Hanging out with Jun's Family

Saturday, 9 October 2004

Christy and I caught a ride in with Jun's family into Bangkok at 8 pm last night. Although they were dropping us off at Christy's friend Cathy's house, they insisted I stay at their place and they would take me to the airport on Sunday. They live in Nonthaburi, a city north of Bangkok and about 15 - 20 minutes from the airport. We turned on the TV and watched a show called "On the Road", where a Thai celebrity showed us the sites of his visit to O'ahu, where I'm headed! It was interesting, and got me more excited to go home. They offered to take me to the markets to get a wedding gift and visit with her niece who speaks good English.

So, this morning, Jun's mother (P' Maiy) made fried rice for breakfast, we watched some of the US presidential debate, and then waited for her niece and friends to arrive. We went to the market, Ko Kret, by the river. We had to catch a boat over to the little island to shop. It was very fun chatting with Na (Jun's cousin, who is around my age) and Jeab (his mother's friend who is getting married soon). Na recently graduated from Assumption University in business and hotel management and has many foreign friends from all over the world. She speaks very good English. Jeab is getting married in January (P' Maiy says she will bring me with to see a Thai wedding ceremony) and she also speaks good English. They helped me buy many things for gifts for people, but my favorite buy for myself was the recycled Singha beer can purse! I read somewhere that Singha beer is actually brewed in Nonthaburi, and the purse is trendy and recycled, so although it was a spendy buy by Thai standards ($6), it was a great buy, and I've gotten compliments already. My other favorite was the chaa manao drink (lemon iced tea) in the bamboo holder with an orchid, eating fried orchids, and an ice cream dessert with sticky rice on the bottom and a beautiful purple orchid as a garnish.

Jun's family must think I'm crazy for going on such a shopping spree, but I bought many gifts to bring home (and had to sit on my carry-on to close it!). We ate lunch at a riverside open air restaurant. The market shops were on the river, in between people's homes and a wat. Very cool, and cheaper than the popular weekend market in Bangkok I was told. It helped to have Na help me bargain for things and afterwards, we went to The Mall, which is just as it sounds, a shopping mall, to walk around.

We headed to Tesco Lotus next to get groceries for dinner, and lo and behold, what do I see in the fruits section but red delicious apples from Washington state! I pointed out to them that they were from my state, and I couldn't believe they were shipped all the way to Thailand!

When we got home, at 6 pm, Jun and I walked to the swimming pool in his community to for an early evening dip. It was nice and refreshing. I tried to teach him how to backfloat, but he wasn't quite ready for that yet, although he thought it was hilarious when he saw me backstroke. We barbequed in their open air garage, shrimp, pork, veggies, fish...in the true Thai style with the soup boiling pot in the middle and the do-it-yourself fryer on the perimeter. I stayed up late checking email and Na was proud to show me her university's school website. We had fun chatting about going out to eat Indian food, Japanese food, etc. and going out to clubs to check out the nightlife in Bangkok. We exchanged emails and phone numbers and plan to go out when I come back from Hawai'i.