Oasis of Tranquility

Since I was going to a spagetti dinner party at a staff member's house near the airport, I chose to go to a Botanical Gardens in that general direction for the afternoon. Once you have been in Bangkok for a while, it is hard to imagine anywhere that is not busy, smelly, treacherous to walk and noisy! But I am here to tell you that I found it to-day. It is not in any guidebooks I could find and frankly, without the help of my massage lady who made the suggestion yesterday, I never would have even heard of it.

If you look at the pictures, at first glance it could be High Park or Hyde Park until you look a little closer and see the spirit house, the ladies with umbrellas for sun protection, the food that people are eating with their picnic, the unrelenting sun which you may be able to perceive in the pictures and the perfect charm of the place. It took me a little while to figure out that we were in a magical place. Even as I write this, lying in my bed on a Sunday night, I hear the cars and motorcycles charging along my street and the interminable whistles that doormen love to blow to usher out cars...except for my doorman who won't even open the gate for a taxi until we honk about three times since he is busily writing in his notebook. I have never even seen him look up and have no idea what he looks like. I wonder if he is alive?

The park had a lake with paddle boats, a Chinese botanical area, actual toilets with running water, lots of benches, and not many people. What could be more pleasant on a Sunday afternoon. ( I will tell you). It got so hot, I opted to go to dinner 3 hours early and spent the three hours in the pool with a pair of shorts at least three sizes too big. What a pleasure to be in the water. The last time I remember anything feeling quite that good was jumping into a pool at a golf course after 18 holes in what I used to think was a hot day.

I spent the evening with teacher colleagues having dinner which I am beginning to think really improves the working atmosphere at the school. Next week I got roped into hosting a Canadian Thanksgiving party by promising I would not have to do anything but show up and make sure my door was unlocked.

Tomorrow night I am playing night golf which is really charming. I may convince Daniel to give it a try the next time he is here in December.