I should have posted a message sooner to say that my parents arrived in Thailand safe and sound, but between their arrival and finishing school, its been a busy couple of days. Mom and dad arrived late Friday night - I met them at their hotel, the Peninsula, on Saturday morning for brunch. The Peninsula is a beautiful hotel right on the river (I'm pretty sure it won some awards this year from the travel magazines for being one of the nicest hotels in the world) - definitely a part of Bangkok that I hadn't spent much time in before! Apparently when they arrived they no longer had rooms with king-sized beds, so they upgraded them to a suite for free... the room was ridiculous. My dad was quick to point out the toilet that looked out over the city from the 27th floor.
After breakfast I took my parents over to the Chatuchak Market to give them their first taste of Bangkok. We walked around for a few hours, but it was really hot, so we escaped around lunch time to one of the indoor markets. I guess I hadn't mentioned it before, but the weather has definitely gotten progressively warmer since I've been here. The afternoons are now almost unbearable - high 90s and pretty muggy. Speaking of hot, at lunch my dad went a little overboard on the spice in his soup and definitely paid for it. Welcome to Bangkok!
For dinner, Marc joined us and we went to a restaurant called Baan Khanita, that was recommended by some Thai friends and expats. It is known for having some of the best Thai food around, and it was definitely excellent, but I still think the best stuff is from the random places you find along the streets. After dinner, we took my parents to the State Tower where there is an open air bar, Sirocco, on the 64th floor. For those of you into views, its one of the better ones I've seen, although the drinks are expensive (NYC prices) and actually pretty bad.
On Sunday, my parents traveled around with a tour guide and I spent most of the day packing up my stuff and running some errands. Actually, I really spent most of the day sleeping since Marc and I were out quite late. We had some bottles left over at a few bars we attend regularly, so after dinner and drinks with my parents we went around to polish them off. Needless to say night quickly turned to morning which quickly turned to lunch time... "Fat, drunk and stupid" may be no way to go through life (at least according to Dean Wormer), but the drunk part is a pretty good way to say good-bye to Bangkok!
Sunday night, Marc joined us again and we went to a new restaurant called Mahanaga, which was serving up delicious Thai Fusion. (Marc and I were definitely enjoying eating dinner with the folks!) After dinner we took my dad to check out Bed Supperclub (the futuristic-looking night club I wrote about before). It wasn't very crowded, but we got a few drinks into my dad and he danced around a bit (yes, I have pictures, but you'll have to wait until I upload them.) Seeing my dad dance around, I realized I truly am my father's son. My parents left around 11 PM, but before they left my mom pointed out two girls that were checking Marc and I out. A little while after my mom left, the girls saunter over and one of them points to Marc and I and says "Gay?" and then points to herself and he friend and says "Lesbian." Turns out Bed on Sunday night is gay night. Good times.
Right now I am in Chiang Mai - my parents and I arrived here this morning. We are staying at a beautiful hotel right in the Old Quarter. This afternoon we went to check out some wats and a place where they made jade sculptures. I have a bunch of good pictures, but I don't have time to upload them all now, so you'll have to wait. I need to go get ready for dinner, but for those who were curious: Mike and Jill are safe and sound, staying away from the ice cubes and having a blast!
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