We then split up the group of 11 students and I headed into the labyrinth with another student, Shane. Many vendors were still setting up, but the first few enclaves we passed showcased the variety of items for sale.
Our assignment was to observe how the people acted in a very crowded, chaotic setting. We brought notebooks for our field notes. The walkways in the market were narrow and there was a clearing between "buildings" every 60 meters or so.
The first clearing in the market was full of food vendors. One of them had a large pile of rambutan.
Another vendor was making some little rolled up pancakes with different things inside. Shane got one with corn and I got one with coconut. It was a tasty treat.
The market was vast, so we decided to walk all the way through it to gage its size. At the far side, we came to busy street. There were some furniture shops on the other side with some cool looking stuff.
A woman in one of the furniture shops asked us where we were from and then mentioned the tornadoes that came through Missouri recently. She spoke good English and made me realize how oblivious I am to my own nation's news when much of the rest of the world knows about it. We crossed back over to the market and saw several vendors selling statues.
Bill told us that there were many animals for sale at the market but I was not ready for seemingly endless section of the market dedicated to pets and livestock. The following photos are just a sample of the animals we encountered.
At one point, we followed a walkway into a clearing where the market vendors dumped their trash. This area was overgrown and was the first wild looking scenery I had seen in Thailand.
We had been wandering for about two hours and decided to get some lunch. There were many restaurants set up in the market, so we ate at the first one we saw. I had stir fried chicken and rice and we split a mango and sticky rice with coconut milk for dessert. This was sweet and refreshing.
When we found our way back to the middle of the market, we found a Thai man dressed up convincingly as Captain Jack Sparrow from Pirates of the Caribbean. He was posing for pictures in turn for donations to a children's' charity.
We were ready to leave the market when we came upon a lot of clothes vendors near the entrance to the market. I had a feeling my Tiger Beer tank top was within reach. After a little wandering, I found this T shirt vendor who had the tank top in a variety of colors.
I bargained her down to 150 baht (5 USD). I had completed my quest for a Tiger Beer tank top.
At the BTS stop on the way home from the market I saw this advertisement.
That's all I have to say about that. We went back to the apartment and took a swim to cool down. Bill came out to the pool on his way out of the building and we talked about universities being run too much like businesses. Somehow the subject of the nearby skyscraper came up and he told us that it was a hotel called Baiyoke and that it is the tallest building in Thailand. He also told us about the observation deck on the 84th floor. We decided to go later in the day.
Seven of us met up in the afternoon to make the short walk to Baiyoke. The elevator ride from the first floor to the 73rd floor took one minute and twenty seconds. The view was incredible. It was a comparatively clear day for Bangkok and you could see all the way out to the gulf of Thailand. There was also an excellent view of our apartment building from there. This is the panoramic shot of the Baiyoke building from VP Tower and a photo of VP Tower from Baiyoke.
There was a cross section of pile used to support the building on this floor. 306 of these 1.5m diameter piles were placed 65m into the earth to support the building. Bill told us earlier that the building is leaning even with this seemingly sound foundation.
We took another elevator to the 84th floor where we took a flight of steps up to the revolving observation deck. It creaks a little and rotates slowly. This was the first time I was able to grasp just how massive Bangkok is. The city has nine million residents, sprawls out in every direction and continues past where we could see. The following photos were taken from all sides of the building.
After this, we walked down the main Thanon at the end of Thanon Rang Nam and found an Indian and Sri Lankan food restaurant for dinner. I ordered Keema Mutter: spicy minced lamb with green peas and spices. It was very good.
We talked about the environment and the pitfalls of capitalism. We came back to the apartment, went for a swim, and got to work on our reports about the market.
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