WanderMama

So far so great.  Cape Panwa, the area where we are staying is, as promised, secluded and undeveloped.  We are staying at the Waterside complex (Unit B1 see info here  – we love it!), which is right on the beach, has a lovely pool and nearby beach bars/restaurants.  We’ve rented a car, because it is far away from everything…groceries, attractions.  We are thrilled  that we did.

We’ve visited the Phuket Acquarium (Grade: A) and the Phuket Zoo (Grade: B- :  Fine elephant show, boring moneky show, felt bad for animals overall, crazy paid photo ops like kids sitting next to big tigers).

The biggest hit of all has been a 1/2 day trip to Coral Island (Grade: A++), which boasts pristine waters, easy access/gorgeous snorkelling, and nice beach amenities (massage, chairs, food).  The long tail boat coast B1500 for the excursion.  My parents, not adventurous people by nature, LOVED it.  The first thing my dad said upon returning is ‘we have to go back.’

Early morning explorations of ‘downtown’ Phuket led  us to this one restaurant that has a  colonial Asia feel — like places I’ve seen in Hanoi or Bangkok.  Full breakfast (eggs, toast, coffee, bacon) and coffee/Thai soup (Joke) B160.  Che-e-e-ap.  And a nice atmosphere.  The town is dead at that hour…even the Thais are sleeping off the previous night’s festivities it seems.

On this day of thanks in America, I feel very lucky and appreciative of all that I have.   My family, my friends, and most of all my kids and my husband.  Best thing that ever happened to me was meeting that guy.

Despite the insanity of our travels, I am thankful that we are living our dreams.  In some ways we are testing them:  is this really what we want?  To me revising/rethinking beats the hell out of sitting in New England and dreaming and dreaming about something that will never happen.  Idealizing a perfect scenario for years, when reality is always far different.

Looking out over my laptop screen, I see something pretty damn close to a dream: turqouise waters, plam trees waving gently in the breeze.  The place I rented for my family and my parents here in Phuket is perfect: beautiful interior with ocean views from every room, 3 bedrooms (WGirl scored a nice bathroom abode), full kitchen, balconies, etc… Fab. The only thing missing is my brother and his family. Next time B.

Anways, thanks to all of you in my life.  Even though I am far away, I think of you all the time.

Happy Thanksgiving.  Enjoy the turkey!

Holy shit show.  Between friends visiting and my own involved travels, I haven’t posted.  Here’s some notes I jotted from my trip to Bankok:

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20 Nov 2009

5 am I wake up, WBoy is still asleep in his little bed on the floor (friends in his room).  Ugh Max is gone and today I travel to Bangkok with these two.

5:10  WanderGirl awake.

5:11 WanderBoy awake.

6 The three of us go for a bike ride.

7:30 Breakfast at Casa Mia.  Pancakes, eggs, bacon, the works.  Coffee for mama.  Here’s a crazy fact: I have never drank coffee till this time around in Thailand.  Ever.  Not in France or Italy.  Brazil or Costa Rica.  Or New York or Boston for that matter.  I’ve drank more coffee here than ever before — and 1/2 of it is Nescafe instant.  It’s the kids.

8:15 We pedal home through a parade:  tiny Thai girls in outrageous satin tutus and hair and makeup to match.  Boys in flashy suits.  A marching band.  All to commemorate the “exercises at the palace” according to someone that I asked.  Cool.

9-11:30 Packing.  Feeling alternately ok and crazy.  House is bedlam with 4 kids running/yelling.

11:45 Take taxi to the now-defunct Mae Sot Airport.  There should be a bus/minivan waiting for me to take me to the airport 3 hours away in Sukothai.  There isn’t.  Panic.  Thirty seconds later I negociate a $100 fare from the taxi company all the way to Sukothai.

12:15-3 White-knuckle ride weaving up and down the mountains to Tak (1/2 way to the airport).  As I am losening my grip on the seat handle in front of me, WanderBoy vomits all over himself, me, the minibus.  At a pit stop, I literally throw away all clothes involved.

3-5:15  At airport.  Answer “When are we leaving?” three hundred times.

5:30 Thank the lord we are in the air.

5:45 Vomit everywhere.  Compliments of the girl this time.

6:20 Got bags, got kids.  Where the F&*%!!! is the F&*%ing rep from the Best Western. He should be waiting.  I track him down.

6:40 On van.  WanderPapa calls from China.  (that is another story)  He is fine.

7:40 Totally exhausted. Screaming at whinging, whiny WanderBoy who wants _____ (juice, Diego, something to eat) NOW!!!  Total child abuse moment.  Ugh.

8:40  Washed and fed,  asleep in bed.  Only 48 hours till WPapa and the grandparents arrive.  Please let me survive.

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I survived barely.  Sunday my parents and husband arrived.  By Monday, after giving over total responsibility for the kids and sleeping, I felt ok again.  But man sometimes this never-ending trip of ours seems like the stupidest idea in the world.

I haven’t talked much about the classes that I am teaching, so caught up in the kids and daily life.  But I want to say how much I am enjoying teaching the counsellors and, especially, the patients.  When I first started a month ago, what I noticed most when I walked into the clinic were the sad faces and the helplessness of it all.  It was overwhelming to think about how little they can do to improve their own lives.  They must be patient, like the dad of the little girl with the distended stomach (who is having heart surgery btw).   It just all felt so sucky and unfair — and enormous.

Their situation is still sucky but I have gotten to observe, interact with and come to know some of the patients and my perspective has changed a bit.  For example, there is this one woman, who I think of as my assistant.  She’s a 40 something spit-fire who is quick to laugh, burps heartily when the mood strikes her and repeats each of my fledgling Burmese phrases.  It is thanks to her that I am able to teach about half the class in Burmese.  Yesterday she showed me a picture of her and a young man who I took for her son.  Nope…her husband.  Go figure.  She’s a total cougar.  Just goes to show you: life is life, everyone has their own stories.  And they are not all just sad tales of being country-less and poor.

I really like what I am doing.  I only wish that I could do more.  Here are some shots from the patient house from today.

Here are pictures from the weekend.

1 & 2 rides at the grocery store/Dunkin Donuts (love you DD!).

3,4,&5 Food market

6 Our favorite restaurant.  It’s not fancy but the food is great and cheap … and it’s on the way home.

7 & 8 Friends of ours from the States are staying with us for a while.  Don’t worry … we didn’t get too drunk…four kids four and under prevented that.

F

They are doing really well.  Taking this craziness in stride.  Here’s a pic that captures WanderBoy’s life here:  Thai kids everywhere, not sure which way to go.   But he’s not afraid and continues to put himself out there.

Adventure Wednesday brought us to the waterfalls about 1 hour away from Mae Sot.  Beautiful, relaxing spot where we will totally return with the kids.  The area is clean, the falls beautiful, and there are plenty of places to dunk your feet and splash around for kids.  Plus, there are hiking trails.  Bring a picnic and sit at one of the tree sheltered picnic tables abound or buy the usual Thai fast food favs (Kao Pad, Pad Si Ew) at the little restaurant — very good.  The staf f is very friendly.   The bathroom are very gross, FYI.

Here are some shots from the day:

I leave the clinic at 3 and pedal my ass off to pick up the kids.  You can picture me, pedalling through traffic, sweating profusely and jamming to my ipod.  Here’s what I saw today on my return trip:

A woman carrying a huge bag of rice on their head, balancing a kid on her hip.  She may be one of  200+ people with HIV who recieve a ration of rice and other foodstuffs once at month Mae Tao Clinic, where I work.  One of my colleagues told me that there are at least 20 new HIV patients per month.

A man and his child walking along the road begging occasionally.  The man is on crutches and has one leg.  I see them often.

A man eating out of a garbage can.  I have never seen that before.

A family on a motorcycle: dad at the wheel, kid standing on the seat in the middle being supported by mom.  This is so frequent as to be not noticeable.

Two overweight Thai 60 year olds in full jogging outfits (jackets and matching pants) and huge hats.  It was easily 95 degrees.  I don’t even pee any more its so hot, I just sweat.  No joke.  But there are the Thais and Burmese dressed head to toe to avoid sun exposure.

A woman in a burqua.  Two Muslim men holding hands.  There is a significant Burmese Muslim population here.

A sixty-something farang (foreign) couple riding bikes toward Mae Sot Villa, where we live.  There are a number of Baby Boomer farangs here.

As I rounded the corner to pick up the kids at daycare, I noticed the lyrics to the song I was listening to on my ipod. Jerry Garcia’s words:  ”What a long strange trip its been” seemed very appropriate.  Though I’d only ridden 2-3km I saw more of humanity than I’d see at home in a month.

(Pick up the kids.  Usual craziness ensues as they climb onto the bike wanting to get the hell outta there.  The well-meaning teacher, in mixed Thai and English, bombards me with the day’s accomplishments.)

Said hi to our friends who sell grilled chicken and pork.  We see them 10 X per day and always exchange “Sawadi Kas” (Hellos).

Ring the bell.  WanderPapa comes out.  Whew…another commute done.

Harsh.  Yes.  But they screwed my affairs badly the other night.  It’s the lack of availability really that makes them suck.  They’re just not there when you need them, which is odd in Thailand.

We had a perfectly lovely trip into town (15 min on bike, 7-8 min on tuk tuk), had a perfectly lovely dinner with friends, and then ha

d a perfectly horrendous time getting home.  We walked on the main road expecting a tuk tuk to pass (as it would have done in Nong Khai where we lived before).  Then we stopped into a guest house and ordered one.  They said 15 minutes.  Fine.

Forty five minutes later I was beside myself.  WanderGirl has peeped/pooped through available diapers and was running around commando.  And she had that crazy, hysterical laugh going.  Bedtime had passed.  In other words, we were moments from total meltdown disaster.  I was flipping out, feeling totally out of control.  Finally a tuk tuk came but seriously it took an hour.

Never again.  We will ride bikes into town…and meet friends closer to home.

Ugh.  Sometimes this whole kids in Asia thing is hard.