I woke up in the morning to a delicious French Toast breakfast (after Ryan ran out twice to pick up ingredients he forgot!) and then we had a nice relaxing morning before heading down to the gym and for a dip in the pool. After that it was out for an iced cappuccino and a walk in the park where we stopped by the pond to watch the kids feed the fish and turtles (and whatever else lives in that water). We sat at a nearby bench and watched this one poor little turtle struggle and struggle to pull himself out of the "lake" (it is surrounded by a concrete ledge). After about 5 minutes of watching this little guy try and try again Ryan finally reached in to rescue him. Then, of course, we had to watch with baited breath every time a kid walked by because we were sure the turtle was going to get tossed back in! Surprisingly the kids just came up to him curiously and then left him alone . . . we were both positive that if we were back home that poor turtle would have been poked with a stick, flipped upside down, and suffer through a number of other curious kids before being tossed back in the lake! Finally a police officer came by and nudged the turtle back in with his toe. Our entertainment gone, Ryan and I continued on our walk and headed for home to get ready for dinner.
Ryan had made reservations for us at Piman, a Thai Dinner and Theatre restaurant nearby. We had walked by it a number of times and heard it was definitely an experience to be had.
Every night there is a 6-act show of Thai dancing and a short play. The atmosphere of the restaurant is authentically Thai: red from floor to ceiling with tables on the floor with cushions to sit on. Again, the floor was cut out under the table so you could stretch your legs if you chose not to sit cross legged. Shoes had to be removed at the front door, and there were antiques dating back to the 13th century on display to complete the ambience.
We weren't sure what to expect for dinner - there was no menu, you were just served several Thai dishes. However, after the server brought out our first dish: Thai-style spring rolls, we knew we were in for a treat. Our server brought out several other dishes including shrimp, chicken curry, steamed jasmine rice, Tam Yam Koon (very yummy Thai soup), sweet sticky-noodles, and some warm Thai salad. Everything was amazing! Then our server returned and brought 3 more plates! This time she brought Morning Glory (warm and spicy Thai salad - kind of spinach-like; very tasty), a spicy pork dish, and Thai omlette. Our server said these dishes were special for us, and looking around we saw that no one else was served these extra dishes . . .
I asked Ryan and he swears he had nothing to do with it, so perhaps we received extra because we didn't pay the "tour group" price (a bus full of tourists had shown up while we were eating), or maybe they just mistook us for someone else (we were looking extra fabulous that night!!), either way we enjoyed the treat!
After being served a dessert of mixed fruit and tea, we settled down with our wine to enjoy the show. Our hostess brought out some dancers in Traditional Thai dress who demonstrated a variety of hand gestures and movements, each signifying different feelings. Our hostess then explained each of the dances we were about to see (which was then repeated in 5 other languages) and the show began.
Accompanied by traditional Thai music, we watched a number of different dance styles and enjoyed the rhythmic movements and costumes of each performance. Most were simple dances, but we also got to see a re-enactment of a famous battle, and a deer hunt.
While the Thai music can get a little . . . twangy . . . at times, the show was really neat and helped complete my Thai birthday experience.
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