Mom's Visit

Mom came to visit at the beginning of July and would stay for 3 weeks. It was so exciting to have her here as well as receiving all of my presents and just having her around. She is a great traveler she is pretty much game for anything, I can just giver her a map and she can take care of herself. She arrived late Friday night and I had to go pick her up from the airport after work. She was having difficulty explaining to the taxi driver where I lived so I had to come to the rescue. Once we made it home I was showered with gifts of clothes, shoes, candy, baked goods, and purses. It was so nice to have some new clothes in my wardrobe as well as some high heels, because finding shoes in my size in Thailand is pretty much impossible. We spent a good while talking and we went to bed pretty late. Mom was going to come into work with me and then I was sending her to Chatuchak market while I worked. It may have been a little too much for her first day in Bangkok but it was going to be the only time she would be able to go. When she meet me at work that evening she said she was quite overwhelmed and couldn't spend the whole day there. She ended up wandering around the Chatuchak area and the Siam area until I was finished with work. The first week mom was here we went to Hong Kong. The second week we spent time in the Bangkok area. On the first day of my weekend we went to Ayutthaya, the old capital of Thailand. We woke up extremely early and headed to Victory Monument to catch a van to Ayuttahaya. It was a 2 hour van journey and we were not really sure where to go once we got to the city. We both thought it was just a city of ruins but we found out that it was a real city with ruins spread throughout. The van driver dropped us off with a Tuk-Tuk driver who would drive us around for 200 baht an hour. We thought it was a good idea since we had no idea where we were or where we were going. He took us to numerous temples and we saw so many Buddhas in one day that I don't think I would ever need to see one again. Of course with this type of guy he had to take us to the tourist traps and he took us to this elephant place where we could ride an elephant through some temples. We decided to do a 30 minute tour which was still quite expensive, considering we were in Thailand. While we were walking to the elephant I saw some baby tigers and immediately wanted to take photos, stupidly since I love tigers and was so excited, I forgot to ask how much it would cost to hold the baby tigers. It ended up costing 300 baht which is a bit expensive but tigers are one of my favorite animals and I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to hold one. After the minor distraction we went on our elephant ride.I did almost kill myself trying to get on the elephant, I slipped on the elephants neck while trying to get to the seat on the back of the elephant. I felt horrified and was more worried about the elephant than myself, I was pretty sure I was going to feel it the next day.  The ride was quite slow I was expecting the elephant to move a bit faster, but it was kind of peaceful and mom was a little bit nervous, as she gets older she always seems to be.

When we were almost done with our tour the mahout asked if I wanted to sit on the elephant's neck and ride. I of course wanted to so he asked for my camera and I slid down to ride on its neck. Mom was so nervous that she was constantly making sounds and for some odd reason kept holding onto a small piece of my tee-shirt. I eventually said, "you know if I fall the way you are holding my shirt is not going to save me, so I am not sure why you are doing it." She said she could always hold my pony tail so she could "save me." Riding on the elephants neck was an odd experience at first, I felt like I was constantly going to fall off and there really wasn't anything to grab so if I did fall I would be pretty screwed. Eventually I got the hang of it and had a great time, the mahout let me sit there for about 10 to 15 minutes which was pretty awesome. He then came back over and asked if mom wanted to try, she immediately said no so I slid back up and he took over the reins. The nice part was the mahout took loads of pictures and had the elephant pose for a lot of pictures. At the end of the ride he did not ask or expect any extra money so mom dropped him a very nice tip. He was extremely grateful  for the tip, his attitude when receiving the tip made it even more worth it. We continued on our exploration of Ayutthaya by visiting a couple more temples and Buddhas. We did visit this one site that had a Buddha face in the roots of a tree. It was really cool to see and you had to make sure your head was below that of the Buddhas at all times. At first mom and I could not find this Buddha in the tree but as we were leaving we saw the crowd and knew we had found it.

By 1 o'clock we were thoroughly exhausted, it was a very warm day and we had been up for hours, so we asked our driver to take us to the van back to Bangkok. He didn't seem too happy but when we paid him for 5 hours of work when we only used him for 4 hours he was shocked and grateful. We made it back to Bangkok with plenty of time to wander around until meeting some of my friends for dinner. We walked the Nana/ Asok area looking at the street vendors while chit chatting. We passed one vendor who had a pretty good knock off of a black quilted Chanel purse. It wasn't too terrible expensive but I just said no I didn't need it and mom got it for me anyway. I have always wanted a Chanel bag and since she will never buy me the real one I will have to make due with a fake. It is a great purse and I have used it numerous times. We had dinner at this western style restaurant called Soi 8. It is a bit expensive but they make some pretty good western food and they have curly fries! We got a table outside and mom was able to meet my friends from work. It was so much fun, a little too much bitching about work, but mom didn't seem to mind she actually gave us advice and said she does the same things with her co-workers. After such a long day mom and I called it a night relatively early. We had another early day with many things to do. The next morning we woke up early again so that we could go to this island outside of Bangkok called Koh Kret. It is at the top of the Chao Phraya River and is an island known for its pottery and market. It is supposedly very busy on the weekend and since we could only go Wednesday we thought it would be pretty empty. We went to Victory Monument to catch a bus to the city where we would catch the boat . It took about 30 minutes and cost us practically nothing. When we got off the bus we were the only foreigners so people knew where we wanted to go so they started pointing us in the direction of the boats to the island. A policeman pointed us toward this market so we went in and then another man said go right so we did and then we started to hesitate. Out of nowhere this man asked if we were going to Koh Kret. We told him we were and he said to follow him, at first we were a bit hesitant and his English was ok but there was two of us so if need be we could overpower him. He took us down all kinds of aisles in the market then past a school across a parking lot in front of a temple under construction and then we found a small pier to the island. We made it just in time to catch the boat across the river and it was a whopping 3 baht to cross the river. Once we got off the boat we thanked the man and tried to figure out what to do next. We first went to the nearby temple but got a little lost and decided to start over by heading back to the pier. Koh Kret is known for its great market and pottery so mom and I were trying to find the path to the market. Eventually we decided to just rent a bike for 40 baht.

We of course went the wrong way at first, we ended up in a school yard near two very large pigs. We doubled back and watched where the locals were going and we finally found the path that went around the island. There was a large tour group walking around the island so trying to ride though the market was quite treacherous, we ended up walking the bikes through the market. We did stop at a couple of temples and shop stalls. Since it was a weekday there weren't too many stores open but from the little we saw, this pottery was gorgeous and full of detail. We even went to a store that was making clay and pottery out in the open. We watched a couple of school girls create the clay logs which would be used to create the pottery. We rode through the market some more until we made it to the residential area. Had we not rented bikes we would have never seen how beautiful this island was. It was so lush and green and there were quite a few homes all of the on stilts with long raised walkways.

It was a fun journey around the island and I am happy we were able to come on such a quiet day so we could experience the entire island without tourists. As we were about to leave a couple of school kids kept looking at us and pointing, I had a feeling that they had a homework assignment where they had to speak to a foreigner. I was right they needed to interview a foreigner in English so they finally got up the nerve to come over and ask me some questions. It was really sweet and I was happy to do it. After the interviews we jumped on the boat and surprisingly remembered our way back to the main road. We caught a van back to Bangkok and since we still had a lot of time mom and I decided to check out the silver market at the bottom of one of the malls. This place sold wholesale silver, gems, beads, and jewelry. It was really quiet and there was a lot of great stores with excellent merchandise. If I want I could easily open a jewelry store in the U.S. and have the jewelry made in Thailand and I could still make a pretty profit. I got a new necklace and some other household items before heading home.
One night mom wanted to take me out for a fancy dinner since I would never treat myself . We wanted to go to Sirocco at the State Tower, where they filmed the Hangover 2, but that restaurant was all booked so we went to one of the other restaurants, Breeze, which was a better idea because that night it poured. Sirocco is on the roof of the State Tower with no overhead coverage at all.

When we left my apartment it was slightly raining and of course there were no taxis to be seen so we had to walk to the BTS. We were a little wet but it wasn't too bad and once we got to the river we tried once again to find a taxi, we once again had no luck. We walked through the busy market finally arriving at the State Tower. We were immediately greeted with wonderful service. We arrived early so we asked if we could have a drink at the Sky Bar. It was only slightly raining and the night view of Bangkok was amazing. You cannot believe how big Bangkok really is until you see it from the top of the State Tower. Mom and I both got Martinis, I got the Hangovertini while mom had a classic Cosmo. We both enjoyed the view some more before deciding to escape the rain and head back in. Good thing we did because right after we sat down at our table it began to pour. Unfortunately we had to eat inside at Breeze because it was raining outside. The service was impeccable and the menu was quite exquisite. Once we sat down we were immediately given a complimentary glass of champagne because of the rain.

Mom and I had a nice dinner, I had duck while mom had a foie gras/steak mixture. We ended the meal with a lovely green tea and chocolate mousse. After dinner we went home to get back to our regular Bangkok lives.
Throughout mom's visit I took her to numerous Thai restaurants more precisely my friend Passie did. Mom's first night here Passie took us to a street food restaurant close to my office that has all kinds of Thai dishes where we decided to have Tom Yum Gung, Chicken Knuckles, Vegetables, and Laab. Mom thought some of it was a bit spicy but she really enjoyed herself because she had authentic Thai food at a place where the locals would go. Other nights I would pick up food from the street food vendors at the end of my road and sometimes she did venture out on her own to different street food vendors usually pointing to a dish she wanted to try or she went to her safe dish of chicken fried rice. Another night Passie took us to a restaurant near her apartment that has traditional Esan food. Mom was able to try some real Som Tom as well as other traditional dishes. She found it all a bit spicy especially the Som Tom but she still tried it, but would not go in for a second bite and the last night she was in town we went out  for Thai bbq. This place was an all you can eat bbq place where you cook your own food on a hot pot. A hot pot is this dome like structure with holes in it that is surrounded by a moat of water placed over hot coals. On the dome a pork fat cube is placed so that the meat and seafood you cook on it does not get stuck. The buffet itself has numerous types of raw meat, seafood, and vegetables. You go up to the buffet bar pick out the items you want and bring them back to your table to cook yourself. You can either cook the food on the dome itself or in the water surrounding the dome. Mom had a great time, she was quite surprised how the food was presented, a place like this would never exist in the U.S. because of the cross contamination fears and the way the meat is left out in the open. The funny thing is that the amount of times I have eaten out in Bangkok with questionable food storage system I have yet to get sick. Mom and I made it an early night because the next day she had to wake up very early and she still had a bit of packing to do. 
The morning mom left she was up at 3:30 so she could leave for the airport at 4. She had a 7 am flight which was a pretty miserable way start to the day. She wouldn't let me walk her to get a taxi because I think she was going to cry and she didn't want to make a scene. So she gave me a teary goodbye while I was half asleep. I think mom had a great 3 weeks here in Asia not only did we experience Hong Kong, Ayuttahaya, and Koh Kret; we also made it to the island of Koh Samed and she made it out to Singapore. It was sad to see her leave but I think she was starting to get homesick.