Saturday 17 November 2007

Mum's last few days

I can't believe her holiday is over already - it 's flown past!!

On Tuesday I took her along to Wat Pho (That's the HUGE big gold Buddha that I've written about before - if your interested you can read about it here). We decided to have our fortunes told since Wat Pho is famous for it's fortune tellers (and massage - what a combination) and I've never had it done. Well, we ended up sitting there waiting for aaaaages as this Indian family of about a billion went before us.......ok, so it wasn't actually a billion it was only five but they really took their time......at one point the son actually asked if the fellow could tell them what year his mother was going to die!! (She was sitting right there - nice eh.......I could have asked but I think Mum would have bashed me!!). Anyway, Mum was told that she's going to be coming into money and that she was going to meet a man in the next couple of years (she was also told that she talks too much and that she should think before she speaks.......which gave me the giggles till he said the same about me when it was my turn!!). According to the wee blokey Chris and I are going to have a long and happy life (that's good), we're going to have two children (that's not so good......do you think cats count?) and I talk too much!! (Harrumph!!). After that we went to Khao San Road and comforted ourselves with pizza and then went on a boat tour of the Klongs - God I was knackered when I got home!!

On Wednesday I dragged Mum out her pit early and she accompanied me to the orphanage to see Mo-Cha-Ya. I've not been able to go for ages as the place was shut to visitors......some infectious disease (it was nothing serious just very infectious) was doing the rounds. God she's grown and after a few cuddles was very smiley (I have discovered that she likes raspberries blown on her tummy and that she has really tickly feet) so I got some great photo's which I'll use for the scrapbook. Mum really liked the place and, like me, was pleasantly surprised - actually it was quite lovely......we watched a family come and collect their little boy......the new Mum took one look at him and burst into tears and he couldn't wait to be picked up and cuddled (would bring a tear to a glass eye!!). It's now become habit to have lunch at The Beirut Restaurant when we get back to Bangkok so it was hummus and pita bread all round - this is what I do every Wednesday and it was great that Mum got to see, and participate, in my real life rather than just the tourist side of things.

Thursday was Mum's last day and was also the BWG November lunch. This is one of the lunches that has vendors attend so I had arranged to have a welfare table. We had coloured gels (generously donated by Carolyn) that you can stick on your windows and they look like stained glass when the sun shines through them, we had batik cushion covers made by kids that live on one of the slums, wine charms made by moon and my drawings. Mum came along and helped me set up and then Carolyn, Anne-Marie and Mum helped me sell our items. We did really well - over 3,000 baht will go back to the slum kids (I'm doing another sale in a weeks time so we'll be able to add to that), over 4,000 baht went to Moon to fund her kids though school and so far I think we're at about 4,000 baht to go into the BWG Welfare Fund. (I sold five drawings......FIVE......I couldn't believe it......was grinning like a loony all through lunch!!). Speaking of lunch - the food was fab and I had arranged for a girl called Kyra to come and speak on the history of the Karen Hill Tribe and we presented her with a cheque at the end of her presentation. It was a great day and, because we had done so many BWG things, Mum knew loads of people who made a point of coming over and speaking to her.

Sadly after lunch it was time to come home and attempt to pack everything Mum had bought into a suitcase. We took one look at all the stuff and decided that there was no way it was going to fit into the case she had brought so she ended up borrowing one of the HUGE cases we had brought when we moved over here (I should have taken a photo). I advised her that the best thing to do was to leave Chris to do her packing since he is master packer extraordinaire - even he had his doubts that it was all going to fit.....I'm happy to say that we got there in the end. (and in her defence she now has all her Christmas pressies bought AND some birthday presents for next year)

I was really sad to see her go - but was chuffed to bits when she said that she'd had high expectations for the holiday and we'd managed to surpass them in the first few days!! I think she's going to have fun boring people to death with hundred's of photo's (and I'm really not kidding about the hundred's of photo's either!!!)

11 comments:

Mel said...

sounds like you had a blast!Chiang Mai is one of my fav spots in Thailand. I always wanted to get my cards done at Wat Pho...do you think it was a 'real' reading or just telling you hoohooey? Huge congrats on selling your prints, that's fab!

Carol said...

To be honest Mel I'm really not sure. It was all done based on the date of your birthday, what time you were born and what year so I did get the impression that it was a 'real' reading. (Although I did Chortle when he said my Mum was going to get a boyfriend.....the phrase 'You will meet a tall dark stranger' did pop into my mind!!). Definitely worth giving a go :-)

C x

Carol said...

Oh and thanks for your congrats on my prints. I couldn't believe it (had to go to the toilet to do my happy dance to get it out my system!!)

C x

Caroline said...

Sounds very special and I love that you've recorded it on your blog.
x

Carol said...

Thanks Caroline - we had a lovely time but were so busy I didn't get time to do regular updates hence the reason there have been so many back posts.

Normal service has now been resumed!!

C x

Lane Mathias said...

I can't believe how much you've packed in. Talking of which I hope your mum's case managed to be squashed shut.

And BRAVO on selling all those prints.

So glad she had a great trip:-)
x

Carol said...

Thanks Hon - I don't know how we packed it all in either (honestly I think I need a holiday to recover.....so god knows how my Mum feels!!)

C x

Anonymous said...

I had a fab time, I was wined and dined, and looked after wonderfully. I have just about recovered from the jet-lag. Everything in the huge suitcase arrived intact, even the bag of mangos (yes, Customs would have had a fit), and the pottery teapot with no lid (I had to demonstrate how to fill it amongst much speculation). My luggage and I got through unscathed!

Love Mum xx

Anonymous said...

ps. Not so sure about your Uncle Bill's hernia, though (he had to lift the case into his car at the airport).

Mum xx

Carol said...

Mum - Glad to hear that you are just about back to normal (Well as normal as you get anyway!!).

It's a miracle that everything made it back in one piece - Chris's packing skills are legendary!!

Oh and I think you should give Bill a couple of whiskey's.....purely medicinal you see - a few of those and I'm sure he'll be feeling no pain!!

Love

C x

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