Last time, best time
Goodbye to Thailand. Goodbye to Bangkok. And thank you.
We have seen, done, and experienced more than we could hope or even recall here. Waking tomorrow will be strange and a bit sad, as we won’t be home, we’ll be abroad and traveling. We won’t be back… at least, not anytime soon. We might visit one day down the road, but it won’t be next year.
We’ve celebrated birthdays and anniversaries. New Years and Christmases. We’ve come to love Chinese New Years, Loy Krathong, and Songkran (to name the big ones) and the celebrations and culture that goes with those.
We will miss the market and all it had to offer. Waffles, Hong Kong Noodles, Palo, chicken and rice, jammies, produce, fruit, and all of the rest. The staff at Amazon Cafe, Meet. Eat. Repeat cafe. Tops and Central. Beef Noodles. The Shabu place up the street. Even the folks at Plurn Dee, even though they’ve only been around for a few months.
It will be strange waking up in America and going out to get a coffee or just do something and not getting on a Tuk to run the short distance. Or going down to 7Eleven when I want a juice or J wants a yogurt or banana in the morning. We won’t ever again (unless fate is an unusually strange mistress) see Super the Soi Dog.
We will wake next and NOT be in a tropical jungle. We will experience, for the first time in 3 years, temps that are BELOW 27 (80F) and quite possibly temps that are below 23 (74F) for more than just a few brief hours in the middle of the night*.
Coming back from Vietnam last summer, I couldn’t wait to tear into some krapow. What will be next? What Shanghai or Chinese food will we crave coming back from a holiday somewhere else?
How long will it take us to get the Thai out of our mouth? Or wai (bowing) out of respect or thanks? Kiddo may just hear Jia Yen Yen for the rest of her days.
After three years, we will soon land and start our Stateside travels, but people will be driving on the wrong side of the road! Not really, but by our instinctual familiarity, it will be. Or crossing a street. We’re really used to looking “backwards” when crossing, because that’s how it is here.
How long will it take us to get used to USD again, with its single size and colored bills and to top that off, will we be sticker shocked at prices? And food! Where’s all the rice? Where can I get some chicken or pork on a stick as I walk down the street? Why isn’t it all stunningly spicy. Where are all the GOOD chip flavors?!?!?! And what about ice in my beer… why are you looking at me like that??!?!?!?!?
3 years ago, we left home and came to Thailand. Now, as we leave Thailand, we leave home again. It’s become home. Thank you, Thailand, Bangkok, and everyone who made us feel like this was a home to us. Who helped us. Who gave us patience and took a minute or two out of their days to help, teach, and acclimate us to this strange and wonderful place that so scared us 3 years ago, but is home to us now.
To BASIS, the staff we’ve met and who J worked with, the families she worked with, Kiddo’s teachers, staff, friends, their families who might read this, and all the rest… Thank you! You have made our time here special and so unique. We have all learned so much from you all.
Lastly, as I reminisce on our three years, a special thanks to Beer. She was beyond helpful. Beyond caring. Beyond anything. She is part of the family now. The same way Branks is, or B Schmittah, or Doc J. She will always have a place in our lives. In our home. At our table. I don’t doubt it when I say - We will all miss you, Beer. We all love you. We will fight our hardest to keep in contact and in touch with you.
As we knock the dust of BKK off of our shoes and start the new adventure, I would be remiss if I didn’t take a moment for an author’s aside:
Thank you to J and Kiddo. For supporting me and each other as we all learned and acclimated to Bangkok. For family hugs and love. For diving into the deep end and trusting that our bond and love would help us adapt and become what we are today. Especially for the patience, as I am the first one to lose patience. I love you both more today than I did 3 years ago. You have helped, taught, shown, and exhibited courage and resilience beyond what I can comprehend. Also, for wanting to continue on the adventure and globe trotting.
Let’s go, Kiddo. Let’s go, J. It’s been a strange, wild, and wonderful 3 years. We are walking the next path toward the next adventure and I couldn’t be happier to do this with the both of you. And to all of our constant (and not so constant) readers…. Let’s go all of you as well. We have a few weeks in the States, a few in Mexico, and then Shanghai. Let’s all jump in together and I’ll promise to keep writing and archiving our adventures as long as you all keep reading. We thank you all for your support and views. For your comments and Private Messages. For taking a few minutes out of your day/week/month to follow along.
The way you move
Has got me yearning
The way you move
Has left me burning — Depeche Mode, In Chains
*So, a quick fact check on myself. Lowest temp on Record for BKK was the winter we were on Ko Samat and that was 22.5 (73F) and that was between 22:00 (10pm) and 04:30. So, we have literally not experienced temps below 23 (74F) in 3 years, as our lows on Ko Samat were (fact checked) 23.5 and 24.5 (74-76.5F). That is our LOW temp in the last three years.
Here are some random pics that show the change and fun of the last three years. Enjoy and see ya again on the other side of summer holiday.
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