A funny thing happened on the way to the....

We decided to round out our Thailand trip with a visit to Chinatown in Bangkok. So, we boarded the hotel ferry to cross the river.  Remember, this is not the first world--no lawyers or civil suits or safety standards.  So, after gazing out at the murky water and watching a piece of river plant float by I looked up to see this sight:

 

Sam driving the boat...alone!!!!

But, we made it safely to Chinatown where we ate at a very lovely little local restaurant--terrific and spicy Thai food (though not like eating fire as we would experience on New Year's Eve).

 

Inside the little restaurant with our waitress who could speak a little English. Like almost everyone we met, she loved Sam.  Everyone thought Graham was 18 so he received less attention. But, we still think he's cute. :)

 

Our little restaurant. We began lunch with a little cake and American sodas out of glass bottles and ended with noodles, garlic chicken, and other yummy things.

 

This strange man wanted to give Sam a piggy back ride. Sam tactfully, and wisely, declined. The old woman running the bakery/restaurant warned us off also from the weird man.

 

Sam's purchase in Chinatown. He wanted to wear this out to dinner.

 

Our last night in Thailand was New Year's Eve.  Sam had met a little friend at the pool (American-Thai) and her father invited our family to join them on their boat to watch the fireworks over the river. The big hotels (Mandarin Oriental, Sheraton, Hilton, etc.) all put off magnificent firework displays over the river. It was beautiful. We sat on top of the boat and watched the sky light up over the river.  Beforehand, we took a tour of a backwater canal off the river where Thai people lived. It was fascinating to see people so poor celebrating the New Year. Actually, that was one thing that really impressed me about the Thai--despite their general poverty they were incredibly warm and generous (several people tried to give Sam money and many did give him little gifts).  And, they were quite trusting.  Before leaving we hired a taxi to take us to Wat Arun and back to the hotel. We got out without paying and could have just disappeared.  But, we didn't. We came back. :)

 

Wat Arun lit up at night.

 

These pictures do not do justice to the scene.

Feeding catfish at one of the temples on the way to the fireworks.

Fireworks over the river.

On our way home to Tokyo we passed through Taipei, Taiwan.  We were met with colorful, cheerful umbrellas hanging from the airport ceiling. 

 

We were sad to be headed away from Thailand. It was a beautiful place and we met many, many nice people. We even met an American family living in Hong Kong--the parents are teachers. So, it was interesting to compare notes. They have a Wal-Mart but have to use mopeds to get around, they have a person who cooks and cleans for them for a very cheap price but don't feel totally safe where they are and so live in an essentially American compound. And, they said that the Chinese spit everywhere and that there are globs of bugger balls on the ground everywhere. We have spitting in Japan, but no bugger balls. Anyway, we left the land of warm sunshine for the land of the rising sun and we are safely home now.