Nit and Eric's hired driver slept in the van outside our hotel last night. They told us not to worry about him, the hotel had an outside shower for hired drivers and if he really wanted a bed he could rent one down the alley for $6.
We greeted him in the morning at 6:30am. Each one of us killed at least two mosquitoes each in the van before we were safe from them ;-) We drove for about an hour and half and arrived at the floating market. We did some shopping in the boats and then sat outside drinking $1.20 Singha beers. Ty and Trey did some shopping and even a bit of negotiating. They both bought dcorative elephants. Trey's had small pieces of colored glass and Ty's was a golden colored broach he said was for his Grandmother. They also bought some drums. Ty negotiated his drum from 250 Bhat down to 200 bhat. Trey negotiated his drum from 1200 down to 500 (well I helped with the negotiation for Trey ;-) I purchased a Thai Marionette for 1020 Bhat. Ed was no where to be seen so I had to negotiate without him. I got it down from 2800 bhat. The boys got to laugh at me because the man made me pay an extra 20 Bhat for good luck and Happy New Year. He didn't care what the extra amount was and saw me pull a 500 out by mistake, I said "oops, not that one" and he said, "no that one good, for very good luck and happy new year!" The kids still laugh about that. I LOVE my doll. Not sure where it will go though.
We had tons of food at the market and tried all sorts of new things..."Shampoo" fruit. It was red and watery, similar to a pear. Trey loved the mango and Uncle Eric and I loved the coconut pancakes. We tried to buy more but she said she sold the very last ones just after we ate ours (it was the end of the day. She was floating on a boat and frying pancakes with hot oil at the same time!)
After the floating market we continued on to the Tranditional Teak House of Rama 2 and then to the Rose Garden which was a hotel on a very big acreage with a cultural center similar to the Polynesian Cultural Center in Hawaii. We had a fantastic lunch in a very fancy restaurant over a boat house. The boys were especially happy because they got to eat hamburgers and french fries. We missed the cultural shows because we got there to late, but we did see a magnificent sunset and the gardens were spectacular.
After driving since 6:30am we finally arrived back at our hotel at 8:30pm. Poor Nittaya had worked very hard today. Even though she hired a driver, the driver was from the South and didn't know where we were going, nor did he have a map with him! I think Nittaya was concerned that we were driving for so long, but actually the van was quite comfortable and there was so much to see. We even saw our first elephant walking down the road!
Sunday, January 4, 2009
Day 2 - Auytthaya
Nit and Eric rented a car for us for two days. Today we went to Ayutthaya with Kevin Curran and his family (Pam, his wife and Chris, his son). For those reading this and don't know who Kevin is, he grew up in Laguna Beach with us and is one of Eric's best friends who actually got him his job with the International School after vacationing in Bangkok 13 years ago or so.
On our travels in the van, we saw some authentic Thai temples and made our fist offerings with the help of Nit explaining what to do with the candles, insense, flower and gold. We then went to a temple where there were little children monk statues wearing spectacles just like Trey. We fed some fish on the river and they were quite large and ravenouse. We got splashed from their frenzy and Trey dropped the spoon to feed them into the water! We got on a tiny little boat that would have toppled over had we were not balanced properly. After a few trials we figured it out and off we went down the river to explore the sites from the river in this boat. After our hour long boat ride we drove to a little restaurant that we happened to see while we were on the boat. It was a floating restaurant with amazing food.
We then ended by going to see the ruins of Ayutthaya (which we had also seen from the boat). The Burmese had actually destroyed this site and the 12o Buddhas surrounding the ruins were actually headless and in "ruins". The structures were quite high with lots of stairs and no walls to hold in falling children. Trey and Ty were very good at climbing them.
On our travels in the van, we saw some authentic Thai temples and made our fist offerings with the help of Nit explaining what to do with the candles, insense, flower and gold. We then went to a temple where there were little children monk statues wearing spectacles just like Trey. We fed some fish on the river and they were quite large and ravenouse. We got splashed from their frenzy and Trey dropped the spoon to feed them into the water! We got on a tiny little boat that would have toppled over had we were not balanced properly. After a few trials we figured it out and off we went down the river to explore the sites from the river in this boat. After our hour long boat ride we drove to a little restaurant that we happened to see while we were on the boat. It was a floating restaurant with amazing food.
We then ended by going to see the ruins of Ayutthaya (which we had also seen from the boat). The Burmese had actually destroyed this site and the 12o Buddhas surrounding the ruins were actually headless and in "ruins". The structures were quite high with lots of stairs and no walls to hold in falling children. Trey and Ty were very good at climbing them.
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Day One
We told Eric and Nittaya that we would be catching up on sleep when we saw them at dinner the night before. We actually told them that we wouldn't be prepared to do anything until about 1pm that afternoon. They were extremely surprised when we interupted them from their morning decaf coffee with a call telling them that we were ready to go and it was only 9am! Nittaya convinced us that only 'tourist' go to the Market in the morning and that we should wait until later to go. Ed convinced Nittaya that we should do something before the market because we were ready to start our day ;-)
We started the day with a boat taxi down the river to downtown Bangkok. Ty began taking his first photos and Trey actually fell asleep ;-) We then went to the World Trade and saw our first Buddhas and visited the large mall with fancy stores decorated for Christmas, with Christmas trees and Santas to boot. We then made our way to the SkyTrain where we coincidentally bumped into Ty's Godfather, Mike with Joi and their son Aiden. We probably would have passed them by but they noticed Ty exiting the station. As large as Bangkok is, it was very strange to be running into them. We did plan to see them and knew they had arrived, but never in a million years expected to see them that day. They decided to join us for our trip to The Jim Thompson House.
We started the day with a boat taxi down the river to downtown Bangkok. Ty began taking his first photos and Trey actually fell asleep ;-) We then went to the World Trade and saw our first Buddhas and visited the large mall with fancy stores decorated for Christmas, with Christmas trees and Santas to boot. We then made our way to the SkyTrain where we coincidentally bumped into Ty's Godfather, Mike with Joi and their son Aiden. We probably would have passed them by but they noticed Ty exiting the station. As large as Bangkok is, it was very strange to be running into them. We did plan to see them and knew they had arrived, but never in a million years expected to see them that day. They decided to join us for our trip to The Jim Thompson House.
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Christmas Night Departure
We left SFO from our home at 9:30am Christmas night. Santa arrived the night before bringing many channukah gifts and christmas gifts for the boys. The boys insisted on leaving him and the reindeer Dreidel and Star of David Cookies which we had made vs. the Christmas tree and Santa face cookies we had bought in the store Christmas Eve. It was Trey's idea really, Ty thought Santa would like the Christmas cookies, however Trey filled him in that if Santa ate the Channukah cookies, the Christmas ones would be left for them. Ty nodded in agreement.
After travelling 27 hours we finally arrived in Bangkok with Uncle Eric and Nittaya greeting us with a van/taxi to get us to our Hotel (Kantary House) This is the same hotel that Eric lived up until 6 months ago, before he moved into his Bangkok Condo. The hotel is very secure and quite lovely, very spacious (2 bedroom/2 bath), with a nice little restaurant that the boys especially appreciate for their "american" breakfast.
We were very tired when Nittaya and Eric met us. The boys actually fell asleep at the beautiful restuarant (Ruen House) on a lake without even waiting two minutes in the cab before they were 'sleep walking' and snoring at the dinner table. We all went to bed around 9:30pm and didn't wake up until 5:30am (Ed slept until 6am).
After travelling 27 hours we finally arrived in Bangkok with Uncle Eric and Nittaya greeting us with a van/taxi to get us to our Hotel (Kantary House) This is the same hotel that Eric lived up until 6 months ago, before he moved into his Bangkok Condo. The hotel is very secure and quite lovely, very spacious (2 bedroom/2 bath), with a nice little restaurant that the boys especially appreciate for their "american" breakfast.
We were very tired when Nittaya and Eric met us. The boys actually fell asleep at the beautiful restuarant (Ruen House) on a lake without even waiting two minutes in the cab before they were 'sleep walking' and snoring at the dinner table. We all went to bed around 9:30pm and didn't wake up until 5:30am (Ed slept until 6am).
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