Bangkok and Bang Pa-In

I would first like to start this post by apologizing for the lack of contact I have had with anyone over the past several days. On Friday my host family arrived in Bang Pa-In and this weekend we went to Koon Pa Bum's house in Bangkok to stay.

Today we said goodbye to my younger sister Aoei as she set off on her adventure to Vancouver. Though it was a day for her to say farewell to her family, it was a day for me to meet extended family from right, left and center and truly feel welcome as a part of the Sangprom family :) This weekend I stayed at Koon Pa [Auntie] Bum and Koon Loom [Uncle] Su's house in Bangkok as we awaited Aoei's departure date. This weekend was full of different adventures.

1. We went to the Platinum Shopping Mall where they attempted to "Thai-ify" my by helping me to pick out suitable clothes to wear to the temples and out to dinner (ie. long shorts, long skirts, capris, tshirts etc.) as well as clothes that Koon Paw [Father] thinks are acceptable. The mall is NOTHING like a mall in Canada. If you could just imagine hundreds and hundreds of little stores packed to the brim with clothes that hang out over the aisles with sale signs for 100 baht T-shirts and 3 for 400 baht pairs of pants then maybe, MAYBE you could begin to picture this mall. There were clothes of every shape, size, colour, make and everything was dirt cheap! There were so many people that you couldn't help but bump into people constantly and in the shops you had to step over piles of clothing sizes in bags on the floor in order to pay.

2. On our first night in Bangkok we went to a restaurant called Farang [this is the Thai word for someone from the West with fair skin and fair hair... ie. a foreigner] where I had a ceasar salad, mashed potatoes and classic Thai dishes. The next night we went to a restaurant on the river [it was raised on stilts overtop of the river with an AMAZING view] where we had an enormous amount of food from deepfried shrimp to wrapped squid, catfish, rice, noodles, some type of vegetable we don't have in Canada and finished with a coconut to drink from and eat :)

3. The first night we all slept in the same room on the floor and I woke up at 12 am with a COCKROACH on my neck... sounds rediculous and impossible.. not even. And it wouldn't leave me alone! It kept crawling all over my bed until I ran out of the room and Pee-Ake came in and killed it for me. Haha. I haven't quite become used to the bugs here yet. It's easy to say that I barely slept that night because I kept thinking there was something crawling on me. UGH.

4. Today we took Aoei to the airport and the whole situation reminded me so much of my departure from Canada. She looked so sad to be leaving but also so excited at the same time. There were so many people there wishing her a safe trip and I was sad to see her go, I really enjoyed having a younger sister for the weekend.

This is the list of all the people I met this weekend [or at least the ones I can remember]

Koon Mam [Mom]
Koon Paw [Dad]
Nong - Aoei [Younger sister]
Pee - Oak [Older brother!!! He came from University in Bangkok to say goodbye to Aoei. I was really excited to finally meet my brother :) Unfortunately I won't see him often as he is studying 12 hours from our home in Nakhon Phanom.]
Koon Pa Bum [Aunt]
Koon Loom Su [Uncle]
Pee - A [Cousin] and her husband
Pee - M [Cousin] and his girlfriend
Pee - Ake [Cousin] and her best friend
Koon Mam's best friend
Koon Paw's brother
Two teachers from my school in Nakhon Phanom
At [a friend of Aoei's who is going on exchange to Ohio this week]

5. Tonight we drove back to Bang Pa-In to spend the night and tomorrow we wake up at 5 am to drive 12 hours to my city for the rest of the year [Nakhon Phanom].

I have so much more that I would love to write about but I am very sleepy and I have to be up in less than 4 hours to get ready to leave.
I will post again soon with updates.

"Of course, he remembered, as every sensible person does, that you should never, never shut yourself in a wardrobe."
-C.S. Lewis "The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe"

xo.