Monday, August 25 for lunch, we celebrated birthdays for the month of August at a cafe across the street from work:
Pongthep
Worawit
Gail (Anakorn)
Patra
Ailly
Emily
Kathy
Pongthep's birthday was actually on the 25th. Patra's was on July 31st (close), Gail's was on the 3rd and Kathy's was on the 16th.
Friday, August 29 for dinner,
Ailly, Kathy and I went to the Huntsman Pub for dinner and to see the
Phillipino Band play. The next morning Kathy and I went to meet Tom and Tana to have an English Breakfast and then go to the Jim Thompson outlet. The English Breakfast consisted of scrambled eggs, potato, stewed tomato, ham, sausage, toast, beans and tea. Then we road to the end of the
BTS line On Nut and caught a taxi for about 20 blocks to the Jim Thompson Outlet. Jim Thompson is an American who came to Thailand and helped revitalize the
thai silk industry.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Thompson_(designer)
After shopping there Kathy and I went to meet with
Ailly to shop at
MBK (huge mall). We were looking for a few specific items but were not very successful in our search. We then went to
Ailly's place to get ready for Don Sullivan and
Somluck's (Kai) wedding reception. After the wedding reception a group of us went out to a German Pub.
The next morning Kathy and I got up to go to
Chatuchak Market for our second time. Kathy will be leaving this week so she wanted to get more souvenirs. We shopped four hours and were hot an exhausted. I actually ran out of money and had to borrow a couple hundred baht from Kathy. We got a cab back to the hotel and I crashed for the night.
Monday, September 1 for dinner,
Ailly, Kathy and I ate dinner at a Thai restaurant:
thai fried sweet noodles, spring rolls, green curry, and chicken in
tamarin sauce.
Tuesday, September 2 for dinner Kathy and I ate across the street from work at Freestyle cafe: spring rolls, lime prawn, chicken w/ mixed veggies, and steamed rice in a heart shape.
Mostly everyday this week it stormed in the afternoon, Friday we got out of work late and it was pouring; luckily
Khun Worawit drove
Vishal, Kathy and I to the metro so we wouldn't get soaked. When it rains there is no luck getting a cab. I did try to be a
heroine but ended up getting sprayed with a puddle when the cars drove by.
Saturday, September 6 Alison, Kathy and I left for
Koh Samed Island for the weekend. We hired a driver to take us to the port in
Rayong which was about a 2.5 hour drive. We then rented a speedboat to take us to
Samed Cabana Villa Resort where we had rented a bungalow on the beach for the night. The resort was located at the
Ao Wong
Duean beach. The beach was white and the water was clear that you could see to the bottom.
http://www.hotels2thailand.com/thailand-hotels-map.asp?id=1814http://www.samedcabana.com/p6_photo.htmlWe had to wait to check in to the bungalow so we decided to change and hit the beach. When we settled into the bungalow we went and received massages. I got a foot massage and a pedicure, Alison received a Thai massage and clean foot, and Kathy received a clean foot, pedicure and manicure. Quite the life to be on the beach and be pampered. After we were done we ate at restaurant on the beach and had some noodles, pineapple fritters, and spring rolls.
For the evening we
traveled via a truck taxi (benches in the back of the truck) to Hat
Sai Kaeo beach to the Ploy
Thalay resort where they have a restaurant and a fire show twice nightly. We enjoyed ourselves very much and ended up staying for the second show. The fire performers came to the back during their break close to where we were sitting and were showing off. At the end of the night Alison played a game of darts to win Kathy and I little teddies. Then it was off to the taxi to make our way back to our resort. The same driver No 14 was waiting for us to take us back. Kathy and I had a brief late night swim and then went to bed.
The next day Kathy also figured out that there is 14 years between her and Alison and Kathy and I. So we decided 14 would be out lucky No for the weekend. The next day we woke up and enjoyed breakfast, swimming, and relaxing on the beach. We had dinner at our resort and met the staff. Jim who I believe is the owner was very mischevious. We then went and swam and relaxed some more on the beach. When it was time to leave we had already checked out of our room so they let us hose off behind the resort. The speedboat took us back to the Port where we waited for the driver to come and pick us up. We had arrived a little early so Alison and I went to the main road and bought a t-shirt for us all. The port staff was ready to leave so they were happy when the driver came. We then left Rayong and traveled to Bangkok, it was raining on and off on the way back but not too bad.
Link to photos:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=4eljvdex.azhwzlgx&x=0&y=btj3xb&localeid=en_US
I was invited to attend a cookie party that is more than a 20 year tradition for some of the ladies involved. I was selected to make 12 dozen iced sugar cookies. The objective of the party is to bring 12 dozen cookies, share a dozen while at the party and then leave with 11 dozen cookies to share with your family and friends. I will admit for my first year the time to prepare, ice and wrap the cookies was a little more time consuming than initially planned on my part. However; I am now more experienced for next year. I was called the over achiever of the group- so I was told but it was a lot of fun. I am now only allowed to use paper plates and ziploc bags for next year.
