up towards Soi Cowboy. Even the local idols seem to be enjoying the nice weather.

Would you believe at times pedestrians cross this path against the light?

7-11 Stores in Bangkok

They are everywhere. I'm standing on Soi 24 almost to the intersection of Sukhumvit, looking south. Up the road a ways is my apartment. You see a 7-11 store to your immediate left. See the sign that says BOOK just a few feet up past the massage parlours? Guess what, there is another 7-11 store right there under the BOOK sign.

I went across the street by Emporium to take this photo hoping to get both 7-11's in the same shot. The 7-11 on the left doesn't have the sign turned on yet. The one on the right does.

Here is the entrance to the one on the right. I do to this one for two reasons. First, it is a few feet

closer to my apartment and when I'm carrying back a 6 Lt jug of fresh drinking water, every step counts. The other reason is that it is owned by a couple I figure is my age. I don't know if they are Japanese or Thai - they speak both and a bit of broken English. Remember I live in the "Little Japan" of Bangkok. To the left of the entrance is a travel agency and to the right is an outdoor resturant (street food) that is on the Soi going east. The 7-11 is not much wider than the door.

I asked if I could take their picture and the woman said no. I pressed, but she said it was "headquarters rule". Who was I to argue. I wanted to capture them for my own memory. They are very kind. They can't believe I stop by to pick up 6 Coke Lite (Diet Coke) every other day. Here they come loose - not in 6 packs or 24 packs. Only if they knew.

Also I wanted to show my readers just now small this store is and just how many employees you see in 7-11 uniforms waiting to help you. The store is as wide as you see in this picture. See the man on the left? That is the counter. So the store is a wide as that and maybe 120 feet deep. 10 steps and your at the back wall. Usually there are 3-4 people standing in 7-11 uniforms in one of the the two aisles, waiting to help you. Or they are re-stocking the small shelves which means there are boxes in the only two aisles in addition to the employees. I've learned to laugh at this nightmare. And heaven help you if there are customers at the counter. You can't get in. And all I want is 6 Diet Cokes.

On Friday nights I usually need to purchase my 6 Lt jug of drinking water. Cost? 37 THB. ~ $1.08. And they always ask me "No Coke tonight?" I can't carry that much at one time. I have to stage my purchases according to my physical abilities and my limitation to two arms.

Amazing Thailand

Bridge on the River Kwai

I finally made it. Ever since I made my 1st trip to Thailand I wanted to see this place. It is located about a 2hr drive west of Bangkok in the Kanchanaburi Province. See the map on the left for the location of the city of Kanchanaburi.

The arches you see are of the original bridge.

The middle section (straight lined supports) were provided by Japan as part of war reparations.

Here is the stamp on the bridge. Note: "B.E." stands for the Buddhist Era - Buddhist Year. Buddhism marks year 1 at the year of The Buddha death. That was 544 B.C.E. Therefore this section of bridge was completed in 1947 C.E.




We were in the province already having lunch when the host asked 'Would you like to see the Bridge over the River Qua" (that's how it is pronounced in Thai. My heart stopped. "Really?". So after lunch we went to The Bridge. To the right is a view looking down the track heading west into Burma (Myanmar). This bridge was just part of the long railway that the Japanese wished to build between the southern part of Thailand all the way to northern Burma.



And here are the associates + one friend, who made this visit possible.





There were actually two bridges built. One, all wood, was built to transport the steel for the other. The wooden bridge was destroyed by the Japanese. The steel bridge was bombed and partly destroyed. What remains to day is a combination of original and restored pieces. Walking across the bridge is easy if you can stay between the tracks. But when someone is coming from the other direction, you have to step aside onto old wooden planks. And unlike in the USA where there would be tourist Hand-Rails, not here in Thailand. Your on your own.





The rail line is still operational. It was scary, but fun to stand on one of the out-crops that are along the way and let the train pass by. I could actually touch the train as it moved past me. The entire bridge was vibrating.

It was fun to wave, almost shake hands with those on the train. See the beautiful Thai smile on the lady making the V sign. I don't know why the V sign is so popular today in Thailand. Everyone seems compelled to make it when having their picture taken.

Back into the town is the cemetery which is the resting place for over 6,000 of those who died building this railway.

There were 16,000 allied prisoners of war (Mainly British, Australian, Dutch - no Americans) and over 100,000 conscripted civilians who died building this railroad. For every grave marker there is a family. I challenge myself to consider that fact. I challenge you as well.

I can not thank my associates enough for making this one goal of mine a reality.



And to make it even more special, today was D-Day. I know that is a special day for the European Theater, but still it connects with WWII. I'm beginning there is something to this "cosmic connection", "Karma" etc. There have been too many events lately that are just so coincidental that they can't be just coincidence.