"Daddy, I think we have the best family? Are we the best family in the world?"
"That's so great, Sennen! I think we're a great family and I'm glad you feel that way. I can't say if we're the best family in the WORLD, but I think we have a really great one."
"Well, I think we're the best family!"
Words to make any parent's heart melt. And we while we have our challenges, flaws and shortcomings, watching how much our kids are enjoying their trip to Thailand combined with the fact that Emily and I have so far been able to turn our idea of taking our kids internationally at least once a year into reality, I think we're at least doing something well.
Like how many families make a tradition of going ice skating in Thailand during Winter Break? Ours has. This is the second year that the kids have put on skates at a Central mall and made their way around the ice while gripping penguin ice-walkers (and this year a seal too). Last year in Chiang Mai, it was Sennen who couldn't get enough of ice skating and Ailyn who was afraid and disliked the cold. This year, the roles reversed as Sennen found the ice slippery, cold and frustrating – while Ailyn wouldn't allow Emily to help her up when she slipped, because she could get back up herself. And she did. Within 20 minutes, Ailyn and her penguin were doing speedy laps around the rink. She beamed with pride.
But an hour later it was Sennen beaming when he went to the tailor to try on his new suit. He shone sheer joy as the tailor helped get the buttons right, and tied his tie. When Sennen looked in the mirror, he couldn't have been more pleased.
Other highlights of the day included Thai iced tea softservei ice cream, a tuk tuk ride through Siam Square and the kids riding electric, motorized, drivable…animals?…around the second floor of the Central World mall. It's one of those things that only makes sense in Thailand and maybe even then, only when you see it (photos below).
For Emily and me, the kids make Bangkok new. While we have traveled and lived here before, they were different days with different frames of mind. Bangkok with our children is perhaps harder work at times, but more meaningful and certainly changes at how we look at the city – reducing our tolerance for traffic and increasing our appreciation of what used to seem like frivolous luxuries. A tuk tuk ride is no longer a moment of liberated exploration of a new and exotic culture nor is it a simple mode of transportation. Now it's entertainment, a moment of joy and a childhood memory as we whiz through the streets (very purposefully not going very far). It later gets added to the count of how many types of vehicles we rode on this trip (last year's count was 11).
Still, as wonderful as our new experiences are with our children, it's not vacation without some time for ourselves – and time to walk through the old Bangkok – the one we enjoyed before children. That's why this afternoon, for the first time this trip, we left the kids to swim and have dinner with Matheus while Emily and I went out.
Before we could even hit the taxi, Emily needed some iced tea – and in the shops downstairs from our condo we found not just iced green tea boba for her, but a Thai iced tea with cheese whip topping for me. Cheese whip on beverages seems to be the new fad around Bangkok and we had to at least find out what it was – which I can only describe as a thick, cheesecake-like liquid poured on top of a tea or coffee beverage. While it did no harm, I can't say I plan to get another.
Our goals for our time alone included only two things: 1. Thai massage and 2. street food. And because we're staying in such a newly developed area, it's necessary to go somewhere else for these things. So, we turned to our memories to chart the course. Pradiphat Road was the first place I stayed in Bangkok 17 years ago and became a frequent haunt for many years and trips. The perhaps two-mile long street is a norming working class neighborhood that still looks much as it did 17 years ago replete with numerous massage parlors and abundant nighttime street food carts. Although not just around the corner. it was a locale guaranteed not to disappoint.
Without kids, Emily and I actually enjoyed the long air-conditioned taxi ride through traffic. And when we arrived had no shortage of cheap massage options. For $12.26 per person, we enjoyed two-hour massages. The first step in any Thai massage is to have your feet washed. As the soapy brush scrubbed my right foot, I almost recoiled from the ghost-like memory of the pain that lasted for months due to an abscessed infection in my heel – resulting from my shoe breaking and creating a blood blister while walking one night when living in Bangkok. Only in the right setting did that memory, tucked away in a corner of my brain, come out. I was back in the old Bangkok.
Just like 17 years ago on my own, and 7 years ago with Emily – while being massaged I was ritualistically peppered with questions from the staff curious to know the story of this Thai speaking caucasian traveler who – in violation of their expectations – is married to a caucasian American woman, not a Thai. While pressing pressure points in my feet and legs, my age, occupation, marital status, knowledge of Thai culture, weight, height and linguistic ability were all carefully ascertained. I was – as always – informed that I am tor yai (big) and that they would have pegged both Emily and me for 60. I was amused, Emily when told, was not.
After our massages, we took a walk around the neighborhood, scouting the many food vendors lining the streets and alleys until we decided on a som tam vendor with a nice set of fold-out tables in a side alley. Emily and I sat in the balmy night air ordering a feast of som tam (spicy papaya salad), barbecued chicken, grilled salt encrusted fish, sticky rice and a cold beer for Emily. A perfect Bangkok evening meal and setting – reminding us of our 2011 Valentine's Day dinner of som tam in a Bangkok parking lot. Eventually, my friend Jay joined us for a beer and conversation – with some reminiscing about Bangkok days gone by and his Bangkok life at present.
It was a morning and early afternoon of our new life and a late afternoon and night strolling back in time. Much like Thai cuisine which pulls at your taste buds and mind by bringing sweet, salty, tangy and spicy into every dish down to the simplest – the day itself was that same perfect blend of contrasting and complementary flavors unique to Thailand.
