Back Home Again

Where do I begin?? We just returned from our family vacation (one last hurrah before going back to work). Actually there was a purpose to our excursion but we decided to make a trip out of it as well. Our goal was to get a passport for Adia and get her citizenship (as she was a non-entity before that -- no citizenship). I'm happy to report that she is now an American and a passport is on the way.

Our trip was scheduled as follows: 1 day traveling to Bangkok (via train), 1 day getting the translation of her birth certificate (yeah, her birth certificate is entirely in Thai -- how cool is that?) certified by the Thai government and then a train down to Hua Hin, 5 days in Hua Hin laying on the beach and eating great food, 1 day back to Bangkok, last day getting the passport and then on home.

Day one: The train ride went extremely well. Trea really liked it. She had a whole train car to run around in and tons of people who were fascinated by her (she's getting a little too used to this). The kids sitting directly behind us entertained her for most of the trip. We even got her to settle down for a nap. Mind you she hardly ever takes a nap outside of nursery. We checked into our hotel and then went out for dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe. The food was great!! Day one had turned out quite nice.

Day two: Got up, took a shower, slipped and fell on my elbow. After a long saga of drs., waiting, x-rays, and rides I was back at the hotel with a half-cast on right arm. (and Kristen was worried about a little scab on Trea's nose in the pictures) So, vacation agenda just went right out the window. People look at me funny when I say I slipped in the bathroom but the floors in this place were that polished granite and the floor sloped about 4" over the span of about six feet (that Asian style bathroom where they expect you're going to get water all over the place so it slopes toward a drain). I'm not the type to sue but this place would have a lawsuit were they in the states. What really ticked me off was the apparent apathy from the hotel staff. We had a special internet rate for the night (about $35 for this normally $130 hotel) and they said they couldn't honor that rate again. Okay I understand that but could you at least pretend that you care that I JUST BROKE MY ARM IN YOUR HOTEL! At this point we're seriously considering just throwing in the towel and going home but we decide to stick with it (I talk Kristen into going on). We drag the kids with us to get the birth cert. legalized (originally Iwas going to do this while Kristen and the kids hung out at the hotel) and just get in before they close. He at dinner (which was an interesting event) and found another hotel.

If you haven’t yet thought about it, yes I’m typing all of this one-handed (LEFT-handed no less).

Day three: We get up early and go straight to the train station to get tickets to Hua Hin. At this point I'm thinking the sooner we get there the better. The only train is regular class (no reclining seats and no air-con). You do what you gotta do. At first the windows are all open and the breeze from outside is quite nice and refreshing but as we get further south the rain begins to pick up and we have to close the windows. At this point the train becomes a sauna. Trea did well on this ride too but she had some moments. When we get to Hua Hin it’s raining and the roads are flooded. “Why did we go on vacation?” I ask myself. Fortunately we can get to our hotel all right. To top things off, the portable DVD player that was going to keep Trea happy in the hotel room broke and wasn’t working. Throwing in the towel came up again in the hotel room as this was beginning to look like a cursed vacation.

Days 4-7: At this point things finally started looking up. The sun came out and we were able to visit the beach and have an enjoyable time. I was able to get into the water up to my waist. As Kristen said later that evening, “It was all worth it to see Trea discover the beach.” She would just giggle and scream in delight as the waves came and hit her. She played in the sand, of course. Along the beach there they have horses that you can ride and I wanted her to go on one but we weren’t sure that she would. At this point in her life she is fascinated with animals AT A DISTANCE. They start coming close and she starts to freak out. I talked her into going and the two of us rode together. I think that she really liked it. We also took her to see monkeys and she got to ride an elephant. She really liked watching daddy feed the elephant which is rather different from our last experience feeding elephants at the zoo last October. Kristen and I had a great time watching Trea have fun. Not that we didn’t but there’s just something about seeing your kids happy. I got the good international food that is lacking in Khon Kaen (Italian, Seafood, gelato, spare ribs, etc.) Oh yeah, Trea got really sun-burned due to my poor parenting.

Days 8 and 9: The last two days were pretty uneventful – a bus ride back to Bangkok (both kids slept half the way). Another night at my favorite hotel (the one where I broke my elbow), appt. with the embassy, and then killing time until our train left. Trea liked the night train and slept really quite soundly most likely due to lack of sleep over the past week. We must have been quite a sight most of this trip. Here I am with a cast on my right arm and holding a baby in my left because Trea’s insisting on being held.

Now we’re home and trying to get back into the groove. I can’t drive so that really sucks. I’ve got a week of prep before school starts back up on the 21^st. I’m going to be teaching 3 and 4-year-olds!! Kristen has had some contact with a few places about part-time work so we’ll see what happens. We had fun in the end but it’s nice to be back on regular speed again.

Check out Kristen’s blog for another take on this trip.

Also, I’ve made a few slight changes to the blog. Hope you like them.