Bangkok Birthday
by Rachael
Even before we left, there were two days I was dreading; the day we come home and the day Grandpa leaves us in Bangkok. Thankfully, one is still a long ways off. The other is looming closer – tomorrow, in fact. Grandpa will hop in a taxi to head for the airport and we’ll plant ourselves at the train station to wait nine hours for our 10pm-departing train. We’ll arrive in Chiang Mai about the same time Grandpa touches down in Auckland!
It has been wonderful having him with us. The children are going to miss walking hand-in-hand with him, playing Mastermind and doing crosswords together in the evenings. The adults will miss his gentle words of wisdom to the children, his companionship, his checking-out-the-map-for-places-of-particular-interest when we arrive somewhere. And everyone who has gone out on their own with him will miss the root beer floats, waffles with ice-cream and extra drinks! With all that in mind, and knowing that we’ll miss his 77th birthday in just a few days’ time, we found a nicer restaurant for our last night together in Bangkok. When I say “nicer restaurant”, I mean it had four walls, all of which were decorated and clean, it had a proper menu, it had glasses to pour your drink into, it had restaurantly-presented food and it set us back NZ$3 a person instead of our usual $2 maximum!
Every dish was delicious. K10’s Pad Thai came wrapped in a paper-thin crepe. L7’s soup was so tasty Rob wanted to return another night to get a whole bowl just for himself. The green Thai curry was nothing short of an experience. There is a saying that there are two seasons in Thailand: hot and hottest. The same can be said of the curries. The first spoonful blasted through your mouth with heat and full-bodied flavour. It didn’t stay like that though. Intensity of heat increased with each sip, no matter how small. Halfway through the bowl we began to wonder if we would ever talk again….then the tears started dripping into the bowl. It was so hot! Just when you thought you couldn’t bear it any longer, the heat peaked and taste took over, meaning you could savour and enjoy the rest. All three of us who ordered that dish commented half an hour or so later that there was now a burning sensation just below the ribs. Thankfully that’s where it stayed.
Farewell Grandpa, thank you for bearing with us over the last few weeks – we hope you enjoyed the time and we are all looking forward to you rejoining us again in the UK (and beyond?!) No more roti for breakfast, no more late night adult trips out for iced-coffee at the train station, no more rock hard beds, and no more lack of routine for you for a while though! As we sit here on the train completing this post, you should just about be flying over the Tasman on your way back to “normality”. We hope you enjoyed your month of abnormality!
Tags: children, food, grandpa's stories, intergenerationalism, money, parenting, postcard: Thailand, transport
rayres
praying for safe travels home for Grandpa
and look forward to reading about your part of your journey
well I have been back in normality for nearly 24 hrs now. I DID appreciate the ‘normal’ bed, and it has been good to have a real roast dinner with daughter Linda and family, and ‘normal’ strawbwerries and cream with some colleagues at lunch time today. But do you know what – I really miss those crazy stall-side dinners with the tables vying for space on the road with speeding cars, trucks, tuk-tuks and motorbikes. The incredible incessant traffic noise, mixed with the shouts of stall-vendors and the shrill whistle blasts from the ‘traffic police’. The noise, dirt, dust, heat and smells are all ‘normal’ for most Bangkok people. The always-busy streetside temples are normal for these folk; dodging the traffic on the pedestrian crossings is normal over there. Sitting on the marble floor of the train staion, waiting for 5 or 6 hrs is normal too.
It’s also normal to pay around NZ$1.50 for a decent meal at the stalls and that’s a real plus.
Our normal accomodation was in some very un-prepossessing premises: but the beds were always clean (if a little remshackle at times) we shared toilet and showers but that was no great hardship. It makes you think, why spend so much to stay in a hotel that looks the same whether you are in New York or New Delhi, and meet no-one, or stay in a place for a 1/4 of the cost, and meet some local people?
Glad to hear your back safely, Grandpa A. Can’t wait to hear the stories first-hand (although reading this blog makes you feel like you are right there anyway!!). You’ll have to come over for dinner soon:-)
Rach, can understand your trepidation at the thought of the ‘third’ adult and a very good friend leaving you. Hope the train trip went as well as the last. Who wouldn’t eat out at such cheap prices…….makes NZ dining seem SO expensive and probably nowhere near as flavoursome! Lotsa luvxxxxxx
i’m loving reading your adventure!
welcome to chiang mai – when you get here. and just in time for loy krathong!
Oh I wish I could have substituted for Grandpa though I’m two years younger. I would LOVE to add your eight to my 16 grandchildren and love to be blessed with a little bit of your travels.