Day Seven: Suan Santiphap and the Roof Bar

Today we did not have class because we had the park assignment.  I woke up at 10:30 and ate breakfast with Shane at the same place I had lunch yesterday.  We both got an omelet with chicken.  The omelet is deep fried and served over rice.  I ate it with ketchup and it was very good.

After this I went to the park to do my observation.  I brought a book with me so I wouldn't just be staring at people.  My first shift was from 12:30-1:50.  There were few people in the park and they were mostly students or people having lunch.  I tried to not to make it too obvious that I was photographing them.

Suan Santiphap (Peace Park) is one soi down from our apartment.  It has a few ponds and is beautifully landscaped.

These concrete cylinders and all over the park.  When any concrete is poured, these cylinders are cast subsequently tested to ensure proper strength of the concrete.  We made several in my Materials of Construction class the past semester.  As a research assistant, I help fabricate their asphalt equivalent.

When I came back to the park from 4:20-5:40, it was much more crowded.  There were many people exercising, including this group of older people doing Tai Chi.

Because the park was so crowded, I got a lot of weird looks for taking pictures.  This does not phase me anymore though, as my mere presence in this country warrants weird looks.

After my shift, I was hungry and walked down the street to a restaurant and had my best meal since I came to Thailand.  It was called "fluffy catfish salad."  It was fried catfish and peanuts in a spicy sauce topped with sprouts and beans.  It was out of this world.  I'll be back to that restaurant soon.

The sun was setting when I came back to the apartment.

I then met up with eight other people to eat and go to the night market.  We went to a Chinese restaurant and I got pork with noodles and wontons.

The night market turned out to be all clothing so we got some gelato and walked around for a while.  Then seven of us took a cab to Khaosan street.  The street is famous for catering to backpackers and it was the most touristy part of town I have seen.  It was packed with travellers from all over.

Towards the middle of the street, (it's a short street) we came to a place called the Roof Bar.  This was the first bar I went to in Thailand.  It is made to cater to travelers and the lone Thai guitar player played pop music in English all night.  He did a fantastic rendition of John Denver's Take Me Home, Country Roads.

This light fixture hung in the bar.

We came to this bar around 10:30 and left around 2.  I met a Korean man who spoke English without an accent.  He was on vacation here for two weeks.  He told me if I am going to the beach to go to an eastern beach because the weather there is better.  Then I met a Thai girl who is a law student and a waitress in Bangkok.  She used to live in San Francisco and spoke very good English.  Her English teacher met her there.  He was from Colorado and spoke no Thai.  While I was conversing with them, my friends made friends with two British guys who just graduated from high school named John and Paul.  After the Korean man and Thai girl left, we met two French girls and I learned that Shane speaks very good French.  Then I spoke with a man and his fiance from Dubai on vacation.  It was an international experience and I had a great time.