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Mags Meanderings:
From Som Tam
To Mushy Peas
the visit
As expats living in Thailand, how do you cope with
family and friends when they descend on you for a
holiday? Especially when they are first time visitors, and
even worse when they choose to travel in packs.
I have vivid memories of doing the ‘meet and greet’ in
the days of Don Muang airport. As the person who is
supposed to know anything and everything about your
adopted country the burden of responsibility for the
health, wellbeing and enjoyment of your visitors can
be quite daunting. And after the initial relief of actually
locating them at Arrivals and getting the hugs and kisses
out of the way comes that moment of truth. When you
step out of the airport into 30 or more degrees of heat,
plus humidity at saturation point, and watch your guests
wilt before your eyes. Only to be restored to something
resembling human again once bundled into an air-con
taxi en route into Bangkok, where the fun really begins.
Because quite naturally first time visitors want to see the
sights. They also, depending on age and resilience, need
some degree of recovery time from their flight, while
you of course are already well adjusted to your time
zone of choice. So they disappear to their hotel rooms
while you potter around eating, reading the Bangkok
Post, e mailing, and generally trying to fill the time until
they stir and feel ready to hit the town.
To be fair most of my visitors to the Land of Smiles
were pretty resilient. And in ones or twos very easy to
handle. The obligatory trips to the Grand Palace and
Reclining Buddha on their first full day were fine. Using
the Skytrain wasn’t a problem. Seeing their reaction to
Patpong 1 at night a joy to behold. Chilling out at a quiet
little bar in Patpong 2 providing a welcome contrast
before a hair raising TukTuk ride back to our hotel.
OK - yes I admit to asking the TukTuk drivers to go faster
as a special treat. Except for the time when my Mum,
two Aunts, plus their elderly friend, arrived to visit en
masse.
The party of four was never meant to be. It had started as
a trip for two - Mum and one Aunt - and for some reason
best known to themselves had doubled somewhere
Dream
Guesthouse
Cheap room for rent
from just 350 baht
0915094729 Th/Eng 0805626735 Swe/Eng
Soi 94 (1st left after 7-11)
along the way. After the initial panic of booking extra
rooms at the Jed Pee Nong, judged to be both quiet and
central enough for farang women of a certain age - the
Bangkok end of their trip wasn’t too much of a problem.
Until that is they arrived.
By this time I had had more than enough of the Grand
Palace guided tours, so could be forgiven for packing
them off on the obligatory tour plus gem factory with a
trusted guide, while I had a much needed massage and
facial. Unfortunately it didn’t quite work out like that.
By day two one of my visitors had gone down with
Bangkok Belly, and had to miss the Grand Palace. Day
three was schedule