Inspired by time, I desired to see the Ping River, and also the beautiful Wat Umong Temple which is a few miles SW of the condo. But first I wanted to walk to On The Road Books and exchange The Wanderer, which I finished last night, for a new book. With under 1 minute of browsing I found a well worn copy of Somerset Maugham's short story collection, which was only 120b, and after giving back The Wanderer, had to pay only 20b.
As I began walking away from the bookstore I remembered that Nong Buak Hard Park was not too far away, so I decided to visit the park today, and visit the river and the temple later in the week. I ended up finding the route I took 7 years ago, which I found to be unusually exotic, with most of the interesting things being on Ratchamanka Road Soi 7. Along the way I saw a fruit juice stand and I decided to buy a passion fruit smoothie for 30b. The last 200m to the park made me smile because I had to walk through a small alley adjacent a temple, and then the park magically appears. I bought fish food for 10b (when doing my budget before writing this entry I was 10b short and I could not recall where I had spent it - mystery solved!) and fed the pond fish, and the pigeons were trying their best to get some of the food, but numerous park signs warned not to feed the birds so I reluctantly had to ignore them and they appeared to be offended by my rudeness. I then sat on a bench and read the first Maugham story, Rain.
