Learning Thai

We're continuing to have a great time with Mom and Dad here. The girls cannot get enough of them. Here are some pictures that show what we've been doing for the past few days...

Mom has spent hours playing dollhouse with Claire and Eliza. It's something that Claire remembers from her trips to Delaware and she was already talking about it on the way home from the airport. Eliza was too young to enjoy playing this with grandma when we were in the States - but she's making up for lost time now!

On Monday all of us except Candice (who was sick, but is feeling better now) went to the local crocodile farm. They have thousands of crocodiles as well as a small collection of other animals. It's not the cleanest or most impressive zoo, but you can get very close to the animals - and even feed them. Claire and Eliza loved feeding the turtles, bears, horses, monkeys and raccoons. Here Eliza is elated to have survived a close encounter with some raccoons that devoured the banana she fed them.

We watched a crocodile show (where men stuck their hands and heads into the crocs' mouths) and an elephant show. At the end of the elephant show we got to walk underneath one of them (it brings good luck).

Our Thai girls

Last night we invited our landlords to go with us to a restaurant along the Chao Phraya River. We wanted them to meet Mom and Dad (and we wanted them to help us order a typical variety of food). We ended up with quite a feast - shrimp cakes, fish cakes, crab fried rice, a whole fried fish, sweet-and-sour fish, cashew chicken, spicy shrimp soup, curried crab with onions and peppers, some kind of squid dish, and pomelo fruit for dessert. We were all stuffed (with the possible exception of Mom who isn't a big seafood fan) and really enjoyed the interaction with Khun Urai and Khun Seri.

Today we went to the Grand Palace. The weather was perfect - breezy and cloudy, but no rain. We've been there several times now, but it's always amazing to see the architecture and incredible artistic detail. That trip is also a good introduction to the city since it involves the skytrain and a boat ride.

Boat ride down the Chao Phraya River.

Claire gets friendly with one of the giants.

Eliza gets friendly with a guard.

After lunch in the food court of one of Bangkok's fancy malls we headed home by skytrain, bus, and motorcycle taxi. Here's Mom after her ride.

Tomorrow we plan to have a low-key day around the house. I'll probably do some English teaching and then Candice's English class starts in the evening.

-Tom