Before I begin the post about the first few days of Jim and Jan's visit with us in Bangkok, here are a couple of photos of the kids taken before school this morning. Christopher was participating in a Model United Nations event at school and had to wear a dress shirt and dress pants instead of his uniform. He chose to wear a tie because it "added a level of sharpness" to his look.
Considering that it is almost February, I guess I should be embarrassed that our Christmas tree is still up. I have packed all of our other Christmas decorations away but I am reluctant to take the tree down because it looks so pretty at night with all of the lights turned on. If it were up to me, I would keep it up until the movers come in June and let them pack it all away. However, we are hosting a dinner party for about 50 guests next Monday so I do need to get motivated and take it down this weekend. I really don't want to be known as the lady who kept her Christmas tree up until after Easter.
On to Jim and Jan's visit... we spent Wednesday (January 2nd) unpacking, doing laundry and showing Jim and Jan around the 'hood. First stop...
Late Thursday morning, I drove everyone downtown and we met Kevin for lunch at his office. After lunch, we drove over to the Embassy to give Jim and Jan a very brief tour. There is really only one thing of any interest at the Embassy - a long corridor with photos of all past Secretaries of State hanging on the walls - so we were in and out in about 30 minutes. Kevin went back to work and the rest of us went over to MBK Center (Mahboonkrong Center) to have a look around.
I know I have already posted about MBK but I couldn't find the post in my archives. Quickly, MBK is a large shopping Mall located in the CBD of Bangkok. It is 8 stories high and has almost 2,000 shops, restaurants and service outlets. MBK Management reports that more than 100,000 people visit MBK daily. Although a lot of the retail shops offer souvenier and gift items, there are quite a few places where (illegal) counterfeit goods (purses, watches, belts, jewelry) can be purchased. MBK is very close to Kevin's office - just 2 stops away on the BTS (Bangkok Train System). I have driven to MBK but the traffic can be horrific and the parking garage isn't much better. It is so much easier to park at Kevin's office, walk 10 steps to the BTS and take the train to shop. We spent most of the afternoon in MBK and very generously supported the local economy. Jan seemed to have an innate skill for bargaining with the vendors and she almost always got the initial price she offered - or she walked away. She was able to score some great deals and we were a bit worried about how they would get all of her purchases back to the US.
We took the BTS back to Kevin's office and loaded our pile of packages and bags into the car. The next item on the itinerary was a stop at the Moon Bar (on the rooftop of the Banyan Tree Hotel) to have a drink and watch the sunset. The bar was quite crowded but it was a beautiful night and Jim and Jan did get to have a bird's eye view of the city.
Finally, it was time to go back to Nichada and have dinner. Since we were only going to be eating at home a few times while Jim and Jan were visiting, I had PeePorn go all out and she really outdid herself.
Fresh tropical fruit plate.
Have a great Tuesday!
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