Sunday at the Marriott

Today's song is: With or Without You .. U2

We are enjoying our stay at the Marriott , The Empire Place, although Thavorn's relatives think we are ding dong for staying here as we have an apartment just 30 mins away. They miss the point I have a certifiacte that I must use before the end of the year, and this resort does not require us to spend money on travel such as air fare.

The room is spacious at over 1000 sq feet and includes a full kitchen.  Here are some pics:

Complete with high chair for Jaidan

 

The kitchen and eating area.

I am watching lots of basketball  .. don't get NCAA at apartment.

Master bedroom ensuite.

Thavorn sleeping in the king size (soft) bed with feather pillows, and crib for Jaidan.

The second bedroom  .. empty .. no one ever comes visit us.

Second bathroom.

View from the balcony.

One of 3 televisions  .. get to watch what I want :-)

Washer and drier.

Yesterday we went for a walk to Pat Pong as Thavorn had never been there. It was only 30 minutes away, closer than I thought. We also bought a BBQfish for 140 baht that we ate for supper. We learned from Friday night and asked for a crib for Jaidan last night and had a good night's sleep.

Today I think we will learn this part of the BTS and ride it up to Siam Plaza which we already know. They have a great book store there as well as lots of coffee shops to sit and relax in.

I took advantage of the gym today and ran for 20 minutes which was not bad considering I have not run for over 1 year. Also did some weights and chatted with a fellow Canadian from Vancouver who now lives on an island in the Philippines.  He is enjoying the good life along with his wife.

TTYL

On Vacation

Today's song is: Counting Stars by Republic

I had an Interval certificate which was set to expire soon so I thought I would make use of it here in Bangkok as it would not cost me anything to use it but a taxi fare to the vacation resort. I will actually save a couple of thousand Baht as I can turn off all the electricity using appliances in my apartment.

As usual, it is a Marriott resort that we are booked into for a week in Bangkok. It is actually in a part of the city I do not know very well so it will be fun exploring plus it is also close to the river so we will take a river boat cruise for an hour on the river and through the canals of Bangkok. Bangkok used to be called the Venice of Asia because of its extensive canal system which is now mostly unused. What price progress?

This is the vacation club we will be staying at as of this Friday:

http://www.marriottvacationclub.com/vacation-resorts/marriott-empire-place-resort/overview.shtml

Yesterday was a big celebration for Thais, best described by Wikipedia.

Loi Krathong takes place on the evening of the full moon of the 12th month in the traditional Thai lunar calendar. In the Western calendar this usually falls in November.
According to the Royal Institute Dictionary 1999, loi (ลอย) means "to float", whilekrathong (กระทง) has various meanings, one of which is "a basket to be floated on water in the Loi Krathong festival".[2] Several translations of krathong are found, such as "floating crown", "floating boat", "floating decoration". The traditional krathong are made from a slice of the trunk of a banana tree or a spider lily plant. Modern krathongs are more often made of bread or Styrofoam. A bread krathong will disintegrate after a few days and can be eaten by fish. Banana stalk krathong are also biodegradable, but Styrofoam krathongs are sometimes banned, as they pollute the rivers and may take years to decompose. A krathong is decorated with elaborately-folded banana leaves, incense sticks, and a candle. A small coin is sometimes included as an offering to the river spirits.
On the night of the full moon, Thais launch their krathong on a river, canal or a pond, making a wish as they do so. The festival may originate from an ancient ritual paying respect to the water spirits.

Here are some pics of our 'float a boat' from last night at the lake in Queen's Park. It was very busy!

TTYL

Jaidan Break

Today's song is: Heaven can Wait  .. another great Meatloaf song

Tavorn needed a break from Jaidan so I went for a walk with him and ended up at Rumours bar. While at Rumours I met an American, Jose from Miami who was on a vacation that included the Phillipines, Malaysia, and Thailand. He had 3 days in Thailand and had just arrives in Bangkok. We chatted on how to make the best of his 3 days and he immediately wanted to take notes and draw a map about the places I was recommending.

I suggested we finish our drinks and go for a walk and then that would orient him with regards to getting around downtown Bangkok. He was staying on Soi 22 so it made it easy.  We headed out and walked the 10 mins to Cowboy. Along the way I pointed out Crazy House, a must place to visit about 10 pm that night. We then headed down Cowboy and I recommended the Suzie Wong show at 10:30 and the Dollhouse immediately across from Suzies.  We then stopped in at Country Road for another drink and to discuss what he had learned so far.

I suggested he should also explore Nana which was a 20 minute walk form Cowboy, so off we went. It turns out he also believes walking around is the best way to get to know a place.  We ended up at Hillary 4 in Nana and I called Thavorn to meet us there. By this time, Jaidan and I had been gone for about 3 hours. She jumped in a taxi and came to meet us.

It turns out that Jose was a hit with the ladies, being a Puerto Rico native that although he was 50 looked to me to be about 35.  We chatted some more and had some more drinks and then Jose paid the tab and headed back to his hotel and shower before heading out for the night. I gave him directions on how to get back to Soi 22 and he decided to walk the 25 mins back.

I trust he had a good night. I have his eMail so I may check back with him in a day to see how he enjoyed the City of Angels.

I am including a pic of Thavorn and jaidan. Thavorn is 5' 7 so Jaidan is sprouting up. Unfortunately I do not have a tape measure. He is 16 kilos now as he approaches 16 months of age at the end of the month.

TTYL,

Saturday Night

Today's song is: Play that Funky Music by Wild Cherry

Thavorn, Jaidan and I headed out for a walk about 4:30 and as we often do, we ended up at Soi Cowboy at Country Road. While Jaidan entertained the ladies, Thavorn went off to play pool and ended up playing against Jean, a bald young French man who lives in Bangkok.

Jaidan and I ended up being entertained by Jimmy, who has lived in Bangkok for the past 30 years but who is originally from Singapore. Jimmy speaks 7 languages and has the cutest well behaved little dog who accompanies him while he plays pool on Country Road. Jaidan was enthralled with the dog who kept giving Jaidan kisses.

Jimmy introduced me to his friend Michael from Mississauga (small world) and who is also from Singapore originally but manages to visit S.E. Asia for 2 months every year. While in Bangkok he stays with Jimmy but he also owns condos in Singapore and the Philippines.

I ended up playing Jean for a couple of games and when I finished I ended up back with Michael who had met David from Manchester England. Davis visits Canada quite often as he is a sales person for a paper company, and get this, they sell paper to Canada. It turns out none of the Canadian companies want to produce specialty papers (think stamps) in small quantities for Canadian firms like Canada Post. No wonder the CDN $ is so low these days. WTF!

After a total of about 7 games of pool and 2 pitchers of Singha I paid the bill of 600 baht (about $20 CDN) and we headed off to walk home with Jaidan on my shoulders in search of some chicken legs for Jaidan and I and some BBQ squid and pork balls for Thavorn. Mission accomplished and we headed home.

There is this one problem of having a child at 2^6 years of age, now that Jaidan is almost 2^4 months old and weighs 2^4 kilos. WE like to walk but 5 kilometres carry 16 kilos in your arms or on your shoulders (preferred) makes me sweaty and tired at the end of the walk. C'est la vie!

I put Jaidan into the bath and then put him to sleep to the tunes of Meatloaf and he is sleeping soundly so I get to update my blog in peace. This a usual Saturday night for me. I almost always meet some new acquaintances from around the world and no doubt I will bump into them again sometime.

Thavorn's tattoo is healing well.  Stay tuned for some pics in a couple of days :-)

Life is good.

TTYL

Tattoo for Thavorn

Today's song is: Tattoo by Jordin Sparks

Today is hump day and Thavorn will go get her Tattoo at:

Of course I did due diligence and this is one of Bangkok's premier tattoo parlors. We went for a walk last night and it was full of young farang males in their late 20's waiting to get their tatts. They seem quite interested in the old farang with the pretty Thai girl with Jaidan in tow :-)

This is the tatt that we decided upon. I say we because Thavorn played the thai girl 'up to you' game for a while so I provided some input. The tatt symbolizes many things about our relationship. Thavorn came to Bangkok searching for the sun, moon, and stars and instead found a friend in a local butterfly. Despite the obstacles holding us back our friendship developed into something else. There is a hidden joke in that one of my favorite expressions is 'Thai not go moon'.

Of course, the tatt is destined for the lower back with the butterfly on the left butt. Once the redness disappears I will post a pic of the real tatt and let you know how the whole experience went. Apparently it will take about 2 hours and we chose the machine rather than bamboo procedure.

There are cheaper places to get tattoos but in my experience, you get what you pay for and it's kind of permanent and I will be looking at it everyday.

TTYL

Monday

Today's song is: You Let Her Go by Passenger

I just realized that Friday 13th passed without incidence here in Thailand. The Thais are a superstitious lot. Thavorn had a dream that her brother died so she called her mom and her Mom said she had to buy some lottery tickets with his age and the date she dreamed he died as numbers on the ticket. Go figure.

My Russian friends had all sorts of these superstitions as well. No whistling inside the house or condo was a really bad one that I violated all the time. No matter that bad things never happened .. it was just a matter of time.

Chinese have a morbid fear of the number 4 so you will often see floor 3 and 3A. Ditto for floor 13 and 13A. Obviously, the number 13 is good to go with the Chinese.

I don't think I have any of these wacky ideas  .. at least none that I can think of, except for walking under ladders, especially here in Thailand. You never see the standard aluminum or fiberglass ladders here in Thailand. They are always wooden, made out of bamboo and help together with twine. If you saw them, you would not walk under them either :-)

Thais have a real belief in ghosts and it permeates the culture, especially television and movies. I suppose it has something to do with Buddhism as the ghosts are waiting to be reborn and joining the wheel of life once again.

Here are a couple of pics of Jaidan

Waking up a little grumps with Ellie the elephant and having his morning juice

Feeding himself some yogurt

Drying his hair

TTYL

Destiny

Today's song is: November Rain  .. Guns and Roses

A popular bar in Nana was shut down for 1 week for employing an under age girl. You have to be 20+ to work in a bar in Thailand and most of the girls working these bars are 25 - 35. An Australian news channel picked up on this and ran this story:

http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/real-life/channel-seven-investigates-the-sex-industry-in-thailand/story-fnq2o7dd-1227609850288

The girl in question was 18 and had borrowed her sister's ID card in order to get employment in the bar. There was no trafficking involved but simply a desire to make some big bucks in a short time. Most Thais are finished school shortly before they turn 16 and start work somewhere at the minimum wage of $10 a day. Compare that with what they can make working in a bar and you begin to understand the lure of the bar scene for young Thai girls. Most of them hear about the bars from sisters, friends, and mothers who turn a blind eye as to how their daughters earn the money to send home.

I have heard stories of young girls sold to older Thai men by the mothers but this is not unlike the customs in many Asian countries for pre-arranged marriages. The money is viewed as a dowry and often the family can no longer support the girl on their meager income. However, this is the exception and not the norm. The majority of Thai girls working in the bars are doing so for economic gain and hop from bar to bar looking for the most money or hoping they hit the jackpot and find some farang who is willingly to 'look after her, and her family'.

As the Thai economy grows and jobs begin to pay better I would think it will be more difficult to find bar girls to work in the bars but the lure of a farang boy friend will always be there. It is the only avenue that offers a quick route to hi-so from lo-so.

It is only after you have talked to many bar girls over many years that you begin to realize that the girls are there by economic choice as they laugh at the notion of giving up their 50,000 Baht a month life style for a job at 7-11 paying 10,000 Baht a month for a 12/7 job. Many of the older ladies I meet are in the bars because their Thai boyfriends or husbands have forced them out of their marriage because of 'boxing me' or 'him a butterfly'.

The hidden agenda of many of these crusaders are the conversion of the girls to Christianity from Buddhism. Christianity has a lot to say about sex and what goes on between men and women. Buddhism leaves it up to the men and women. I find it difficult to believe we need missionaries in the global world we now live in. What is the difference between a missionary and a jihadist .. a gun :-)

TTYL