Last Weekend

The long weekend is winding down.  So much had happened in our two weeks here in Thailand, the entire country can use a little break.  Seriously, the political scenes seem to have quieted just enough to get through the weekend.

The tourists can certainly use the break.  Suvarnabhumi is open again.  Those of us who need to go/come home now can, and those who are coming/leaving here on holiday can too.

On Thursday, Brandon and I took a little bit of an early start on the long weekend by taking a day road trip with 4 of my mom’s best friends to Khao Yai National Park, 3-hour drive northeast of Bangkok.

The aunties wanted to do this for me, and I wanted to see Aunty Or’s new home being built at the foot of the glorious mountains.  Brandon would also appreciate getting out of town for a while and see the real jungle.

Above all, I was proxy for my mother.  Her friends miss her so dearly.  My mom used go on these trips with them all the time.  Even the house that is being built right now, Aunty Or has my mom in mind and designed it to include wheel chair ramps for future “old ladies expedition”.

I have chronicled all that we ate along the way here.  The part not mentioned will be explained later when I have the pictures.  Let’s just say, after we paid the ridiculous amount of “foreigner fee” for Brandon at 400 Baht while all of us paid 40 Baht each, we did get our money’s worth.  All the monkeys that came rushing to the car everytime we pulled over or slowed down, and all the other monkeys lounging around the highway as if they own the road (probably because they do!), some deer and fawns, and tons of butterflies.

Friday was the King’s Birthday and Father’s Day.  We let dad did his thing and when we was right and ready, we set out for a fun evening.  Dad got a hair cut and so did I.  I was going to make dinner but we were so hungry that we ended up eating at Angelina, a little French cafe in Central Chidlom.  (Review later.)

Dad and I left on our own later to go check out decorations over in Old Town Bangkok for the King’s Birthday.  Being a Friday night and no alcohol was sold (in honor of the King), everybody in town seemed to have the same idea.  We faught traffic out to catch just a little glimpse of it and came home.  But it was a fun father-daughter activity as dad kept pulling over illegally parked so I can run out for a shot, or slowed down in the middle of moving traffic so I could hung out the window for one.

Today was a lot like yesterday in a sense that we took it easy and just hung out with my dad.

We went to see Ong Bak 2 and let me tell you that martial arts and action buff should see this for the action AND THE ACTION ALONE.  Okay maybe for the costumes too.  The story is good but it just wasn’t told well.  Anyway, we came out laughing at the plot but did appreciate the fight choreography.

Dad took us to dinner, Japanese smorgasbord of yumminess.  Across the street was a Thai massage/foot massage place so I suggested we all get an hour of foot rub.  And we did.  And it was soooooo good.

Tomorrow is our last full day here.  We’ll be kicking it here at home and packing.  One final family meal at my brother’s condo.  And tomorrow, we’re off.

What an ordeal it has been!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.