Enjoying a lunch on a restaurant on stilts on the Gulf of Thailand

Every great city has much to offer its visitors but Bangkok seems to have an endless supply of memorable places, moments and experiences that makes living here such a joy for Julie and I.  And through the benefit of having lived here a couple of years now we can scratch the surface beyond the typical tourist activities and begin to see how unique and special the Thai culture and society really is.

One fascinating aspect of this city is the contrast of it rushing toward a modern and western society while a significant share of citizens still survives on the daily minimum wage of 215 Baht (about $7.00).  How do you process that fact with the huge glitzy shopping centres, fancy night clubs, restaurants and focus on western fashion?  

Doing the weekly shopping with Sister Joan for her big family

We’ve made a point of seeing all aspects of life in Bangkok and have a broader perspective as a result.  For example, through Julie’s friendship and volunteer work with Sister Joan, the Catholic nun from Perth who has lived in the slums for over 20 years to help feed and clothe the poor, she has seen how little efforts of providing basic essential items can keep babies healthy and kids in school. 

Sister Joan is an amazing woman and her energy and commitment to the people in her slum community is boundless.  Through various circumstances she recently needed some help in her fortnightly shopping to feed about 90 elderly women that she has on her books.  Julie and I joined her at one of these giant warehouse stores and bought 420 kilograms – almost half a ton – of rice, hundreds of cans of tinned fish, equal hundreds of fish sauce plus various other items, loaded them into her truck and sent her home to feed her extended family.  I was exhausted by the effort, she seemed to take it all in stride (forgot to mention, she’s almost 80). 

The birthday boy - still 39

Another example of this contrast in Bangkok is through the ancient tradition of making monks’ alms bowls.  Today most alms bowls are mass produced in factories in China but they were originally forged by hand in a community near the centre of Bangkok.  The art of making these bowls is almost lost and only a few families still do it – mostly for the tourists.

Transporting alms bowls through the family laundry

 Julie and I took a khlong (canal) ferry into town and then walked to Ban Baht where we found some of the back streets and saw how the ancient craft of forging these alms bowls from 8 separate sheets of steel by hand was done.  In the process we were interviewed on video by some Thai school boys who were documenting this ancient craft and of course we also bought a few bowls.  As you do.

On today's menu we have duck, duck and duck

We’re always on the hunt for a local market and we particularly like to visit the wet markets where locals sell fruit, vegetables, meat, fish and a wide variety of other local products.  This is the real Thailand, and as an extension, the real Asia.   We recently had a free Sunday and decided to drive west toward Nakhon Pathon to a local weekend market in the village of Don Wai which is on the banks of the Nakhon Chaisi River.  We had great fun exploring the market, tasting all the local delicacies and of course buying a few things as well.

Even though this market is on a major river, and is officially called a floating market even though most of it does not, the local specialty is duck.  And let me tell you they had a lot of duck.  Boiled duck, stewed duck, glazed duck, chili duck, duck this, duck that.  We sampled some duck in a few of the stalls and then for lunch we ate on a floating restaurant (which was really floating) and ate duck, duck and duck.  Before we left we bought duck for dinner at home that night.  Quack.

Enjoying our duck lunch

The gallery is quiet while she takes aim

Julie’s golf lessons have been quite a success so last weekend we decided to make our first big venture out on a local golf course.  This was a big jump because it’s a completely different proposition playing on a golf course to hitting balls on a driving range.  We were both quietly nervous about this jump but for completely different reasons.   

Let me tell you, what a success!  We found a little 9 hole par 3 course north of Bangkok and had a real hoot playing golf together.  The holes were short but there was a lot of water and bunkers to negotiate (she found the water, I found the bunkers) so it was no pushover.  The good news (for me) is that I beat her, the even better news is that we had a great time.  Julie hit many good shots and even had a true proper legitimate bogey (plus an almost legitimate double bogey and many other good holes).  The caddies didn’t giggle at her bad shots but they did clap for the good ones (probably hoping for a big tip).  So overall, a great success.

Julie lines up another birdie putt

Most importantly, through all of this our daughter Anna rang us from her and Carl’s holiday in Europe to tell us that high in the Swiss Alps he proposed to her and she (of course) accepted.  Carl has been a part of our family for quite a few years but you can imagine Julie and I were absolutely over the moon at this great news.  Fantastic stuff, very proud parents.

The happy (engaged) couple in the Swiss Alps

Yes, every day is a wonderful adventure.