OznAsia

This blog has not been particularly active lately because I have not been particularly active. Well, I'm active but I'm following a routine and it is not terribly exciting. Two days a week I go into the city to Thai language school. My main priority on the other days is to study Thai at home which I do with the aid of two online dictionaries and off course my good friend Tee who lives downstairs in my apartment building.

Recently I discovered that an eight week Buddhist dharma and meditation class was to be presented at a wat in the city one night a week by an English monk. I went along on the first night, was pleased and have been going ever since. The course is presented on Thursday evenings and as I am already going to my Thai class on Thursday mornings it makes sense to stay in the city but that of course means I have a lot of time to fill between classes. One week I made a return visit to Little India and got some more movies. Was going to go to a movie another time but got there too late for one session and the following session would finish too late for my timetable so I spent a few hours browsing in a bookshop (and spending a little money).

Last week I came prepared with a book to read. I decided to relax in one of my favourite places in Bangkok, the Saphan Taksin jetty. It's always cool there with a breeze coming off the river and I enjoy watching the many and varied boats coming and going. Thursday it was very cool because there was a storm coming which you can see in the photo here that I snapped with my Panasonic FX3. That's the little camera that I bought so I could take it anywhere. It's usually in my bag.

I reached Wat Yannawa a little early for the dharma class so snapped a few shots there too. As you can see the floor is still damp from that storm. I believe the building behind the wat is empty. Bangkok still has quite a few buildings such as this as a result of the Asian economic slump of about ten years ago. Apparently ownership issues are so complex that nothing can be done to either complete or destroy such buildings.

If you are interested in these dharma classes, there is a short version of the talks here and also from this site you can pick up information about other Buddhist teachings and get-togethers in English happening in Bangkok.

Labels: Asia, Bangkok, Buddhism, camera, fx3, Panasonic, thailand, travel