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.

State of the Union

June 14 - July 3, 2017

Layover in Incheon, S., Korea.  The symbols next to 10:15 say "Detroit" in Korean!

Storms over Michigan from above

It is an odd sensation to feel like a stranger in one's own home.  Yet this was our experience when we returned to our Michigan home after nearly two years away.  Our home looked tired, and I was faced with an accumulation of things the old me thought was important to keep.  Living in a smaller space and making do with little in the way of "stuff" has changed my view of what was really needed to live a good life.  I hope I can retain that new attitude when we're back in Michigan for good.

Some things haven't changed a bit...

But this time we were just back for a short visit.  Our nephew was getting married, and we were thrilled with the opportunity to be back with family.  I arrived in the middle of June, and spent some cherished time with our son who has been taking care of the house.  I enjoyed getting to know his dog, Sully, and dragged the reluctant canine out on a walk every morning.  He is definitely not a morning person/dog.

NOW I'm home!

Sully, AKA Sultan, AKA James P.

Being back in the states, I was excited to pile cartons of blueberries into my grocery cart at Kroger.  Oh, how I miss my blueberries when I'm in Thailand!  The multitude of options in the grocery aisles is dizzying; we Americans need to remember to be grateful for such bounty.  I made sure to stop in at Marv's Meats in Brighton to get some good ol' USDA beef.  Nothing like it.  (Most of the beef available in Thailand is from Australia, and just doesn't taste the same.)  Tim and I enjoyed some burgers on the grill - simple pleasures.

I got to have lunch with my sweet sister-in-law, who drove all the way to Brighton to pick me up, since I was without a car for much of the time.  I was also able to meet my Dad and his wife, along with my youngest brother and his family, for Sunday mass and lunch afterward on American Father's Day.  (Father's Day is in December in Thailand, on the late King's birthday.)  My Dad and his wife are struggling with the challenges of old age, but still managed a laugh or two.  Our family is so grateful to the siblings who are shouldering the burden of their care.

I enjoyed a trivia night at Cottage Inn in Ann Arbor with my son, Tim, and some of his friends - "When Life Gives You Lemons, Make Gelato!"™  Our team won both rounds, winning gift cards to make it a very inexpensive evening.   Tim and I also had the opportunity to meet Mike and his girlfriend for sushi in E. Lansing.  We stopped in at Iorio's Gelato and Caffe for some delicious gelato - yum.  I highly recommend the salted caramel!

When husband Tim arrived, we had some of his family over for pizza.  We got our signals crossed about who was bringing what, and had pizzas aplenty, pizzas galore!  It was actually fine, because we had several guests in and out of our house for the next week.  My brother and his lady arrived from Oregon that same day, and survived the onslaught of the Wagner brand of humor.

Several of us took in a Tiger game at Comerica Park - three of my brothers and their wives and kids, my sister and some of her kids and grand kids.  Many were in from out of state for the wedding, and it was doubly fun to spend time with them and watch Justin Verlander pick up a W.  Tim and I dropped in for a visit with my Dad earlier in the day, then made our way downtown.  We stopped up on the roof of Hockeytown for a drink before the game, and got our first look at the shiny, new Q-Line gliding down Woodward Avenue.

The new Q-Line

beautiful day at Comerica Park

I also was lucky enough to meet a few of my ex-colleagues for dinner, and get caught up on what's been happening in their lives.  It was almost like I'd never left, but I felt myself thinking about how divergent our lives had become, trying to picture myself back in their world.  It was odd to be having a conversation with friends using complex sentences and nuanced phrases.  I have become accustomed to simplifying my speech for the many non-native English speakers in my life.  It was like putting on an old pair of shoes that you haven't worn in a long time - it felt comfortable and odd at the same time.

My Oregon brother left to visit our sister in Houghton Lake, and shortly thereafter, one of my Colorado brothers arrived with his three kids and one granddaughter.  A bunch of us went to dinner at a brewpub in Ann Arbor, and I got to see my brothers in from Virginia.  The next morning some of us met for breakfast at our place, then headed en masse to Grand Rapids for the wedding festivities.  We all met for the rehearsal dinner at the B.O.B., where nine of my eleven siblings were reunited, along with their spouses and children.  This was the greatest gathering of cousins we've ever had - twenty of twenty-four!  And I finally had all my boys together again! 😍 One sibling arrived later that evening, and the final sibling zipped in just hours before the wedding - Hail, Hail, the gang's all here!  We all wished our Dad was well enough to be there with us.

My brother, Bob, at the BOB (Big Old Building)

cousins!

long awaited reunions...

sister-in-law with mother of the groom

RoBros

My only picture of the bride and groom :-(

Here's a better picture from their online wedding page

more cousins!

"Ring Security"

Two Lizzes and a Little Lady

The morning of the wedding, the second now-traditional "Cousins Breakfast" took place, at the behest of some of the younger cousins, who had such fond memories of the first.  The dining area didn't have room for everyone, so breakfast was procured from Starbucks and commenced in the lobby.  Our boys headed out for wedding party duties, and Hiustyn and I took a walk along the river in downtown Grand Rapids.  We saw people setting up for that evening's fireworks display on this Independence Day weekend.

Hiustyn and I ran into this giant button on our walk

The wedding was lovely.  The bride and groom were obviously so in love, and that love emanated out to all those in attendance.  It's such a joy to attend a wedding when it is plain to see that the couple are right for each other!  My sister, the mother of the groom, was beautiful, and I enjoyed seeing our three sons in their wedding party finery.  Small vials of bubbles were distributed outside the church, and the bride and groom received a bubbly reception when they emerged.  Such a blessing to be a part of this happy occasion.

Lucky me doing Great-Aunt duty!

Tim and I enjoyed breakfast with our three men, then said a sad goodbye to two, and headed back to Brighton.  We hosted one more set of guests that night, two nephews and a niece-in-law, and got to meet Tim's girlfriend for a quick minute.  Then we said goodbye to Tim, goodbye to our Brighton home, goodbye to the USA and got on a plane for the marathon flight back to Thailand.



via GIPHY