Halloween Fun

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A lot seems to have happened since our Phuket trip. First, Jim and I have now driven our car twice, although it is still very stressful to drive here. We are contemplating hiring a driver - maybe sharing one part-time with another family in the building. It's very cheap and saves on stress of potentially hitting a motorcycle taxi - if it weren't for the multiple motorcycle taxis that zoom in and out around the car, it would be much easier to drive in Bangkok.

Second, we got to celebrate Halloween three times - at our building, at Max's school, and at the U.S. Embassy. Max was happy to have multiple occasions to wear his "Eyeore" costume (actually, it was just a donkey costume I found here, but was the closest thing I could find that resembled a Winnie-the-Pooh character as requested by Max). It was a lot of fun this year because Max was so excited about it. I have some pictures from Halloween posted here.

Third, our friend Rob Schult came to visit us on his way back from a business trip to Hong Kong. We went to the Jim Thompson house and I finally got to see the Grand Palace and Wat Pho. The Jim Thompson house is great - he was an American former OSS officer who came to Thailand and fell in love with it. He is believed to be responsible for reviving the Thai silk industry and built this amazing house in Bangkok that is now a tourism attraction. The house is built in the traditional Thai style with beautiful gardens and a restaurant and is a nice oasis from the hustle and bustle of the city. Rob and I also took a longboat river taxi to go see the Grand Palace, which was a lot of fun. The longboats are motorized and go really fast! The Grand Palace was amazing - it has a Wat (i.e. Buddhist temple) attached to it and I have never seen so many beautiful ornate buildings together in a relative small space. But I loved Wat Pho even more - this is the temple of the reclining Buddha and nothing could prepare me for the sheer size of the Buddha statue. It is absolutely massive and is almost as large as the building that houses it. My digital camera died, but I had regular film with me and will post those pictures once I get the film put onto disk. It's a good thing that Jim's cell phone has a good camera on it! We ordered a new camera though that hopefully will arrive soon.

Fourth, we took Max to the Dusit Zoo in Bangkok, which was a lot nicer than we expected. It had a lovely park and lake as well as a number of animals I had never seen at a zoo before - like Sun Bears and Black Leopards.

On a more personal note, we are really starting to enjoy life here. Our social calendar is great - we have met so many wonderful people - and it is fantastic having Max go to an international school. The community of people we meet is extremely diverse and I'm having a ball these days. Also, I have been asked to do some freelance work - an editing project for the International Labour Organization (ILO) and potentially helping some U.S. attorneys with their business cases filed with the US Consulate in Bangkok assuming I can get the permission I need to do that type of work, which I'm checking into. I like the idea of doing these one off projects because they don't take too much time and don't require much commitment.

That's all for now!

Maddy

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Photos

Max as Eyeore
This was at our apartment building Halloween party.

Khun Somnuk and Eyeore
This is a picture of our housekeeper, Khun Somnuk, with Max.

Halloween costumes
This is Max with some of the kids from our building - some are being kind of gross as you can see!

Max and Ava
Riding on our lobby frog.

Comments

[Greg-Greg]

Halloween
I loved reading about all of you latest adventures in Bangkok! You guys all seem to be having the time of your lives. I love the Eeoyre costume, Max-Max! Was Ava a fairy princess? Whenever I run into Gigi over in Pod 3, she talks with great enthusiasm about coming to visit you in January. I have a birthday present for you that I will hopefully have time to mail this coming week-end. I have only been dragging it around with me for the last month or so. Look forward to your next entry! Greg-Greg

[Diane Butler]

Maddy, I, too, loved the Jim Thompson house and Wat Pho, when I visited Thailand in 1989. If I have any business cases to process in Thailand, I will contact you. If you hear of any CBP issues, feel free to contact me. I'm chairing the AILA CBP committee this year. Diane