The beautiful weather of the first half of my visit came to an end by Sunday evening, with temperatures becoming more autumnal and the winds gusting as the fog rolled in.  More typically San Francisco, the days started out gorgeous but devolved as the day progressed.

Sunday morning I headed to Berkeley to visit Wat Monkholratanaram, the Thai Buddhist temple located on Russell at Martin Luther King, Jr. Way.  One of three Thai temples in the Bay Area, this one seems to be the most active and each Sunday has a talaat naat – a weekly market – where members of the temple prepare Thai food in vast quantities and then it is available to purchase for a donation to the temple.

Over the years, the operation has expanded in scale as well as in organization: the counters and plexiglass sneeze barriers look more permanent and are up to code, the number of tables has expanded, and the crowds have grown proportionately. 

I was hoping, vainly, that upon my return to the temple I would so impress the Thai aunties that serve the food when I broke out in some Thai.  No such luck: they are jaded with farang speaking Thai to them.  Maybe some of them weren’t Thai and didn’t understand me.  Others definitely understood me and responded in Thai, but there was no “Oh, you speak Thai!”  Instead, I received the standard concluding phrase used at this busy operation, “Next?”

My purpose in visiting the wat was to meet with Sandy, my high school ex-girlfriend.  (Shock!)  Yes, of the three girls I dated in high school and the one I dated in university, Sandy is the only one with whom I’m still in touch.  At her wedding, she introduced me to her husband as the boyfriend she turned gay.  Sandy and her husband are both doctors at Kaiser Permanente now, live in Sacramento (“just far enough away from my parents,” she explains), and have two children, a four-year-old girl and a six-month-old boy.

It was wonderful catching up with Sandy – and kind of funny to see how we simultaneously mellow as we age while still remaining ourselves!  Sadly, we were so busy chatting that I forgot to get my camera out to take a picture of us. 

For those of you who are familiar with the temple, it looks like they have done some expanding and have plans for further expansion. 

The area to the left of the food stalls, where the people selling desserts were located, has been extended back to Oregon Street.  It appears they’ve purchased one of the lots behind the temple, tearing down the fence and creating a garden.

Additionally, there are architectural plans (right) posted for a Buddha pavilion that looks like it will be built partially on another adjacent property.

Some of the notes explain that the temple has been doing these Sunday morning markets for almost thirty years as a fund-raiser and they seem to have raised enough money to make this expansion.  The pavilion will be constructed in Thailand and shipped to Berkeley in pieces and assembled there.  I’m planning on visiting the temple again in October with my family, so we’ll see if there is any progress by then.

Sunday afternoon Lilian took me to see Avenue Q, the Tony Award-winning musical that was concluding its run in San Francisco.  Quoting Wikipedia:

Avenue Q is a Tony award-winning musical that was conceived by Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx, who wrote the music and lyrics. The book is by Jeff Whitty. The show is largely inspired by (and is in the style of) Sesame Street: Most of the characters in the show are puppets (operated by actors onstage), the set depicts several tenements on a rundown street in an “outer borough” of New York City, both the live characters and puppet characters sing, and short animated video clips are played as part of the story.

Also, several characters are recognizably parodies of classic Muppet characters: for example, the roommates Rod and Nicky are versions of Sesame Street’s Bert and Ernie, and Trekkie Monster is based on Cookie Monster. However, the characters are in their twenties and thirties and face adult problems instead of those faced by pre-schoolers. The characters use profanity, and the songs concern adult themes. A recurring theme is the central character’s search for a “purpose”.

It was really funny, with clever songs and a strong anti-political correctness themes, illustrated by the song, “Everyone’s a Little Bit Racist”.

In the evening, Lilian and I drove down to San Jose to meet our group of friends for dinner.  Anita had driven down from San Francisco, too, and we were joined by Brad and Donna and their children, Eric, Albert, and Maggie.  Samantha and Jimmy were not able to make it.

Right: Chris with Brad, Donna, Evan and Cara.

We had a fun time catching up, although it would have been nice to have more time.  These visits are always so rushed.  Evan and Cara are getting to be big children now, second and first grades, respectively.

Below: Lily and Chris with Anita and Eric.  Somehow the picture of me with Albert and Maggie didn’t turn out.  Maybe Lily will email me her version?

Monday concluded my official vacation, although I’ll still be in the US three additional days.  A holiday here, traffic was light and everyone was out and about enjoying the final day of a three-day weekend.

At 10:30 I was over at Jordan and Wilford’s (left) place south of Market – a bright airy space that they’ve done a nice job with – and we headed out to Ella’s on Presidio and California Streets.  So nice to enjoy brunch in San Francisco again, especially their chicken hash!  There was a bit of a wait, but that gave us more time to catch up.  Wilford has a blog that features only photos taken with his iPhone, hence the name “iphone iblog“.  Clever, huh?

We continued after lunch to the Ferry building to do some browsing at Sur la table, stop for a coffee at Peet’s, and sit on the waterfront enjoying the great view and warm sun.  Lots of catching up to do and it was nice to connect with a younger couple – it provides some perspective on the journey that Tawn and I have taken over the past 7+ years.

After a brief stop at a small backyard barbecue that Anita was throwing, I headed to San Mateo for a final meal with Ryan and Sabrina.  Sabrina’s sister Nathalie (her maid of honor) and Ryan’s cousin Peter joined us for Vietnamese pho at a restaurant near their house and near an office building I used to work at.

After dinner, we visited until eleven o’clock, finding some interesting connections between two of their guests and me, all tying back to the SF Int’l Asian American Film Festival.  It is a small, small world.  Below, Chris, Nathalie, Sabrina, Ryan and Peter with steaming hot bowls of pho.

So now it is Tuesday morning.  Time to return the rental car, get a few loads of laundry done, start tidying up Paul’s apartment, and time to get back to doing some work.