3-25-07
WOW! We are here and it feels great to be in Thailand and even better to be at ‘our’ home in Phetchaburi. It is hotter than blue blazes but we have AC in the bedroom so we can sleep at night. During the day you move very slowly and don’t do anything that requires much energy!
We got up at 4:00 am in Colombo and left the hotel at 4:30. Our flight left at 7:15 and we were worried we weren’t going to make it as the line to the counter was soooo long and one agent was serving the line. So my brilliant husband got into the shorter line for Singapore and they served him even though he was in the wrong line. Such a smart guy! There was no time to grab anything to eat or drink so no java, nuttin honey! We survived as they did feed us on the plane unlike the US. It was a three and a half hour flight so we were grateful for the breakfast. We grabbed a cab into Bangkok and checked into our hotel that was conveniently located and quite nice for $47 a night plus VAT and taxes brought it up to $70. Such a deal in the heart of the big city. We went shopping for a resource guide to Bangkok, that tells you where to shop for whatever you need. We discovered from the resource guide that there were several lamp stores in our immediate area. That was good due to the heat. Oy! We checked out three places, one had pretty celadon lamps but the price was too high for the frugal Bergmans so we will continue to search. We passed a window display with a gorgeous wall hanging, a traditional Thai weaving and I couldn’t resist it. I think I paid way too much but it’s too late now. I fell in love with the color and knew it would fit right above the living room couch. I got to Phetchaburi and discovered the colors were all wrong so it will move to the day room couch and the painting in the day room will move to the living room most probably. By now (back to Bangkok) we were tired, very hot and sweaty so headed back to the hotel for a rest and shower. Around 7:00 we headed out to the Thai massage establishment next door. We had one of the best foot massages ever that ended with a head massage and shoulder/back massage. Calling it a foot massage was not exactly accurate but we were delighted.
We ate dinner at Cabbages and Condoms. Yes that’s right, condoms. The man who started the restaurant wanted to do something to bring awareness to the need for family planning and the rise of AIDS in Thailand so he created a theme restaurant. His thinking was that condoms should be as easy to get as cabbages in the market. So there are mannequins through the restaurants in various forms of dress made from condoms and/or packets of birth control pills. Our table had a glass over rows of condoms. The place was packed and the food was good. That isn’t always the case with theme restaurants. A portion of the proceeds goes to help family planning clinics and AIDS charities. Instead of after dinner mints that usually come with the bill, you guessed it, you get two condoms! They also had a craft shop that is owned by the restaurants with funny t-shirts that continue the theme such as: Stealth Condoms-no one will see you coming.
On Sunday we met Jami Sachs and her husband John. He works for the US Embassy in Chiang Mai (northern Thailand) and she works for ICMA, Ron’s employer for the SL project. They had come to Bangkok for the weekend to get away from the really bad pollution in Chiang Mai. You won’t believe this. In Thailand (this may be a global standard but I don’t know) 100 particulates per cubic ft is considered the threshold for safety (I may have the ratio wrong but hang with me on this) In Bangkok on any given day there are about 50. In Chiang Mai the current rate is 380!!!!!! You know it’s bad when you come to Bangkok for clean air!! That aside, they took us to a delightful restaurant called Crepes and Co. that was two doors down from where we had dinner the night before. It was delicious and they had good decaf so imagine how happy I was. Jami ordered a pot of Moroccan tea. It is a very light tea poured over fresh mint. It brought back a flood of memories as I had last had that tea in 1966 when I hitch hiked across Western Europe and Northern Africa. I guess there is something to that thing about cycles….
We had hoped to go to a famous outdoor market in Bangkok but it was just too hot and we ran out of time. We mentioned it to John and Jami and they gave us a very interesting statistic. The market, called JJ market by the locals and the Chatuchak for the rest of us has 6,000 booths. That’s not a typo. The statistic is if you visited each booth for one minute and did this for 8 hours at a time on Sat and Sun when the market is open it would take 2 months to see all the booths. I’m not sure I even want to go there but John and Jami said it is fun. Okay but no in 102-degree heat. Maybe in November…I’m such a magnolia blossom. I’d rather we sitting on the veranda in my porch swing sipping something ice cold….
We raced back to our hotel to catch our prearranged ride to Phetchaburi. Our friend Su who lives in Bangkok and is a dear friend of Nattawan joined us. Everyone worries that Ron and I will have a difficult time here so various friends and family members are assigned to take care of us and always spoil us. Jeap was our driver and lives about two blocks from our house in Phetchaburi. He is a professional driver and we are thankful to have found him. So we had a quick two-hour drive and arrived just in time for dear Su to present our lunch that she had purchased in Bangkok for us. It was khaao-man gai-boned chicken with rice. It is one of our favorites. While she got lunch on the table, we went to the big house and said hello to Nattawan’s aunt. She is 83 and recently fell and broke her hip. She then had hip replacement surgery and is recovering. She is an amazing woman and although she doesn’t speak English she always greets us warmly. She loves to ‘chat’ with us and we enjoy her company. Su had to leave shortly after lunch to go back to Bangkok as her work was plied up. She teaches agriculture in a university in Bangkok.
We spent the afternoon unpacking and getting settled. We walked to the store after a short rest (the heat demanded it) and got milk, water, and juice for breakfast. There was an open-air market across from the market so we walked through it. We are the only white people in the neighborhood so we got lots of friendly smiles and hellos. We got a small orchid bouquet for Nattawan’s aunt. Tomorrow we will go to a larger grocery store when we have use of a car and stock up. In the meantime, we decided to go out for dinner and had a difficult time finding anything open. As we were walking around the area, we passed a store where several people were eating outside. It is most common to cook and eat outside here due to the heat. They waved us over and started a conversation, with very limited English but it was great fun trying to understand one another. They were most curious as to where we were staying. Of course we have no idea of our address so couldn’t tell them the street name or number. Very few signs are written in the alphabet we use and we are clueless when it comes to reading the Thai alphabet. At last we found an outdoor restaurant. The music was so loud we couldn’t hear a word the waiter said to us and had to ask him to turn down the music. As we looked around (it was lit by fairy lights so it was hard to see much) we realized we were three times older than anyone there. No English and we couldn’t see the photos due to lack of light on the menu to determine what they were serving. After trying our Thai and not being understood, we whipped out our Thai language book and pointed to roasted chicken and sticky rice. No problem. Two women hopped on a motorcycle and went to some other restaurant and brought back our order! HA!! They didn’t serve water so I had my first Pepsi in about 20 years. Our dinner was delicious and we watched young people sing karaoke throughout the meal. We looked at each other and said, "We’re old". When we paid the bill, they asked us to wait for five minutes so we assumed they had to go out for change. Life here is different and we love it!
This morning we got up a little before 7:00 so we could get a little yard work done before the heat was unbearable. We went outside and started digging rocks out of the soil. I think I mentioned we had a landscape design done in Vancouver so want to get things moving to implement the design. We may get the soil in the front prepared and that may be all. It is filled with construction debris so it will take all week just to get the big rocks out and we will need to amend the soil in order to grow anything. But we have lots of time and no schedule. Noy, Nattawan’s cousin who lives in front of our house came out and helped us. He speaks a little English. We worked probably 45 minutes and stopped. The sun was up and not too kind. There is no need to kill ourselves on this. Noy looked at us when we said it was time to quit and commented ‘evening work’. I hate to tell him, it’s just as hot at night as early morning. We came inside and showered and had a light breakfast. We have weight scales here and we have gained weight. The hot weather should curb our appetite. We plan to eat lunch in the neighbor eateries and fix a light supper here at the house at night. That should help take some weight off.
Later today our friends Kay and Bill who live in Hua Hin, about an hour south of us, will come by and we are going out for lunch. They have always been a treat to be with. Bill is a retired contractor so he and Ron had lots in common. Well it is so hot at 11:00 I am sitting three feet from the fan and sweating. Time to wrap it up!!