Above All Things

Last Thursday I went to meet two friends for lunch at Central Festival mall.  I had recommended The Hippopotamus, because Tim and I enjoyed our meal there - especially the view of Beach Road.  I was the last to arrive, and found my friends standing outside of the closed restaurant.  There was a sign on the door that said, "closed for one day."  What are the odds?  Anyway, we wandered past a few other places no one was enthusiastic about.  We could see a deck on the opposite side of the mall, also facing Beach Road, and realized it must be part of the Hilton Hotel, which is attached to the south side.

It was one of those "you can't get there from here" kind of deals.  We had to go back down six flights to the ground floor to be able to cross over to the hotel.  We found an elevator that said "restaurant sixth floor," and rode it up.  When you first exit the elevator, you almost feel like you've emerged into an area you shouldn't have - no one around, and corridors heading in different directions.  I laughed so hard when Mika said it was like a "ninja house" - awesome comparison!  She seemed to know the way, however, and we soon found ourselves in a beautiful entryway of white marble, soft lighting and modern furnishings.  But the best was yet to come - we stepped out onto an outside, roof-top cafe that was quite breathtaking.  Lovely pools with walkways between, and a spectacular view of the bay. Kudos to the designers - this place is gorgeous.   Actual chairs were outnumbered by more of those round, bed-like seats like we saw on the movie porch a few weeks back.  Luckily, we were able to locate two chairs and a smaller, bench-like "pod" in the corner.  The menu was limited, but the food was good - I had the chicken satay with peanut sauce, and my companions had burgers.  Really quite a lovely experience, and definitely a place to come back to.

This picture really doesn't do it justice

Tim has been on the lookout for a right-sized suitcase for his week-long travels, so on Saturday we headed over to the "Outlet Mall" in south Pattaya.  There are lots of name brand stores here, and not really outlet prices.  We scoured both floors of the main building, then every shop in the secondary strip.  We'd all but given up, when we decided to check a sporting goods store - the last store on the strip.  Finally we found what he'd been looking for, or something close enough.  Good thing, because he was leaving for India on Monday, and the bag he used last time just didn't cut it.

Saturday night we joined three other families for a lovely dinner on the beach.  I say "families" because everyone brought their kids with them.  Their ages range from five-years-old to fifteen, and all of us are Ford families new to Thailand (although two families just relocated here from an assignment in China).  Imagine what a different experience it must be to move a whole family across the world.  On top of all the logistics of our move, they had to worry about school, leaving friends and activities behind, and orienting their kids to an extremely different culture.  The kids all seemed to be adjusting well, however.  They all live in a little subdivision directly outside the international school, so it's an easy walk to school for them, and they have a sense of community there.  I think most people in their sub have English as their first language.  Makes for an easier adjustment, but I'm glad we are in a more diverse location.

The restaurant is called "Bacco Beach," and it is one of several restaurants in that area that sit right at the edge of Jomtien Beach, just south of Pattaya.  It is a brand-new restaurant, having just opened in December.  We sat at a long table outside under the lights with the beach just behind us - really a lovely setting.  The food was quite good - Tim had a risotto and I got ravioli.  The western fare is quite plentiful in this area; yet it seems that every menu has at least one page of Thai dishes as well.  They definitely know how to cater to the tourists, and I kind of feel like we are permanent tourists here.  At the end of our meal, a balloon seller happened by and grabbed the young ones' attention.  Tim decided to play Daddy Warbucks and told the balloon seller he would buy all the balloons he had left.  Tim was suddenly surrounded by children, and not just the children in our party.  They seemed to come out of nowhere!  So he sent many children plus one balloon seller home happy :)

Afterward we stopped in at the lovely home of one of the families for some killer ping pong (I just watched and tried to stay out of the way - the sweat was flying!)  Tim was happy to finally be able to pull his prized ping pong paddles out of their case and give them a little exercise.  It was a fun evening.