This morning was the third consecutive cloudy, overcast morning.  Looking out the window, you would think that this is wintry San Francisco, not Khrungthep.  Temperatures have remained cool – yesterday it didn’t get above 23 C / 73 F and the overnight low was a bitter 19 C / 66 F.  In fact, by the time the sun set I had to close our patio door because I was getting a chill in my t-shirt!  Monthly average high for December is 32 C / 89 F and low is 22 C / 71 F.

The winds have been out of the north, opposite of the usual southerly breezes, so the planes arriving into Don Muang have been on the approach overhead with some fantastic views of the widebodies arriving from other parts of Asia in the middle of the afternoon. 

In the midst of getting ready for our trip to San Francisco and Kansas City for the holidays, Tawn and I have had the opportunity to visit with several friends this week.

On Sunday morning we had brunch with Tawn’s school mates Pim, Thao, and Eddy.  Pim’s husband joined us for about an hour as we ate at Vanilla, a somewhat trendy breakfast/brunch place in a new shopping complex called Playground.  The “inside joke” about Vanilla is that it is owned by the S&P restaurant chain, which operates a nearly-ubiquitous chain of family restaurants here in Thailand.  Vanilla is their attempt to crack a more upscale market.  Picture 1: Tawn and Eddy at Vanilla

After lunch, we went to Pim’s condo to see her 5-month old baby, Tara.  She’s quite a cutie and Tawn enjoys playing with her.  Tara remained fairly low-key the whole time until she was passed off to the farang – that expeience was a bit upsetting for her.  Picture 2: Tawn holds Tara.  Picture 3: Pim, Thao, Tara, and Tara’s nanny. 

We were only able to stay for a few minutes as we had many errands to run, including a trip up to Chatchuchak (aka JJ) Weekend Market.  Stephanie Chung was visiting from Melbourne with two of her sisters, a nephew, and a brother-in-law.  We spent several hours on Sunday afternoon playing sherpas for Stephanie and her sisters, which was a lot of fun.  Picture 4: Stephanie and Tawn and Chatchuchak Market.

On Tuesday evening we met up with them again and took them to T Restaurant, a nice seafood place over near Victory Monument.  The restaurant is owned by the family of one of Tawn’s former UA colleagues, Patty.  She was working that evening, so not only did we enjoy a really nice selection of Curry Crab, Black Pepper Crab, Fried Fish in Tamarind Sauce, Fried Calamari and other goodies, we also got a fantastic price. 

Wednesday late morning I met up again with Stephanie and her sisters (her brother-in-law Michael and nephew Marcus decided to find something else to do) and took them to the Elysium spa, which is one soi over from our apartment.  One of the nicer spas, and completely legitimate, we got them started on a 150-minute facial and Thai massage regemine.  I returned home to work, coming back at 3:30 to retrieve three very relaxed ladies.

Afterards, afternoon tea at the recently remodeled Puttumwan Princess hotel.  Very nice afternoon.  Of course, I ended up having to work fairly late in the evening to make up for it, but that’s why life is about trade-offs!

Tomorrow morning is a 4:00 am wake-up call so we can get to the airport and head off for KC.  There may be some delays in new postings, so if this is the last one before Christmas:

Happy and Peaceful Holidays to You and Yours!