But not without an adventure. Natch.
Our flight to Mae Sot, on PB Air, was cancelled. We learned this at 5:15 a.m. in the Bangkok airport. The airline paid for us to fly on Bangkok Airways to Sukothai where a VIP van, complete with mirror-ed ceilings, leather seats and a big screen TV, awaited us. The ride to Mae Sot was 3 hours or so. Not bad. WanderGirl napped and WanderBoy watched Wall-E on the big screen with his happy parents. A bit of a detour but “Mai pen rai” (Thai for “No problem”).
We got the chance to use that expression upon our arrival when our landlady lost the key to our house. ”Mai pen rai,” we said, “We’ll go to the pool and you can bring the key there.” Soon it was 1pm little Wanderers were losing it and my patience was reaching the end. And then somehow she found the key. And we were inside and the kids were down for naps. Ahhhhhhh.
So we’ve moved in, rented a motorcycle, bought fans/electric kettle/towels etc… (long list), and went without water for one day (“sometimes that happens”). All in all a great start. We’ve found pad thai ($0.70) and other yummy local fare nearby. We even found a brunchy buffet at a nearby hotel ($6.50 for all of us — a weekly slurge perhaps).
Onto childcare. So we’re trying to land a Thai-speaking nanny. No easy task in this city of Burmese/Karen. I had no idea how little Thai is spoken here — at least in the main part of town. We are in a more Thai part of town. There is more money, and more Thai spoken. Similarly to the US, the more affuluent population employs the poorer folks, who here are Burmese. Which isn’t to say all Thais in Mae Sot are loaded. Just more so than the Burmese.
Our Thai-speaking nanny candidate did not show up this morning. While we have many Burmese waiting in the wings, WanderPapa in particular wants to hold out for the Thai-speaker. He’d rather build on his Thai than learn Burmese. I don’t blame him. He will interact alot with Burmese but won’t be working with them like I will. Therefore, he can get by on Thai. If we can get a Thai speaker to babysit for us… Stay tuned.
I did find a little school for WBoy. For the whopping sum of $40 he can go to school M-F 8-4:30. We think that we’ll send him from 9-12 and then have him come home for rest/naps. Then the whole family can hang in the afternoon at the pool or in town, once I get home from ‘work’.
Whew…lots going on…
