Thai Hot

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We arrived at BKK International around 12:30am. Mom was waiting with my aunt, uncle, cousins, and her friend. We got back to the condo and finally made it to bed around 2:30am. We awoke to a breakfast of coffee, puff pastries filled with tuna and pork, and potato balls kind of like tater tots. Stu started his morning with a massage while Jason and I ran down to the pool. We had lunch next door at a little noodle shop as well as having some pork satays. Total tab for 4 people...$6. Quite a difference from Japan. We took a taxi boat down the Chao Praya (main BKK river) south towards downtown as we're up on the burbs. The taxi dropped us and we trekked across the street to the Grand Palace. The king no longer lives there, but it's an incredible sight of jewel covered pagodas, golden wats, and gigantic figures towering over the grounds. Normally this would be a 2 hour tour, but instead they were closing the palace at 4pm so we rushed through it in about 20 minutes, making sure Jason had plenty of photos. After the Palace we ran to MBK shopping center to find some pirated software. We were unsuccessful because the store was closed. We went from there to Central shopping mall and had dinner at the Food Loft where you walk in and they give you a card. You point to food kiosk items and they charge them to your card. We walked around a bit more then headed home.

Saturday, Feb 9
Saturday morning we got up and immediately headed off towards the weekend market. It's an outdoor maze of wholesale shops that wind as far as the eye can see. You can buy things such as silverware, pottery, clothing, meat in a bag that you eat with a stick, pets, jewelry, and anything else you can imagine. Weather was good until we stood too long in one place and started sweating. After making some purchases we headed off back to MBK. This time success. We had found our pirated software store and bought some goods. We went from there to see my grandma "Khun Yai". I hadn't seen her since the last time I was here two year ago. We walked from MBK to gram's house. It's always fun to see my mom's old neighborhood and passing by her catholic St Joseph Convent School. We also passed by the old house where I used to stay when I was younger. I remember the shops across the street where I could buy popsicles and pork satay. Ahhhhh memories.

Khun Yai was well and we surprisingly stayed a short 30 minutes. I'll get the chance to see her again at dinner before we leave town. Next stop Silom Village. My mom's friend Ead owns this little "village" of shops and restaurants. http://www.silomvillage.co.th/ We arrive and everyone greets my mom like she's part owner. Jason looked around and asked why everyone knew mom and Ead and we were like uh "cause Ead own's the place." His response...."oh...that makes sense". We went immediately to get a 2 hour massage for $15. Good stuff. Dinner at silom was next and we feasted on crab, lobster, spring roll, pad thai, fish, mussels and Singha beer. I'm pretty sure Jason and Stu enjoyed it. We taxiied the short distance to Pat Pong, a red light distance where you can buy everything fake...rolexes, fendi purses, and polo shirts. We enjoyed more beers while we walked around then raced back to silom village in a Tuk Tuk (three wheeler).

Sunday, Feb 10
On to....MONKEYS!! Today we hopped in the van and headed to see the monkeys. We drove about an hour and 30 mins away and first stopped at the floating market. We hired a small taxi boat to traverse the canals. It's kind of like Venice of the far east. We made it to the heart of the market where there was a traffic jam of boats. We saw boats and women selling all sorts of fruits and vegetables, along with the standard souvenirs you see all over town. We made a pit stop for noodles that we ate while puttering along. After the 1hour ride we were finally off to the best part of the trip. The monkeys were another 20 mins away at a temple. We stopped at the temple to visit with the monk. We made offerings and Stu and I were blessed for our upcoming marriage. We were also given little icons made of ivory of a famous head monk who has passed away.

After the ceremony we drove up the side of a hill and monkeys were everywhere. We had string beens, bananas, and peanuts for them. They'd run up to you and tug on your shorts and hold out their hands for food. You could hand them one peanut at a time. We have plenty of footage and pics. The only mishap was when the van door got left open and the monkey stole our leftover lunch. Oh...and one of the suckers grabbed a bag of peanuts from jason's hand and ran off. We drove back down the hill and made a stop near a pond where more monkeys had gathered. They were swimming and jumping off the rocks into the pond like it was a saturday at the pool and they were little children. You wouldn't think that monkeys could swim so well, but they do. We left the monkeys after about an hour, stopped for lunch and returned home. We spent the rest of the evening swimming in the pool then had dinner poolside with some of my family and mom's friends. At dinner Stu accidentally ate one of the hottest chili peppers ever broke out in a sweat. His mouth pain didn't go away until about 20 minutes later. If you've had "thai hot" at the thai place, this was at least twice as hot. We came back up, the boys fell asleep, and I read for an hour before falling asleep.

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Photos

Swimmer Stu
Condo pool with Stu swimming, from the 26th floor

Comments

[Doug]

Wonderful, wonderful!!!
I'm sure happy you're having a wonderful time. Personally, I'm up to my ass in oil based paint with no end in sight. Donna is in Austrailia and I feel like McCauley Culkin. Home alone!! I love you both. Come home safe. Dad