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!!!)

The Adventures of Tomato In Thailand - The Ending

Chris went back to work and it was again my responsibility to keep Tom occupied.

We started the day with a traditional Thai breakfast (I had arranged this with Moon the previous day) which consisted of the Thai version of our donut called Pa Thong Go (Picture on the left), fresh fruit, Salam Pow which are like small, sweet omelets and Khanom Krok (Picture on the right) which are little rice and coconut puddings. After eating our fill (Which was not very much because they really are all really sweet) we headed back to the river. I had booked us on a Klong (Canal) Tour and since Moon had never been along the klongs of Bangkok we invited her to join us. The tour lasts a couple of hours and includes a stop at a Snake and Crocodile farm and an Orchid Farm. (When Chris and I went on the tour I had been badly bitten on the foot by a mosquito and couldn't walk so we had to stay in the boat). The Snake farm was more like a mini zoo - it had a tiger, a bear, lots of monkeys (which we fed), birds, lizards, crocodiles and snakes. It was amazing watching the snake handlers and we all really enjoyed the display although Moon refused point blank to hold the snake (as you can see Tom and I did). We then went on to the Orchid Farm which was nice to see but not massively exciting - mind you I think Tom may have photographed every orchid in the place!!. I wanted to take Tom to Pak Klong Talaat which is the flower and vegetable market so we asked the guide to drop us off at Memorial Bridge Pier. It is where the local flower sellers get their stock so not only does it have the best range of flowers but it also has the best prices. Honestly, you have never seen anything like it - roses, orchids, chrysanthemums, lilies, lotus flowers, sunflowers - you name it - they have it (You can pay 30 baht, which is about 50 pence, for a huge bundle of orchids). The apartment looked a little like a funeral home by the time we finished arranging all the flowers but it smelt wonderful.

The following day we had a long lie and then headed out to China Town. It is really something that you have to prepare yourself for - Sampeng Lane (which is where the best haberdashery, fabric and beads are located) is small, cramped and very very hot. The photo here is of the beginning section that is more open. It's a great place to browse but not somewhere that you want to spend hours and hours. Tom loved it but about half way down the lane had to come out to get some air and to calm down (because it is so cramped you get jostled left, right and centre and it is very easy to get grumpy). We ended home and spent a chilled few hours before meeting up with Chris and Moon and going to the Paragon Cineplex at Siam Paragon. We had decided to go and see a Thai film called King Naresuan (which had English subtitles and looked great in the trailer) and, since Tom was here on holiday, we booked seats in the Nokia Lounge. It is really the only way to go and see a film at the cinema (I don't know why they don't do this in the UK). There are 32 seats grouped in pairs each with a small table and a waiter who shows you to your seat, gives you a blanket and a pillow then shows you how to recline your chair (Emm how cool is that!!!). Just as Tom had got snuggled in and ready for the film to start everyone had to be upstanding for the King's Anthem (It was funny watching him struggle out of his reclining chair - we could have told him but where's the fun in that!!). The movie was, well, erm, long.....in fact I would go as far as to say it was very long.....it was the story of a king who defeated the Burmese and saved Ayuthaya.....three hours later the king was still a boy and then it ended!! It turned out that there are two parts to the film - Had this been mentioned in the trailer?......No. Had this been mentioned in the write up about the film?....No. And had this been mentioned on the poster?........that would be No!!! (We're back to the only in Thailand shrug of the shoulders). Mind you, we did have one saving grace - Moon was as confused as the rest of us. (I've told Tom that when it comes out on DVD I will buy him a copy and post it to him since he has already invested three hours of his life watching it)

The next day was Tom's last full day and neither of us could believe that the two weeks had passed so fast. We had planned a big night out that night so decided to have a fairly quiet day. I took him to a coffee place called Agalico which was set up by a Japanese business man who was fed up not having anywhere he liked to take his clients to for coffee. It's only open on Fridays, Saturday's and Sunday's and is really special - have a look http://www.agalico.co.th/
We then headed back over to Central World so Tom could get a couple of things that he had seen the previous week and we then spent the afternoon looking round Siam Ocean World which is located in the basement of Siam Paragon Shopping Mall. I had never been before and i have to say that i really enjoyed it - there are seven sections : Weird and Wonderful, Deep Reef, Living Ocean, Rain Forest, Rocky Shore, Open Ocean and Sea Jellies. We got to touch a starfish (Which feels a bit like touching a rock), watched the penguins being fed (and could have seen sharks as well but didn't have time), you can go behind the scenes in a glass bottom boat (we didn't have time for that either but I will definitely go next time) and there is a very cool section were you walk through a glass tunnel surrounded by fish. In the evening we met up with Jenny and David and went to their local Thai restaurant - it was the first time Chris and I had eaten there but the food was fantastic and the entire meal, bearing in mind that there were five of us and that the price included our beers, came to 1,000 baht (£14). We then headed down to Soi Cowboy followed by Nana Plazza (Chris's friend Tony joined us on the way) and ended up in Pat Pong - we had good fun and gave Tom a good send off.
This photo was taken on the Saturday before his flight - ahhh.....he's cuddling his socks!! I think it was all too much for him!!