Awesome and Awkward Moments

So, today I packed up the boys after breakfast and headed to the BTS (train) station. Being Monday here in lovely Bangkok, little Philip needed to get to his soccer camp.

We climbed the stairs and headed down the walkway towards the turnstiles. I looked down to scramble through my purse for our train passes, and when I looked up, people were like

I froze. Grabbed Nate's hand. Not a single person was moving, and they weren't making eye contact.

I was like

They were like

And for a split second I really though we were in "The Happening."

And then the train above us came to a stop, and in the quiet I could finally hear that they were playing the national anthem. It finished. Everyone resumed their walking.

I wiped the look of confusion off my face and took the kids to camp.

Awesome moments?

I'm packing our suitcases back up again to move to our HOUSE tomorrow.

We bought a NEW TV, for the first time ever. Splurge-o-rama! (not really, but it feels like it!)

Nathan snuggling up with me at 6am, cooing "mamaaaaaa" and falling back to sleep for another ten precious minutes.

Scheduling interviews for domestic/full time nannies. So. freakin. excited.

Heather Translates Thai: Friday Edition

My dumplings bring all the girls to the yard.....

I'm the luckiest 12 year old on the block....

Cockroach complex below....

And this one. I got nothin'

Coming soon, we explore the wonders of Thai street fashion, which is one of my favorite things about this city. All rules are out the window. Want to wear a cocktail dress to the office? No problem! And shoes are not shoes unless they have at least a two-inch heel. But first, I have to sneak a few pictures without offending anyone. But seriously, I love the clothing here. It doesn't hurt that I'm about the same size, give or take a few pounds, as the average woman. Or on an average day, Nate and I grab lunch at a street vendor: 35 Baht

Buy two adorable neon belts in the marketplace: 100 Baht

Cute sundress: 250 Baht

Grand total of lunch and mini-shopping spree? 385 Baht or $12.15 thereabouts

Take that Anthropologie. You own my checkbook no more!

Have a great weekend, all!

Temple of the Dawn

Thank you all so much for the great suggestions! I am leaning toward "Box o' Buddha" or the "Dharma Drop" since the alliteration makes them catchy. My alliterative genius totally failed me with the "Buddha Bomb" as I totally agree with the b-word being a very unfortunate choice. I mean, it is one of my die-hard rules to not use the b-word in many cases. Such as on a plane, a train, when speaking in regards to the London Olympics, and certainly on the internet. Using it on a weekly basis could get me on the wrong kind of most-watched bloglist, if you get what I mean. So its out, thanks to your help!

This adventure actually occurred over a week ago, but since my beloved has been all Watted-Out, I had to space our temple adventures out a bit. They are, however, my favorite part of Bangkok so far. There is something uplifting and powerful about being in a holy place. Like Wat Arun, the temples and shrines of this city feel like giant conductors of faith. People come here because they BELIEVE in something. Believe in a way that I don't yet fully comprehend, but I know it is channelled here through people. I love it.

We crossed the Chao Phraya for 3 baht (that's like ten cents) to land almost immediately in front of the temple, a most gorgeous structure consisting of this sky-high central prang, surrounded by four smaller prang and a small maze of pavilions.


 My favorites for sure were the guardians Tosakanth and Sahassateja, fearsome and gorgeously armored at the entrance. Around them were spread gorgeous gardens and fierce lion statues. But these giants were beautiful and terrifying, or terrifically beautiful?

We entered the main pavilion to discover the walls inside lined with these luminous golden Buddhas. I made sure the boys behaved respectfully, which they usually do. There's something about a holy place that usually puts them on their best behavior.  Ok, maybe the demons standing guard helped a bit too.





Behaving.







Behaving.






From a distance, the central prang appears grey or almost muddy in color, but up close it was extraordinary. Every inch was decorated with bright colors, shards of glass and porcelain put in the shape of flowers. More demons stood side-by-side around several levels of the spyre, like they were holding it up together.

After paying a very small fee, and checking that our clothes were appropriate, we got to see it up close. The Philips even climbed the steep stairs, while Nate and I took it in from below.

There were tears of apprehension, and I heard some cries of terror on the way down. But they did make it down safely. Phew.

We went on to visit another great Wat that same day, but I'll share that another day. For now.....





 

Introduction to Tinglish

Tinglish (also Thenglish , Thailish or Thainglish ) is the imperfect form of English produced by native Thai speakers due to language interference from the first language. Differences from native English include incorrect pronunciation, wrong word choices, misspellings, and grammatical mistakes.

Welcome to the first edition of Tinglish, according to yours truly. Before I launch into my pictorial of Tinglish from the past week, I have to explain the meaning of 'same same' or what I understand of it so far. 'Same same' is a really popular phrase here, usually popped in there to describe when something isn't exactly perfect or exactly what you wanted, but preeeeeetty much close enough. Most of the time, you should smile and accept it. Like the coke vs. pepsi obsession americans have? You should probably just get over it, because if you order a coke, you might just be given a pepsi. Or vice versa, because the rest of the world pretty much feels they are close enough alike. So don't be a bad farang. Just drink what they give you, because really, it IS same same. Just different.

So if you were rude enough to point out grammatical errors here, you'd sound pretty foolish. Because if you get the point being made, what's the problem? Same same.

I could be wrong, and will be sure to let you know, the longer we are here. But this is what I understand so far:

 KEEP in mind, you sex tourists!! You're not welcome here, and we hereby discharge you.

Oh, and No Foods Up. Got it? You get the point, so that's all that matters. Same same.

This one time, my belongings totally attacked me.

No? same same.

So there's a slight typo on our awning. I hope you are smart enough to figure out this is a chinese restaurant (not chiness) from the decor anyways, why order it fixed? That's costly and takes time, so...

same same.

And this one is not at all Tinglish, but just something that took a while to get used to. There is a hose beside each and every toilet I have visited. And its not for washing yourself (as this picture clarifies for any confused farang). Especially not feet-washing. Got it?

You should also know, paying 2 baht to use the toilet does NOT guarantee the washrooms contain toilet paper. (although they will be marvelously clean!) So carry some with you at all times. But don't flush it-we shall not get into that.

Put A Little Buddha In Your Life

I'm going WHERE??!

 Before we left Virginia I hatched this crazy idea of sending 'buddha-bombs' to our friends totally randomly. Just because. If anyone ever sent me a Buddha out of the blue, it would probably confuse me at first.

But then I would probably imagine the sender, some fantastic friend of mine with a quirky sense of humor. The geeky one who still thinks its funny to break out her robot moves in public. Or sings to herself out loud. Sound familiar to any of you? Well, that kind of friend might delight in sending random objects like carven buddhas, or personal hygeine products with undecipherable labels. Just for kicks.

So this week, the first buddha-bombs went out. And I REALLY need you all to suggest a better name for my buddha missives, because I'm just not a fan of calling them bombs. So suggest away. And beware, if I have your address or can locate you, one of these might be coming your way.

Tuk-Tuk created from a can of Singha. Keepin' it classy, people.

I have two years. And PLENTY of addresses.

The View From Here

The day after we hit JJ Market, I decided to steer the boys toward a more spiritual experience, although some might find shopping totally spiritual. I don't. So one long taxi ride later, we began to ascend the steps of the Golden Mount to Wat Saket. I have to admit, I think we were all a little timid about taking our first steps onto Buddhist territory-what to do, what to wear, how to be respectful- but it was all for naught. Buddhists, are, well Buddhist. So children can be children, noises can be made, and smiles were still boundless wherever we strode.

Gongs and bells were meant to be struck. Softly or loudly.

Young monks didn't mind our curious glances.

And children were welcome to enter the beautiful shrine.

The view was breathtaking, but the mild breeze was not enough after that climb.

There were some interesting practices going on, some which I had already read about, some that left me wondering. Like why people were pinning small bills to a line, and then writing on a long piece of red fabric. Or what it actually meant when visitors rang the bells, one by one, as they walked up the temple. I have to do some research...



Chatuchak Market Madness

Oooooh heaven is a place on earth! A place where you can buy anything from art to plastic apples, and you get to name the price.

Yet somehow, we managed to get home with two pillowcases, some bronze bells, and three -count 'em- three sleeveless chan beer shirts. Oh joy.

Next time I go it alone!

Loot loot loot.....

Not Your Ordinary Date Night

An angel of mercy volunteered to watch the boys Friday night, which left the mister and I wondering what to do with our first night out in this wild city. Where would you begin?

We decided to walk the fine line between good and, er, the other stuff and hopped a Tuk-Tuk to the Patpong night market. Beer and street food were plentiful and cheap, so we strolled and ate, strolled and drank and as usual were surprised several times along the way.

We took one break at the farang oasis "Happy Beer Garden" and the mister made a new friend.

And as we walked through the market we were repeatedly offered a menu, of which the first few items completely boggled me-I never got past items one and two: ping pong, and shoot the balloon. The rest was probably even more confounding, but I never read that far down. Please DO NOT even try to enlighten me, I'd rather not think about it anymore!

We also walked down some roads with even shadier storefronts, advertising other sorts of entertainment, but like the ping pong, I'm sure their 'karaoke' wasn't the kind I was thinking of.

The night market was full of garbage and trinkets, but so colorful and vibrant that it was worth the trip. And after we were tired of the beer and walking, we stopped in a massage shop for the much-deserved Thai foot massage, at about 10 bucks for the two of us. Absolutely incredible.

Naughty street...shhhhhhh

Happy Beer Garden! All farang welcome!

Street food goooood.

Can we keep her?

Thankful Thursday

I'm thankful to be living in this amazing place. And I'm eversothankful for our dreams coming true.

Though Little P feels quite differently.

Exhibit A:

I Held My Breath

I must be honest, there have been some unpleasant moments over the past few weeks. Be it the sighting of a monstrous cockroach on the side street, or having to realize that the quality of food here has ABSOLUTELY no correlation to the outward appearance of a restaurant. Or trying to accomplish anything online and getting stuck on finding the "translate" button.

It's certainly not all champagne and roses between Bangkok and me when it comes to safety precautions. I mean, smiling at a toddler, good. Smiling at a toddler who is sitting behind the handlebars of a motorbike, not good. In the US we have a whole show dedicated to people who step in when they see someone in trouble. Ever hear of "What Would You Do?" We used to watch it all the time, expounding with every scenario whether we would intervene or butt out. Well, this is the real world, not TV. And when you witness child endangerment, it is NOT a time to make a fuss. You smile. And KEEP WALKING.

And when you see painters leaning over the edge of a ten story building without safety harnesses, you just wait and watch. (in case someone needs an ambulance of course")

The real heart-stopping moment came when two of the painters eased backward down the two ropes. Again, no harnesses. They walked down the wall to sit on these two seats, so they could paint the areas that couldn't be reached by leaning precariously over the top. Scary.

The Spirit House

I read somewhere that Bangkok is an entirely modern city, yet one that will never lose its cultural identity. A great example of this are the spirit houses that one finds outside every other building. Our temporary housing is located in a block containing upscale hotels and high-end shopping malls, yet outside each chi-chi boutique hotel stands a dias with one of these.
Phra plum is the lucky spirit these are devoted to, and should you wish to bless your workers and guests with good luck, you place one outside for him to inhabit. Then you place figurines of men and women, dancers and animals, etc inside and all around so the spirit is entertained and pleased. People also leave offerings of all kinds, like lighting incense or candles, flowers, food, and drinks. I've seen bottles of water and fruit placed there. Pretty interesting, and it just adds to the personality of Bangkok for me.

Great Lumpini Lizards!

So, with Day One behind us, we were battling some serious jet lag and I am sure our judgement was seriously impaired. Which would explain why we decided on Day Two to visit Lumpini Park and then walk all the way to the Chao Phraya River. No sweat, right?

The boys loved the playground at the park, and I was totally charmed by this open space, smack in the middle of the city. I mean, there were people running, practicing tai chi and about three other forms of martial arts, and in all these little picnic areas people were gathering to eat and talk. There was a group of four ladies singing under the shade of one umbrella. One man walked away from his friends to ask us about ourselves, and explain to us that he and his friends met here every morning to talk, listen to music and eat together. Again, people in BKK are so pleasant.

And then we spotted the lizards. And there were a lot of them. And they were big. Lizards.com informed me that they are carnivorous, eat most small critters, but have some mighty claws and teeth. And according to the news, one fell out of a tree right on to a woman in this very park not long ago. Yes. They climb trees. It makes me shudder.

The kids were fascinated and wanted to get up close of course. As most kids would do, right? Right. So this is another plus for Bangkok: fascinating critters in the park. And don't get me started on the snake issues I had to learn about today. A gem of advice "don't keep any empty pots or containers hanging around the yard or house" because Bangkok has lots of snakes. And of course they're pretty much all poisonous. Noooooo problem. I'm cool with that.