Going Back In Time

Well, here we go, I'm starting with some old photos, going back in time. This was 6 years ago! Gramma Chesta visited us for Christmas! Maddie was just a little baby! Here are some cute pix of her...sigh...

They grow up so fast! Um, yeah, that IS my booty in the background...sorry...

Here is one of my all-time favorite photos ever! Maddie and JR. They are both so cute! :)

Jeff had just started traveling to Asia and bought some cheap, cheap movies for the boys for Christmas. A couple were OK. Nolan is in the background trying out "8 Mile" and it was SO BAD! Remember that boys? :) Someone had, literally, taken a movie camera into the theatre and filmed the movie on the screen while they watched it! Ah Asia and their pirated movies! Gotta love 'em! :) That's what you get when you pay $1 USD for a movie! :)

Loy Nava Dinner Cruise

This is not the best picture but this is one of the traditional Thai dancers on our dinner cruise. We have taken dinner cruises before when we have visited Thailand but they were on a big cruising boat with hundreds of people and loud live bands with dancing--not traditional Thai dancing--but regular dancefloor where you can dance to the live band. Those cruises were fun, but not our "cup of tea". We prefer this dinner cruise, a small intimate setting of only 17 tables on a beautiful teak wood boat with quiet traditional Thai music played on an instrument similar to the sound of a xylophone and quiet traditional Thai dancing for a short period of time. The food was much better than the other cruises we've taken and the owner of the boat came to each table many times throughout the cruise to chat and make sure everything was OK. They had a nice wine list and they pointed out the highlights along the river. It was heavenly!

Here's the link so you can see how cute the boat was! http://www.loynava.com/welcome.html

Here's a picture of Jeff and I enjoying the Loy Nava! And last but not least for sure! We went to the State Tower Building and up to the 64th floor for the most spectacular view of Bangkok! Check out this link!

http://www.thedomebkk.com/web/sirc_gallery_04main.html

Sometimes websites look better than real life but this one is right on! These pictures show you how it really looks! We couldn't believe how beautiful it was! In the pictures you will see a beautiful staircase, it leads up to a dome and then to the side there is a stage where they had a wonderful jazz band playing soft jazz music. The end to a most perfect day...

Grand Palace including Wat Phra Kaew

I took this picture last weekend. This is the Grand Palace grounds which includes many interesting wats and buildings. The whole area was shut down that day though because they were using it for the activities associated with the Princess' funeral. The King's sister passed away earlier this year and they have been having the official mourning and funeral now. We all wore black last week and there was no alcohol sold for 3 days, etc, etc, etc. So we couldn't tour the Grand Palace that day but I have toured it before with Nolan and Maddie back in 2004.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Palace,_Bangkok

The rest of the pictures of the Grand Palace I took back in 2004. A very funny story (not to the Thai's) we have to tell is when we visited Wat Phra Kaew which houses the VERY SACRED Emerald Buddha. So the kids and I take off our shoes, making sure we follow all the rules, being very quiet and respectful, kneeling down on the floor and taking in the sight of the emerald buddha. Well, Nolan's legs, being so long, got tired and so he flips them out in front of him, pointing the bottoms of his feet STRAIGHT at the MOST SACRED Buddha in the land! Instantly, there were armed soldiers at our side telling Nolan to leave! Well, we still didn't know what was going on so I just thought, oh, they must think we've spent enough time there and we need to move along. So we get up and walk out quietly, noticing a sign on the wall stating "DO NOT POINT YOUR FEET AT THE BUDDHA...Oops...

Another one of the gold buildings...taken in 2004...

Wat Arun detailed tile work

Detailed artwork

More...

These are the guys that hold it up! :)

Wat Arun

We climbed these scary steep stairs! :)

And it was worth the risk for the beautiful view!

OK, back down again!

Sight Seeing along the River

Last weekend we did some sight seeing along the Chao Phraya River in Bangkok. We went to the floating market for lunch, did some shopping at River City Mall, took a dinner boat cruise and then ended the evening at the most incredible sky viewpoint I've seen so far in Bangkok!

To start the day we made our way to the Taksin Pier and rented a boat to take us to the floating market for lunch. They taxied us up the river where you can see all the beautiful sights along the way. This time of year is the end of the rainy season so the water level was very high and the waters were pretty choppy but once we got off the main river and onto the Klongs (small streams) it was fine. We say monitor lizards sunning themselves along the river house patios. Some people have called Bangkok the "Venice of Asia" because of the waterways throughout the city and it certainly reminded me of what Jeff's mom has described to us when she lived in Italy and visited Venice. On the way to the floating market we actually had to go into a lock with 5 other boats, and they lowered us down to another level before traveling on because they have to dam that area of the city during the rainy season or it would cover it! That was really interesting! We were in a tiny little boat! Then, of course, on the way back we had to go back in the lock and be raised back up to the level of the river! It was cool! :)

At the floating market we shopped a bit and then had lunch on the klong. We sat on floating platforms on the klong and the small boats are alongside the platform where they cook all the food! It was amazing! We have to go back when we have more time, the floating market is a huge place and we only spent a few minutes shopping there after lunch.

Back on the river we visited this place, Wat Arun, where we took these pictures. Here is the official website if you are interested in the history. It's soooooooo beautiful! And at night, when it's all lit up and you see it from the dinner cruise, oh, it is so pretty! I've not seen it at sunrise but they say that's the most spectacular view.

http://www.watarun.org/index_en.html




Jeff is concentrating very hard trying to get this picture of us! :) It's funny, our granddaughter, Mia, does this too! So cute! :)

This picture does not do this place justice. All of these tiles were given to Thailand by China. I will show some better close-ups of the dishes and tiles used in building this beautiful temple.

The Uniform

OK guys, this is proving to be a very hard task, getting Maddie to consent to a picture in her uniform! I was sneaky last week and caught her as she was walking in to school but I forgot to turn off the flash, it's through the car window and it's from the back! Ugh! I will be diligent in trying to get a better shot, but for now, this is it! :)

Ginger's Hang Out

Let's take a look outside in what we would call "the back yard" but what the Thai's would call "the Thai Kitchen". C'mon Ginger! Let's go outside! Oh! Look at that! It's Ginger's crate! Oh, Ginger could tell you some stories about that ole thing! She spent over 30 hours in there on her flight here! She went from Los Angeles to Hong Kong, changed planes in Hong Kong and then on to Bangkok. Then she spent another 6 to 7 hellish hours in a HOT warehouse! I thought I was going to have a nervous breakdown but we finally got her out of there before she died. The airline had lost all her paperwork and she had been scared, freaked out and hadn't eaten for almost 2 days! Poor thing! We have all survived the trauma now. We would NEVER ship another animal this far, it was just too awful...

This is where Ginger spends her time when we are gone. Not quite as big as her backyards in Menifee or Carlsbad but she seems to do OK with it.

She has some nice shady spots under the trees. Eventually, we would like to make this more of a Thai style kitchen but for now it'll have to just be "the back yard".

More different bathroom stuff

Here you have only one choice for water and that is cool. It's not cold because it's so warm here so if you want a hot shower you have to install a heater and mount it in the shower! Here is what it looks like!

This is for my immediate family...hey guys, remember growing up in the big house we had the trusty ole "Health-O-Meter"? Well, somehow I inherited (ok, maybe I took it from mom when I moved out) it and Jeff and I have used it through almost 30 years of marriage! Well, when we moved to Thailand, we left it behind! It wa sad! We loved that ole thing! It was still precise after all these years! Does anyone even know how old that thing was? Anyway, we miss it but we got a new fangled scale, free, with the purchase of household items at "HomePro"... :)

More Thai Closets

Our dresser!

Jeff's closet...

My closet...

4th Floor

OK, up those last few steps! To our bedroom!

Can't remember if I mentioned it but people in Asia do not use top sheets. I have chastised all 3 of my kids all their lives because they WILL NOT use a top sheet. Well, guess what? There are whole continents that don't use them, don't know what they are, don't sell them! I still can't believe this! We found ONE top sheet in Malaysia and it was $80 USD!!!! They call it a "Hotel Collection" sheet! Wow! I'm still stunned on this one. So, my 3 children, you can know that I am sleeping with no top sheet! And I guess you should have grown up in Asia! :) p.s. when we go back to America in April, we are buying LOTS of top sheets!

Our room is so big (long), we had to put the tv in the middle of the room!

Speaking of...Keeping it Cool

Here is what the "Air-Con" units look like. We have one in each bedroom, one in the living room and one in the kitchen/dining/sitting area (the first floor). When we first moved in we only had air-con in each bedroom. It was soooooooo hot a month ago, I can't even explain it other than "oppressive". We broke down and bought the other two units and life feels so much more delightful now! We think it has cooled down a lot, but maybe we are acclimating? Maybe a little of both? I LOVE AIR-CON!!!!!!! Here's the bigger unit for the big room on the 2nd floor.

The smaller unit for the first floor...

Our home

Here's some people we miss! :) We bravely (stupidly?) shipped some of our keepsakes over before we left. Luckily, most everything made it. These two made it just fine, Nolan's graduation picture made it with one tiny little scratch on the canvas. Our 4 chinese prints we had framed didn't fare too well. Since they had paper on the back, customs took them out and slit open the backs and in the process, broke 2 of the frames, but luckily the glass didn't break! We were able to repair them. 2 out of 4 of our wine glasses made it but we are pretty sure our flatware and the 2 or 3 expensive vases we shipped are missing. We thought there was a whole box missing but it was actually sitting in an office where it was forgotten for a few weeks!

Let's go up to the third floor!

Here's our 3rd (extra) bedroom that we are trying to set up as an office. We have desks, chairs, our files and stuff in here but we never go in here! We are rethinking this plan...maybe just set it up as a guest room, it has it's own full bathroom too. This is the only room on the third floor. The blinds are orange, that's why it looks kinda funky. When it's opened up, it's nice and bright but I like to keep it as cool as possible in the house so keep the blinds shut.

Second Floor--Maddie's Room

Doesn't this look like a teen-agers bedroom! :)

Another surprise! Thailand doesn't have closets! They use "wardrobes" or you can buy portable hanging thingies (like we did) and shelves to put your clothes on! You can buy dressers but they are poor quality or super expensive or both! We opted for this style of closet...interesting, huh?

The Second Floor

On the second floor we have the living room and Maddie's bedroom. This is where we all sit to watch tv together!

Here's the view coming down from the third floor.

The rest of the first floor

Here is flight #1 of our beloved STAIRS! For some reason, Jeff and I were'nt thinking clearly when we moved in here because we took the master bedroom on the 4TH FLOOR!!! And gave Maddie the bedroom on the 2ND FLOOR!!!! Are we crazy? When we first moved in here we were exhausted by the time we would get up there! Now we are so fit, we hardly notice! :) It's really good for us to get this weight bearing exercise but I'm tellin ya...it's a WORKOUT!!!

Here's the sitting area when you first enter from the garage/laundry room.

Here's the dining area that we use as our home office. We have an extra bedroom on the 3rd floor that we were planning to use as the office but this has worked out better for us for now.

More of the Kitchen

Here is the microwave and my "cutting station" where I do all the fruits and veggies and breads. Also nice storage for our rice cooker, tools, etc.

Here's another cooktop and more storage. Jeff can really cook up some good meals with this kitchen! We had one of Maddie's teachers over last Friday night for a Mexican Food feast! It was great! He's from Iowa and hadn't had a home-cooked meals since he left home back in August! He's 26 (Brittani's age) and is doing an international internship at Maddie's school as an assistant music teacher. Our PA, Mint, joined us for dinner along with, of course, Maddie, and we had a wonderful time! We can't wait to have our next dinner party! :)

The Kitchen

I explained the kitchen in an earlier blog. Here are some pictures. Thai's don't have kitchens so we are lucky to have this! No stove, oven, dishwasher, nothing. The Thai's cook outside so we had to buy a couple of cooktops to use.

The fridge/freezer is very small but, believe it or not, this is one of the biggest sizes available!

Housekeeping

Here is the way we do dishes! I'm the dishwasher and here is the dryer!

Ladies, remember back in the 80's when we used to hang things like this on our walls as decorations? Who knew you were actually supposed to sweep with them? :) These are our brooms! They work really well too. I love them! Houses are not carpeted here. We have this white tile on the first floor and then wood floors throughout the rest of the house except all the bathroom are tiled nicely. There is a lot of sweeping to be done around here...that's why...

We take our shoes off before entering the house! (yes, that's Ginger in the window) Bangkok is a really dirty place and I have become OBSESSED with washing my feet! I knew I would be because I was thinking about it even before we moved here. I would like to make it a rule that not only do you have to take off your shoes before you enter the house but you must stick your feet in an antibacterial soak, scrub for 2 minutes, dry with a clean towel, lotion up, and then you may enter! That plan is not going over well with anyone...so, for now, I just wash my feet (as mentioned above) every night before bed. I do not want to stick those nasty things in my bed! :)

Our Garage/Laundry Room

Here is my cute little washer I spoke about in an earlier blog. Jeff calls it a "washer for dolls"! Everyone washes by hand here and it's RARE anyone has a dryer since the sun works very well! You can see where the hose hooks up to the washer and that's where the water goes in. I have to drain the water into the bucket (upside down in this picture) once after the wash cycle and once after the rinse cycle.

So the clothes get washed on the left and then they go into the spinner, on the right! For the first 4 weeks we were here we were washing everything by hand and it was KILLING my tendonitis! Especially the wringing of the jeans and the towels! But now we are set up with a laundry service for all the big stuff and we just do the small stuff and stuff we need in an emergency in this washer. I love it! :)

And, last but not least, here is our dryer! You just hang everything up, push it out into the sun, and there you have it! :) You have your hangers for shirts and then, in the back you can see these round plastic things with clothespins all around, that's where we hang all the undies and socks. So much fun! :)