Saturday after returning to the pier from Koh SiChang we drove on into Bangkok. I can't tell you how comforting it is to return from a trip and see Songkran waiting with the car. You always wonder, did he understand the directions, is he on time, did he remember...We are so blessed that he is very dependable and timely. Just when you think your clicking right along something happens to set you back some though. Last week, I asked him to take Dustin and Nathan to some friends of ours home about 15 minutes away to water their plants while they are in the states for Christmas while I got ready for Mark's work dinner. I couldn't imagine what was taking so long, after about 40 minutes I received a call from Dustin,(who had managed to borrow a phone from a passerby)that Songkran had left them! I called Songkran and asked, "Where are you?" He said, "Home." Home I'm wondering? I'm mystified and even ask him, "How did you think they would get home? Walk? You left my babies Songkran, please go back and get them." Turns out he was at our home, the way our house is situated I never even noticed that he was setting on our driveway, I'm not sure what he was thinking, I had tried to be very specific in the directions explaining that the boys had to give naum to the dogmai? Something was lost in the translation for sure!
We wanted to spend some time in Bangkok Christmas shopping and sight seeing. We have not done the typical Bangkok tourist things. Mark took a holiday on Monday and we had Songkran drive us to our hotel asking him to return on Monday to pick us up at the hotel. Taxi service, subway, and sky-train usage is very cheap in Bangkok and easily accessible. If we use Songkran's services on a weekend not only do we have to pay overtime but we also have to give him 1000B/night for accommodations and food. ($30).
Saturday night we took a dinner cruise down the Mae Nam Chao Phraya, all of the temples and royal buildings are illuminated, it was very beautiful and the food was pretty good too, we can now check that tourist thing off our list of things to do. We spent the rest of Saturday and Sunday on the 'Great Guitar Search'. Dustin and Nathan both had requested new guitars for Christmas, after the guitar google search we set off on foot, by taxi, by sky train in search of the desired guitars. It's amazing the parts of the city we got to see that way. We ended up buying their electric guitar in Chinatown at an Ibenez store and the electric, acoustic Yamaha in a mall. I'm thankful that we found the guitars that will make their Christmas wishes come true but mostly thankful that we are safe and sound. You really trust God in a whole new level when you step into some of the Bangkok taxi's. We rode in 5 taxis over the weekend and only 1 driver matched his taxi picture posted in the passenger window. We noticed a propane bottle in the trunk of one of the taxis we rode in. It's amazing how much time I have spent in prayer in a taxi while zooming around Bangkok. I don't think all of our taxi travels even exceeded $10, that's just how cheap the taxi service is in Bangkok.
On Monday, the Clarkson's met us for a tour of the Grand Palace complex and to see the Temple of the Emerald Buddha. All of the royal buildings and wats are spread over 60 acres with over 100 buildings, they are quite amazing. Many of the buildings are gilded with pure gold. The Grand Palace is today used by the king for only certain ceremonial occasions. The so-called Emerald Buddha is not emerald but made of one complete piece of jade, it's not known who sculpted it and has been the subject of much controversy-it has been stolen by Laos at one time, but after 200 years was taken back. It has three royal robes that are changed according to the season and only the king himself can change his clothes. The robes are made of pure gold-one for the hot season, the cool season (remember that is a relative term!!) and the rainy season. It is one of Thailand's most esteemed possessions. You must be suitably attired to enter the palace grounds-no shorts or bare arms, I actually saw the fashion police turn someone away who had a sleeveless shirt on.
After the walking tour, we boarded a long boat for a trip through the canals of Bangkok. This was so cool, I love seeing how differently people live. We were all surprised to see very large Monitor lizards throughout the canals and lounging on porches of residences, at first we thought they were crocodiles in the canal water. So glad that we took the canal tour.
We arrived home Monday night around 9 pm just in time to start preparing for a Christmas swimming party at our house on Tuesday. We invited our friends that are still here over for swimming. It was a lot of fun, the highlight seemed to be all the kids swimming in the pond!! There were also badminton and ping-pong tournaments going on. I'll post a slide show of our Bangkok weekend and the swimming party.
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