Day 1. Markets, river taxis and ice i your beer

We made it in last night about 1pm. Our wonderful Thai partner, Siri-orn (Oil) met us at the airport with two vans and escorted us to the University where we are staying. She also had Simgha beer waiting and wonderful Thainoodles and most wonderful pork and rice dish with se added spices thst tasted so delicious.

Today we met for breakfast, myself and Bill Mitchell tool
a tour (with Oil) of the university and happened to rum into The President of SSRU ( today is commencement. The SSRU grounds are beautiful, this I'd a former royal palace and grounds, which 70 years ago was turned into a teacher's college.

At 11 we headed to the largest weekend market in the world, chuchakat. I think you could buy Judy about anything there. From chihuahuas to lingerie to all kinds of food, to buddhas to glocks.

Then we rode the skytrain to the water front and then took a water taxi on the river. The taxi took us by the Grand Palace, several major Buddhist wats,and more.

Then we found a restaurant. Orderedseveral dishes many beers with ice.....

More later

ECSLED2010

We are ;less than 48 hours from departure to Bangkok for teh "environmentzallly and culturally sustainable local economic development" conference in Bangkok Thailand, hosted by Suan Sunandha Rajuabhat University (SSRU).

The ISU delegation consists of our leader and one of the principal organizers of the conference, John Conant, Chairperson, Dept of Economics, Brian Kilp, Dept of Music, William Mitchell, Dept of Biology, Mike Chambers, Chairperson, Dept of Political Science, Steppen Aldrich, Dept of Earth and Environmental Studies, and me, Tom Steiger, Sociologist.  Two others are joining us, Chris McGrew from Purdue, and John Gibson, IU-Northwest.

Some of us will be sharing out thoughts and experiences on this blog during the trip.

The ECSLED logo, brought to us by our most special friend, Siri-orn Champatong, whose efforts have made this conference a reality, is below.