I am... Disappointed

-

A little more than a month ago, J and I had our anniversary dinner.  As much digital ink as I’ve already spilt on that experience, there was something in it that we’ve joked about since, but that (as of yet) undocumented in this blog.


After drinks and snacks on the roof, we got a Grab and headed to Baan Tepa.  In the car, we got into a convo with our driver.  He spoke above average English and could communicate with us somewhat.  He was a nice guy and a good driver.  However, he said something that stuck with us.  


If you have ever been to a SEA country, driving and honking is common.  Very common.  I think I can recall three trips where I didn’t hear honking and those were all from a year ago or when BKK was still pretty restrictive with it’s Covid rules.  I could also get a Grab into town for less than 200 baht and 20 minutes.  Now, that would be (just checked it at 3:50pm local time) over 320 baht and time quote is 46-51 minutes.  As I said, very different.


However, a month ago, we were on our way to Baan Tepa and the Grab driver was just idly chatting with us about where we are from, what we are doing, telling us he enjoyed driving and meeting new and foreign people, etc etc.  It was a nice trip and we were both having a fine time.  Then, our driver honked.  The explanation sums up our Thailand and BKK experience in a lot of ways.


“I honk at others sometimes.  In Thailand you hear the honking all time in drive, but me, I honk only to inform other driver that I…”


And here he trailed off for a moment.  He was thinking.


“I honk because… I am disappointed.”


Just that mindset.  Not anger.  Not frustration.  Not rage or to let the other person know they made a mistake.  He honked…. In disappointment.  


Maybe you needed to be there to hear the tone of voice.  Maybe you needed to be in BKK for a year to see and recognize those changes and disappointing driving tactics.  J and I laugh at it still.


Otherwise, since J usually gets the Kiddo cuddling pics, it’s my turn.  Here is Kiddo and Mumma cuddling.





Also, a summer project is our cardboard alphabet.  Here it is in all of it’s glory.





Lastly, I made another friend while going out to get coffee today.





Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

This is a first...

-
Image
Working on setting this up and making it more to our liking and style.  I wanted to get something up, just so we have a placeholder and a little welcome to anyone coming over and wondering if this is really A, J, or the Kiddo. Also, it gives me a chance to try putting some media up as well.  Pics AND Videos???  Can it really be???? Cheers fro now and we'll be back to write more later.  Have a great day and thanks for poking us here to see that we are all still ok. 
Read more

On being brave

-
Image
I was laying in bed the other night and I was just awake and thinking.  I was thinking, specifically, about Kiddo and how brave she is in a lot of ways.  Moving across the world with J and I (not that she had much choice) was brave.  Quarantine.  Going to a school with mostly Thai kids.  Making friends.  Losing her tooth.  All of it.  She is so brave.   Even her attitude.  That want to see more of the world and to explore it.  Her willingness to go to markets with J and myself and eat bugs.  Last summer in Vietnam and just trying pho or banh mi while we walked down a street.  Getting lost with J in the rain in HCMC and having that adventure.  Her excitement to travel 30,000 miles this summer.  Her excitement for Shanghai and wondering how it will be different, better/worse, and what kind of ‘interesting and fun things to do” once we get there.   As I lay in the dark being a proud papa, I couldn’t help b...
Read more

A weekend in the life of Kiddo

-
Image
We have our LA and SF trips set.  We are going to find some time this week to plan and set the Wisco trip and then the Mexico trip, but one step at a time.  J is looking at properties in MX for us and we will book that all soon.  Then, it’s just tying up life here, selling off our stuff, packing and getting ready to move and then it’s just airplanes, airports, and adventures. It’s not all busy work though.  We are still having some fun.   J needed to go to school on Saturday to drop off some of Kiddo’s stuff that she is repurposing to her classroom.  Puzzles and books that Kiddo aged out of and what better place than a Kindergarten classroom.  Perfect solution and better than trudging them into town and getting next to nothing selling them for credit only to acquire more books to drag around the world.  New books can wait for Shanghai, if at all, because J and I are on Kindles and Kiddo is mainly on the iPad and Epic for her books.  The l...
Read more