Band of Brothers

July 8 - 15, 2017

Asanha Bucha Day takes place on the full moon of the sixth lunar month.  It celebrates Buddha's first sermon after he achieved enlightenment, when he laid out these four noble truths:

1. There is suffering 
2. Suffering is caused by craving 
3. There is a state beyond suffering and craving 
4. The way to nirvana is via the eightfold path.  

Followers who heard him speak asked to be accepted as his disciples, and the first order of monks was established.  The date marks the beginning of Buddhist lent.  On a simpler level, it meant a two-day work holiday for Tim.

Four days after our return from the US, I was still battling jet lag, waking up at three or four in the morning, getting sleepy at three in the afternoon.  My remedy arrived in the form of Tim's younger brother, Mike, and his wife, who endured the never-ending flight from Indiana to visit us in Thailand.  Tim was able to extend his two-day holiday to spend time with his family.

We spent a lot of time relaxing by the pool and taking them to our favorite eateries.  Their first night here, we walked next door to the Infiniti at the Intercontinental Hotel.  We enjoyed some fancy drinks (because of the Buddhist holiday, they were unable to include alcohol), and a lovely, if overcast, sunset.

I used to think they didn't look at all alike...

Koh Larn and the Thailand Gulf behind them

The lovely ITC lobby

After putting them through the Chinese Checkers initiation, we went to the Sanctuary of Truth.  Always learn something new with each visit, and the guide we had this time was particularly knowledgeable.  P reenacted her Ann Arbor Dance Theater Studio logo pose.

Girl's still got it!

Thai culture places significance on the day of the week on which you were born; each day has a corresponding planet and god, with certain character traits.  Our guide also told us our lucky colors -  mine was dark blue.

Three of us were born on Thursday... Jupiter's day

...with one outlier - Monday, Moon's day

the central shrine w/ Buddha relic

We enjoyed lunch at Baba Eating House in Naklua, then stopped in for tea at Tea Village.  Afterward, we walked down to Best Supermarket to buy some ingredients for Mike's famous margaritas, forgetting that alcohol cannot be sold between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m.  Such a random rule.

Mike and P are both fans of Thai food, so we took them to Cabbages and Condoms for dinner.  Mike is especially fond of spicy food - the spicier, the better - and he was a little disappointed by the moderate heat of his Thai dishes.  I think it is a tendency of restaurants here to dial down the heat when serving westerners.

Gecko on the wall at Cabbages and Condoms

Cute little boys in the grocery store

It had been disappointingly rainy weather since they arrived, but we decided to take a trip to Koh Samet anyway.  We generally get some sun during the day, even when it's mostly rainy.  Mick drove us to the pier in just over an hour, arriving in plenty of time for the 11 a.m. ferry to the island.  The ferry seemed smaller than I remembered, maybe scaled down for the smaller numbers of travelers this time of year.

Last time we came, we stayed in the little cottages of Sai Keaw Beach, which were nice, but didn't keep the mosquitoes out very well.  This time we stayed in the hotel part of the same resort.  The rooms were nice, and we were right near the pool.  We managed to get in some beach time, even though it remained overcast.  The water had some rather unpleasant floating debris this time - perhaps because of all the recent rain.

Lovely fruit brought to our rooms

  At least I had a chance to play in the sand.  Thirty seconds after taking these pictures, a wave came up and washed it away.  That's what I call ephemeral art!

I was going for octopus, but I think it looks more like an alien

We enjoyed chatting with the server at lunch, and returned for happy hour and dinner.  The breakfast buffet the next morning was very nice - lots of yummy choices.  P and I bonded over our mutual love of bread pudding.  Had a short floor show from a group of Chinese tourists who were having a bit of a row, perhaps letting the rainy weather get the better of them.

We got checked out of our room, then spent some time walking through the village.  We turned toward what turned out to be the long way to the village.  The songteaw driver from the resort kindly stopped and gave us a lift.  P picked up some souvenirs as we walked along the main drag.  At the end of the road, we used our complimentary passes to get into the "national park" - actually, most of Koh Samet is part of a larger national park that includes nine islands.  The part we walked through was basically a little visitors center and some shops, leading us back out to the beach.  Our waiter served us one more round of drinks, kindly inviting us into the air-conditioned bar to escape the heat.

Awesome staff at Sai Kaew Beach Resort

We climbed onto the songteaw for the drive to the pier.  The driver stopped at a little shop run by a cute, little, old lady, to put some air into one of the tires on our way to the pier.  The songteaw was parked on a slant, and seemed to be tipping dangerously toward the road, and at one point, the guy was tilting it even farther to...make it easier for the air to go in??  After that, we continued on to a fairly empty ferry ride back to the mainland, where Mick was waiting for us.  We stopped at Iss Was, our favorite German restaurant, for dinner.

The common English phrase used when a place doesn't have something?  "No have."  

P joined me on my walk one morning.  We went up to the Scenic Viewpoint and the shrine to the father of the Royal Thai Navy.  It was hot, but not rainy, so we were able to enjoy the view.  We were entertained by the Chinese tourists posing for their selfies and group action shots.  We saw a local woman come out from the back of the temple and drop a little puppy down more than two meters to a ledge below.  😦 We hoped the little guy found his way back to his mother.

We hit the weekend Night Market here in Pattaya, where Mike and P picked up some last-minute souvenirs.  It seemed like every other stall had fidget spinners - the vendors are really quick to pick up on the latest craze.  Didn't see a single one the last time I was there.

Mike and P enjoyed one final day at the pool before heading to the airport for another endless day of travel.  This time it was even more endless, as their flight out of Bangkok was delayed seven hours.  They had to reroute their entire trip, but ended up with one less layover.  Hope the memories of their visit last longer than the memories of that endless day!  It was great to be able to share our Thailand experience with them.