Rest in Bangkok, Monday, November 9, 2009

Up at 8, stretched and showered. Started on the orange juice. Not as sweet as expected. Talked to Bill about the trip and plans for the day.

At 10 I was in the Coffee Art shop uploading photos and my diary into the blog. Read what info I could find about tours in the Khao Yai NP. Everything shown was high rates. Just before noon I crossed the street to have a bowl of soup at a small cafe that Bill likes. I didn't know what to ask for other than soup with veggies. They didn't understand, and pointed to the types of noodles in the case. I selected one and the cook prepared a bowl with noodles, dark sliced meat and a separate plate with bean sprouts and a minty leaf and a glass of ice. The water pitcher was on the table. It all tasted good. For 30B. Shortly after I sat down the place filled up with the lunch crowd, and Trish called. The traffic increased at noon and the noise was too much for a quiet conversation with Trish. So it was short, but nice. Back at the Coffee Art shop I finished the uploads before 12:30 and was charged for just 2 hours, 70B.

Afternoon I read about the park and tried calling the Royal Forest Department. The number was busy the 3 times I tried.

Bill was invited to go to a talk by a monk this evening. We left about 6, traveling by tuk-tuk and BTS (80B off my card for the round trip), to the Ari station, then walking a short distance. First to a Tesco Lotus convenience store at an Esso gas station for Halls cough drops, 9B, and a small ham and cheese on whole wheat, for 35B, and a dough bun with some meat filling, for 8B. I ate the bun, but arrived at the room for the talk before I could eat the sandwich. We were early enough to get chairs up front. Most 100 or so people in the room sat on mats. There were also a large group of people on chairs and mats outside the full height glass wall. The talk was amplified and heard on speakers outside. A large screen on the side wall showed a close-up of the speaker. One monk, Ajahn Pandit, gave an introduction for the visiting monk, Ajahn Jayasaro, shown in the photo. The talk was about some basic Buddhist beliefs and comments and stories, and lasted an hour. That was followed by a 20 minute meditation, then a Q and A session, mostly about intent and meditation, of about 20 minutes. At one side were 2 monks from Sri Lanka and a monk, Frank Newbold, a man nearly my age who was ordained 7 months ago. Frank introduced himself, thinking that he recognized me. He had lived 25 years in Berkeley. I forgot to ask him what he had done in Berkeley. I don't remember meeting him, but the name, Newbold, seems familiar. We took a couple of free books and a 2 CD set of Ajahn Jayasaro's talks.

Ate the sandwich when we returned to Bill's place. The ham and cheese slices were very thin and the bread was cake bread. Had to add chili sauce to give it some flavor. The sore throat and congestion is nearly gone.

So my outlay for today is 152B, $4.50, plus 80B off my BTS card.