To the ever faithful who know that Gigi and I are now home in BrisVegas (Brisbane for those outside of the loop) but continue to check the blog here's an update about our time in Bangkok.
The idea was to break the journey from Europe to Australia. Bangkok, always a favourite, is ideally placed at almost exactly half way. Jenny's good friend Doeng (friends since high school in southern Thailand in 1987...you do the maths) lives in Bangkok near the impressive new airport with his lovely Japanese wife Shiho and two daughters so it was a good excuse to visit them. Furthermore, any trip to Thailand is an opportunity to eat, speak the language and check out how the city of 10 million has changed since our last visit.
Ah, the food. The language is a joy to reconnect with, and the city never stays the same for very long. It's extraordinary.
We packed quite a bit into the short visit, even though we were waking up at 3am in the morning and adjusting to the heat and humidity after leaving winter in Italy. We hit our favourite shopping centres, went to dinner at the Cabbages and Condom restaurant (a special initiative highlighting AIDS prevention), met a 17 year old exchange student Brittany and saw a fabulous cultural spectacle. We spent a day at the weekend markets and then had a surprise dinner with Doeng’s uncle and aunt, two of our favourite Thais, P’Lop and P’Mas. It is seven years since we last saw them and the sight of them at the Starbucks café brought me to tears.
However, the true delight of the visit was connecting with Doeng’s daughters. Hana Chan is 4 ½ years old and already at school. The youngest is Kyoka and she is now 2 years and 7 months. Both girls speak Thai, Japanese and English. Both girls are gorgeous, well behaved and after overcoming their initial shyness were keen to have us read stories, sing nursery rhymes and entertain them during the lengthy car trips in to the city centre.
Enjoy the photos. We enjoyed having the opportunity to take them.
The idea was to break the journey from Europe to Australia. Bangkok, always a favourite, is ideally placed at almost exactly half way. Jenny's good friend Doeng (friends since high school in southern Thailand in 1987...you do the maths) lives in Bangkok near the impressive new airport with his lovely Japanese wife Shiho and two daughters so it was a good excuse to visit them. Furthermore, any trip to Thailand is an opportunity to eat, speak the language and check out how the city of 10 million has changed since our last visit.
Ah, the food. The language is a joy to reconnect with, and the city never stays the same for very long. It's extraordinary.
We packed quite a bit into the short visit, even though we were waking up at 3am in the morning and adjusting to the heat and humidity after leaving winter in Italy. We hit our favourite shopping centres, went to dinner at the Cabbages and Condom restaurant (a special initiative highlighting AIDS prevention), met a 17 year old exchange student Brittany and saw a fabulous cultural spectacle. We spent a day at the weekend markets and then had a surprise dinner with Doeng’s uncle and aunt, two of our favourite Thais, P’Lop and P’Mas. It is seven years since we last saw them and the sight of them at the Starbucks café brought me to tears.
However, the true delight of the visit was connecting with Doeng’s daughters. Hana Chan is 4 ½ years old and already at school. The youngest is Kyoka and she is now 2 years and 7 months. Both girls speak Thai, Japanese and English. Both girls are gorgeous, well behaved and after overcoming their initial shyness were keen to have us read stories, sing nursery rhymes and entertain them during the lengthy car trips in to the city centre.
Enjoy the photos. We enjoyed having the opportunity to take them.
The old style dancing, the modern traffic jams.
Truly Thailand.
Chinese New Year decorations
Kyoka at play, and Hana Chan at breakfast.
Kyoka and older sister Hana Chan.
1. City street scenes. 2. Winter in Bangkok?
No comments:
Post a Comment