Departing GR
Our driver, Toom
Ry's new Thai smile
Sawasdee! Hello from Thailand!
The girls and I arrived in Bangkok 29 hours after departing GR on September 13. Happy birthday, Dad! My gift to you: leaving the country for 2 years. Journey through Chicago & Tokyo was long and sleepless, but all 3 girls stayed amused. High point was in Tokyo when boarding our final flight. The Japanese attendant looked at Riley Mei's boarding pass, smiled, and called her Mei-chan, our pet name for her. Mei beamed, bright & cheerful as her name translates. We had always told her that with her name she would be specially welcomed in Japan. She was and was proud. And is very excited to return to eat noodles.
Our car & driver, Toom, met us with a smile & just a smidgen of English at the airport sometime after midnight on the 15th. We stayed at a nearby hotel, then visited next morning with the Boehm family. Rob's lifelong friend Jeff, Lisa and their 4 kids have been YWAM missionaries in Bangkok the past 9 years. We have already gleaned much from their experience here, and our girls love playing together. After lunch Toom drove us the hour & half southeast down coast to Pattaya and the Amari Orchid hotel, our home for the next 10 days.
First days in Pattaya included.... pools... pampering... playing in the Gulf of Thailand across the street... diving into some Thai food & also western fare... waking the first 5 days, starving at 4am anxious for bfast to open at 6am... touring our house & school... shopping for house... pineapple vendors... strange street smells, to put it mildly... being sad for all the stray dogs... Allie making a Thai friend in the pool & emailing away to her ever since... tooth fairy finding Ry's pillow... pedicures... Ry falling asleep in my lap twice at restaurants at 6pm dinners... and little jaunts on the baht buses empowering us all.
Pattaya has an ugly history with prostitution. It's still very alive and visible, along with other associated crimes of the trade, so we stayed fairly close to the hotel at night. Allie has a basic understanding of this desperate place and Ry is noticing "a lot of old, western guys with Thai wives" in grocery stores & shops. We plan to stay away from the main strips as much as possible, but there is a fog that blankets everything in this town.
The girls and I arrived in Bangkok 29 hours after departing GR on September 13. Happy birthday, Dad! My gift to you: leaving the country for 2 years. Journey through Chicago & Tokyo was long and sleepless, but all 3 girls stayed amused. High point was in Tokyo when boarding our final flight. The Japanese attendant looked at Riley Mei's boarding pass, smiled, and called her Mei-chan, our pet name for her. Mei beamed, bright & cheerful as her name translates. We had always told her that with her name she would be specially welcomed in Japan. She was and was proud. And is very excited to return to eat noodles.
Our car & driver, Toom, met us with a smile & just a smidgen of English at the airport sometime after midnight on the 15th. We stayed at a nearby hotel, then visited next morning with the Boehm family. Rob's lifelong friend Jeff, Lisa and their 4 kids have been YWAM missionaries in Bangkok the past 9 years. We have already gleaned much from their experience here, and our girls love playing together. After lunch Toom drove us the hour & half southeast down coast to Pattaya and the Amari Orchid hotel, our home for the next 10 days.
First days in Pattaya included.... pools... pampering... playing in the Gulf of Thailand across the street... diving into some Thai food & also western fare... waking the first 5 days, starving at 4am anxious for bfast to open at 6am... touring our house & school... shopping for house... pineapple vendors... strange street smells, to put it mildly... being sad for all the stray dogs... Allie making a Thai friend in the pool & emailing away to her ever since... tooth fairy finding Ry's pillow... pedicures... Ry falling asleep in my lap twice at restaurants at 6pm dinners... and little jaunts on the baht buses empowering us all.
Pattaya has an ugly history with prostitution. It's still very alive and visible, along with other associated crimes of the trade, so we stayed fairly close to the hotel at night. Allie has a basic understanding of this desperate place and Ry is noticing "a lot of old, western guys with Thai wives" in grocery stores & shops. We plan to stay away from the main strips as much as possible, but there is a fog that blankets everything in this town.
