I had been fighting a bad cold for two weeks now and this was the first weekend in a long time that I felt ready to go out and do something, so come Friday night I was ready. Unfortunately, Ryan came home and told me he had a work dinner to go to and wives weren't invited :(
A number of VPs are here and Pasco Thailand (aka Intermap) was taking them out. They were going to the Fish Market, so I wasn't too disappointed!
Still, not wanting to ruin my Friday night, I called Steph to see if she was up for dinner. A few weeks ago we found this amazing Mexican restaurant that gives Mexi Cali Rosa's a run for its money, and have been finding excuses to go back ever since. The guys said they would meet up with us after dinner, and knowing who they were going out with we didn't expect to see them anytime soon! So Steph and I got all dolled up and headed out for a girlie night on the town.
Steph surprised me with a foot massage before dinner. There is a great place near our building and she wanted to treat me for taking her cats in again while they had people coming into their apartment. (We are not aloud pets in our building so they had to sneak the cats out for a couple of days while the repair people went in.) It was my first foot massage, and man it was great. Usually I go for the Traditional Thai Massage - its a little more intense, but more theraputic for me. The Foot Massage was really relaxing though, the perfect start to our night out.
Surprisingly the guys called while we unwinding after our massages - they give you tea to drink when your massage is finished, not sure if its supposed to help relax or soothe muscles or what, but its yummy so we always drink it! They were finished dinner already and had found a way to excuse themselves from the group. (Usually when they go out with the company they are stuck for the night). We told them to meet us at the restaurant where we would have a quick bite and then see where the night takes us - yeah right, we ended up closing the restaurant! We were just chatting, enjoying the food, margaritas, and ambience and before we knew it we were the only people left in the place! We all still wanted to go out (and it was only 11) so we asked the manager where we should go. He drew us a map and we hopped in a nearby Tuk Tuk. I am not sure what Clem said to the driver, but we had the ride of our life! The Tuk Tuk kept revving his engine and doing wheelies after every stop! We hung on for dear life, but made it safely to our destination, managing to spot the baby elephant walking down the street on our way!
None of us were sure where the driver was taking us, he took us to the right street, but dropped us off at some club we had never heard of. We walked in and were surrounded by white people! Ususally when we head out on the town we are the only white people in the place! I guess the driver didn't understand where we wanted to go and figured, hey I will just take them to a popular Farang (white people) club. Oh well, there was a great band playing and we met some interesting people. We had a few more drinks and danced the night away.
While it wasn't the best way to celebrate my new found health (we were feeling pretty rough come Saturday morning!) it was definitely the fun way!
Saturday, May 19, 2007
Friday, May 18, 2007
Earthquakes and the Rainy Season
Well, the rainy season is upon us. Unfortunately, this doesn't mean the scorching 40 degree temperatures have ceased. Well, I suppose for the most part it is much cooler, maybe 35 now, either way, its still pretty hot out there.
We weren't sure what to expect from the rainy season. We had seen pictures of Sukhumvit (the street we live off and one of the main streets running through Bangkok) completely flooded and people walking in water past their knees, but we were told any bad flooding won't happen until September or so - ohh the things to look forward to!
We were also told, that for the most part the rainy season is basically sunny mornings, then a quick (hour or so) downpour, then nice weather again. Of course, this is before global warming has an effect.
From what people keep telling me, this rainy season is apparently like no other anyone has ever experienced. The past few weeks have been dominated by gray, cloudy days with rain lasting the better part of the morning, if not all day. The TA's at my school tell me that it is very unusual for this kind of weather. My poor kids at are stuck indoors most mornings because it is simply too mucky to play in the yard. Oh well, we were blessed with some gorgeous sunshine and blue skies today (Friday). That makes up for the adventure yesterday of trudging through ankle deep runoff and dodging waterfalls from the buildings trying to manoeuvre me and my poor umbrella to the skytrain! It was definitly an early morning adventure, and yes, I was soaked by the time I got to school.
I will say one thing though, the storms we get here are WAY better than back home! Ryan and I often watch the lightning from our balcony, although we have started watching from the window since a few have come a little too close for comfort. We are very careful to run indoors at the first sign of lightning because it seems like everything in this city is a giant lightning rod.
For the most part the rainy season hasn't dampened our experiences too much. For the most part the rain doesn't last too long, so you just have to make sure you are not in to much of a rush when you go anywhere, the traffic pretty much stops when it starts raining, or just be willing to get a little wet.
The other exciting news of the week is the earthquake that hit. Aparrently there was a 6.1 that hit Laos at 4pm Thursday afternoon. The effects were felt all through Thailand and made it all the way to Bangkok. We were told Thailand doesn't see many earthquakes and if Ryan's trainees are any example people don't like them at all.
I was totally oblivious to the earthquake having felt nothing, although I did sneak in a nap after work so maybe it did affect our building. But when Ryan got home he told me his whole floor started moving! His trainees were terrified and wanted to go home, but Ryan didn't see what the big deal was. He said the floor started swaying and at first he thought it was just him - like his equilibrium was off or something. Then one of his colleagues shouted "Mr. Ryan! Its and earthquake!" Nothing was shaking or anything, the floor was just swaying and it was over in a minute or so. His trainees did not want to go back to work though and just wanted to go home! We learned later that buildings in Bangkok are not built to withstand major earthquakes like they are in Japan and other places, but this one was really no big deal. Ryan called his colleagues on the 15th floor and they said they felt nothing. Ryan is on the 22nd floor, so we figure the higher up you were the more you felt it.
While there was no damage or injuries, the quake was pretty big news. All my parents asked me about it the following day at school, and it was all the talk in the canteen. But all I kept thinking was "man, thats twice now that Ryan has felt an earthquake and I missed it!"
We weren't sure what to expect from the rainy season. We had seen pictures of Sukhumvit (the street we live off and one of the main streets running through Bangkok) completely flooded and people walking in water past their knees, but we were told any bad flooding won't happen until September or so - ohh the things to look forward to!
We were also told, that for the most part the rainy season is basically sunny mornings, then a quick (hour or so) downpour, then nice weather again. Of course, this is before global warming has an effect.
From what people keep telling me, this rainy season is apparently like no other anyone has ever experienced. The past few weeks have been dominated by gray, cloudy days with rain lasting the better part of the morning, if not all day. The TA's at my school tell me that it is very unusual for this kind of weather. My poor kids at are stuck indoors most mornings because it is simply too mucky to play in the yard. Oh well, we were blessed with some gorgeous sunshine and blue skies today (Friday). That makes up for the adventure yesterday of trudging through ankle deep runoff and dodging waterfalls from the buildings trying to manoeuvre me and my poor umbrella to the skytrain! It was definitly an early morning adventure, and yes, I was soaked by the time I got to school.
I will say one thing though, the storms we get here are WAY better than back home! Ryan and I often watch the lightning from our balcony, although we have started watching from the window since a few have come a little too close for comfort. We are very careful to run indoors at the first sign of lightning because it seems like everything in this city is a giant lightning rod.
For the most part the rainy season hasn't dampened our experiences too much. For the most part the rain doesn't last too long, so you just have to make sure you are not in to much of a rush when you go anywhere, the traffic pretty much stops when it starts raining, or just be willing to get a little wet.
The other exciting news of the week is the earthquake that hit. Aparrently there was a 6.1 that hit Laos at 4pm Thursday afternoon. The effects were felt all through Thailand and made it all the way to Bangkok. We were told Thailand doesn't see many earthquakes and if Ryan's trainees are any example people don't like them at all.
I was totally oblivious to the earthquake having felt nothing, although I did sneak in a nap after work so maybe it did affect our building. But when Ryan got home he told me his whole floor started moving! His trainees were terrified and wanted to go home, but Ryan didn't see what the big deal was. He said the floor started swaying and at first he thought it was just him - like his equilibrium was off or something. Then one of his colleagues shouted "Mr. Ryan! Its and earthquake!" Nothing was shaking or anything, the floor was just swaying and it was over in a minute or so. His trainees did not want to go back to work though and just wanted to go home! We learned later that buildings in Bangkok are not built to withstand major earthquakes like they are in Japan and other places, but this one was really no big deal. Ryan called his colleagues on the 15th floor and they said they felt nothing. Ryan is on the 22nd floor, so we figure the higher up you were the more you felt it.
While there was no damage or injuries, the quake was pretty big news. All my parents asked me about it the following day at school, and it was all the talk in the canteen. But all I kept thinking was "man, thats twice now that Ryan has felt an earthquake and I missed it!"
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