A feast in Phetchaburi, last days in Bangkok and alas the sojourn ends

April 14, 2017

We are in the midst of song kran, the Thai New Year and water festival. This festival was originally intended for Thai families to splash water on family members and elders as a way of seeking good fortune and paying homage to Buddha. Yesterday we were invited to the big house on the property to participate in the family ritual. Fifteen of us gathered around Pa Cha An’s bed and took turns pouring water over her hands and wishing her happy new year. The water was scented with roses and another flower I cannot identify but it has a lovely strong fragrance like gardenias. Afterwards the family honored Ron and me in the same way. It was quite lovely and very touching.

Earlier in the day we went out with the intention of exploring an area east of here near the coast but encountered horrible traffic and drivers who seemed to be crazed. It is such a big holiday that the streets are lined with people with super squirters, hoses or barrels of water and buckets to throw on people passing by. So if you are on your motorcycle you will get wet multiple times. We stayed dry but the car got wet. It is a happy holiday but some folks seemed out of control with the holiday spirit or spirits of another kind. Consequently it did not feel safe to be on the road. We saw people running red lights, motorcyclists on the wrong side of the road, etc. We returned home and to the bedroom with AC.

Tonight there will be a big dinner party with 22 present to celebrate. Ron and I have filled the refrigerator with sodas and will go out in a bit for beer. Most prefer the sweet drinks here and I will stick with water: no calories and no hangover! HA!

Here are some pix of the event:

Some of the wonder fare

Lek BBQs pork and beef

Fat dog Milo

Ron & Tricia with Tui

Hope - sone of Ae who is Linn's daughter

Timm's family (Tui's Sister): Pair, Tum's mother, Timm, Pon, and Tum

Linn with Moui (Pa Cha-on;s care taker and Pon;s caretaker

Lek with wife Ai (Linn;s daughter)

Since last night was our last on our own so we went to one of our favorite restaurants and had pork ravioli at the Swiss restaurant. It was divine and then we came home and after watching the news we had sticky rice with mango and coconut milk. It is our favorite dessert. Timm brings it to us on occasion.

We are all packed except what we need to put in the bags after our morning shower. We have started to close up the house by doing things like stacking the trash cans and covering them with plastic bags, putting any items on the kitchen counter under the counter in the cabinets, storing knick knacks, and cleaning out the refrigerator. We want to leave no later than 9:00 in the morning so a quick get away is essential.

April 16

We left Phetchaburi at 8:40 after saying goodbye to everyone. We caught Pa Cha An awake so went in to say a goodbye to her and she cried. Well that unleashed a torrent for me. She is such an incredible woman. We reminded her we are taking our photo of her with us that will be in our bedroom where we will greet her daily. 

We are enjoying Bangkok, Because of the holiday we were surprised by that lack of people and traffic when we went out yesterday to the tailor’s to get some pants made for Ron. Because this is a holiday like Thanksgiving or Christmas or Chanukah at home, it is a time for family gatherings so I think lots of folks left town and frankly it is kind of wonderful to not have the usual throngs of people on the sidewalks and roads.

Leslie’s friend Oke literally arrived when we did. We were unloading the car at the condo and his taxi drove up behind us so we loaded our luggage on the cart together and went up to the 14^th floor . We spent the time visiting and doing a little grocery shopping before heading out then came back to learn the Leslie and Oke had tied at Scrabble. Leslie is a serious Scrabble player. That evening we went to a neighborhood Thai restaurant and dined al fresco, my fave. Leslie ordered us a delightful Thai meal in Thai. She was a Peace Corps volunteer in Thailand in her 30’s and can still speak Thai. We had green papaya salad, morning glory vine sautéed with garlic, stir fried mixed veggies and lemon and spicy steamed sea bass.

Afterwards Oke talked us into watching a documentary called The Whites of West Virginia about a family of hillbillies that were drug addicts, thieves, murderers…you get the picture. It was hard to watch but it was also an insight to a class of people that the four of us rarely if ever have a chance to know.. This last presidential election was a wake up call for those of us who are isolated and unaware of how many people live and think in the US. Needless to say I don’t think the White family are anywhere close to mainstream but it was interesting to think how different their lives and views are from mine. I knew there was an opioid epidemic but I didn’t know people snorted opiates like the Whites did in the film. That was just one of the many drugs they abused and appeared to use constantly.

Today is Easter Sunday and we will go to lunch at Issaya, a cooking studio to have Easter lunch. The setting is a 100 year old Thai villa in central Bangkok and from the website it looks lovely.

April 18

Our dining experience at Issaya was superb. We ordered the short set menu that went on for about two hours. Literally every bite was a culinary delight. We oohed and ahhed throughout the entire meal.

No one had dinner that night but I ate a small rocket salad with a bite of salmon to hold me over until breakfast.

On Monday we got pedicures and then we went to have lunch with the mom of a former exchange student (Nuun) who is Thai and came to high school in the Portland area about six or seven years ago. Nuch, the student’s mom, owns a restaurant, hotel and nail spa. We arrived before her and went ahead and ate because she was going to give us a blouse to give to our friend Nattawan in the US.  I called Nuch in advance to tell her when we would be there and called again when we arrived. She said she would arrive in 10 minutes. We had a good visit and called Nuun for a face time call. Nuun just got married about a month ago and lives in southern CA.

Ron & Tricia with Nuun's mom Nutt

We relaxed in the afternoon and in the evening we went to dinner with Auem’s parents and her brother. Auem is in London getting her PhD and was the other exchange student we befriended at the same time Nuun was in Portland.

For three days we have had incredible weather. Sunny with a light breeze but not particularly hot, most unusual for BKK. Today is a different story: Hot. And BKK is back, meaning all those folks who left town are back along with crowded roads and sidewalks and more noise. We are lucky to have had the three pleasant days with good weather and few people in this city of 14 million.

And the end of the sojourn 

Alas the sojourn ends. We got up at 4:15 on the 20^th and left for the airport at 5:00. Twenty four hours later we landed in Dallas and I looked at my watch and it was 4:15 p.m. We were too tired to go out to eat and made do with some almonds and crackers that we carry with us on long plane rides. We promptly crashed around 9:00. We caught our flight to Portland at 9:00 a.m. and were picked up by Jim and Barbara, our dear neighbors who live across the hall. We were bleary eyed rankly but we persisted and unpacked all our bags. At one point we walked to our neighborhood grocery and got some salads for lunch and brought them home. Ron called to have AAA jump start our car and drove it around for 20 minutes to charge the battery. We went to our other nearby grocer for our dinner meal as we were too tired to sit in a restaurant. I went to bed with a scratchy throat.

I woke up and got ready for my first appointment which was at 9:00. Oops, dead battery. Canceled my appointments and I realized I didn’t feel well at all so went back to bed. I stayed in bed for the next four days. By 5:00 today I finally felt better. Today I changed the medication I was using so perhaps that made the difference. Not sure but I feel like I am back among the living.

Ron and I have a ton of things to get done in order to get settled but we work on our lists daily: change of address for credit cards, getting new debit cards, restart magazine subscriptions that were placed on hold, grocery shopping, oh my goodness there is laundry from when we came home in August, and on and on it goes. But we are working together and so happy to be home at last. Both of us are patient with the process. Thus another adventure ends with no regrets and we are thankful that we had the opportunity to live and travel in India as the experience was much different that being a tourist. We are grateful because we made some wonderful friends there, a real bonus to the adventure.