Asian Science Camp 2015 at Bangkok, Thailand

If I can pick one highlight for each summer, it would not be too difficult for the previous three summers. My highlight for my first summer is easily Yellowstone with my Thai friends from University of Chicago. For my second summer, it would be a conference about technology at KAIST, South Korea. Last summer, it was definitely UTRIP, an internship program at University of Tokyo, Japan. However, it was not so easy this summer. Previously I would say either an exoplanet conference in Quy Nhon, Vietnam or my sightseeing trip to Ho Chi Minh City. But after going to Asian Science Camp (ASC2015), I am certain that the best thing that happened to me this summer is being a liaison at ASC2015.

Panel Discussion with famous scientists, including two Nobel winners and Field Medalist (Credit: Theerapoom Boonprab)

2nd Post: Population Density in Bangkok

I want to continue the series of my post about the population of people in Bangkok, Thailand. Last time, I looked at the total number of people within different Khwangs (which is a finer division than districts). It was also the last post that we mentioned a possible misunderstanding from the previous plot because of the different in areas for each region which are vastly different. Therefore, we should look into the population density instead of the total number of population for each Khwang. I used the 'shape_area' that is calculated within the data file for the information about the area, but there is no obvious information about the unit of the area, so the number of population density, presented here, will not give a much insight into the actual number. However, the relationship between different region for the population density is still valid and required further discussion to make sense out of it.

Where do People Live in Bangkok?

Bangkok, the capitol of Thailand, is the center of everything that you can think of about one country. It is the location for the Grand Palace where the King lives, a large financial distinct in the center of Bangkok, several markets and shopping malls for everyone to buy something, and hundred of Buddhist temples scattering around Bangkok. The Siam Paragon (สยามพารากอน)—a massive shopping complex, movie theater and aquarium in Bangkok–often ranked the most-Instagrammed places for several years. And we also said that Bangkok is the first step to come to South-East Asia because of our enormous airport, Suvarnabhumi Airport.

But where do people actually live in Bangkok? We often saw an ordinary scene of bad traffic in the morning when people are rushing to go to work from different places, students are trying to get to school before 8 am and locals are opening up their stores for another day. Have you ever wondered where do they live? And how far they have to drive to come to work or study in the center of the city?

As a picture is worth a thousand words, I would say that a map is worth a thousand picture. But I could not find any online map showing the details of population of people who live in Bangkok, so I decided to make my own. Fortunately, it is not too difficult to find this data online. Specially, I found the data for the boundary of different khwaengs (แขวง)–an administrative subdivision used in the 50 distrincts of Bangkok and also population within each khwaeng from the Ministry of Transport of Thailand (MOT). In this map, I showed the population for different khwaengs in Bangkok. You could see where people tend to live in Bangkok. I also put in some public transportation like subway train and express ways to see whether there is a correlation between the number of available modes of transit and the population of people.

Which Region do you live in Bangkok?

If you live in Bangkok, you might have heard that Bangkok is divided into 3 main regions based on the location of each district. If you are not sure which region you actually live, here is the list of all 50 districts with its region (the data is from a Pantip forum).

1) Inner City (เขตชั้นใน - blue) including 21 districts: PHRA NAKHON (พระนคร), POM PRAP SATTRU PHAI (ป้อมปราบศัตรูพ่าย), SAMPHANTHAWONG (สัมพันธวงศ์), PATHUM WAN (ปทุมวัน), BANG RAK (บางรัก), YAN NAWA (ยานนาวา), SATHON (สาทร), BANG KHO LAEM (บางคอแหลม), DUSIT (ดุสิต), BANG SUE (บางซื่อ), PHAYA THAI (พญาไท), RATCHATHEWI (ราชเทวี), ห้วยขวาง (HUAI KHWANG), KHLONG TOEI (คลองเตย), CHATUCHAK (จตุจักร), ธนบุรี (THON BURI), KHLONG SAN (คลองสาน), BANGKOK NOI (บางกอกน้อย), BANGKOK YAI (บางกอกใหญ่), DIN DAENG (ดินแดง), WATTHANA (วัฒนา).

Being a Thai Person in 2014

I have not been home for almost a year now since my last time visiting home in 2013 and did not plan to go home for another year.  But because of our current technology, I have received lots and lots of news about Thailand while I am abroad especially from Facebook when my friends shared articles online. Being removed from the country made me looking at the current event with a different perspective. This is not because I want to, but because I do not have the same context and information as a person who live in Thailand has. My foreign friends often ask for my comment about the situation in Thailand, but the answer that I always gave is simply 'I don't know much about a situation.' I wish I could give a better answer, but I simply can't. Here I would like to share my feeling about the situation.

Rattanakosin Exhibition Hall I visited last time I went home (Summer 2013)