Take Me Back to Thailand

And so, for the umpteenth time in our Asian life, we headed out the door to Thailand on Friday. Our taxi driver gave us a taste of what was to come as he flew down the highway to Singapore Changi Airport, the "Speeding Kills" sign a blur as we passed. Thai taxis are a lesson in trust and faith - trust that your driver doesn't want to die any more than you do, and faith, that you will get to your destination without injury and in record time.

We had to stop through Bangkok on our way to Chiang Mai (oh non-stop flight, where have you gone?). In the immigration line, we were approached by a thin older gentleman with sparse black hair and wire rimmed glasses. He introduced himself as a Catholic priest and offered us prayer cards for our children. He said he is part of "Opus Dei, have you heard of it?" Erik said no, and all I could think of was, "That's the crazy cult from Da Vinci Code!" But I kept smiling. He seemed nice, and not at all muderous.

On the second flight, Ethan came back from the bathroom and said to Erik, "You might think this is amazing, but that was the first time I've ever pooped on an airplane! And it's also the first time I've ever washed my hands on an airplane!" (I swear that's not true - I washed his hands when I took him, but I can't vouch for solo trips.I assumed we'd trained him well enough. Never assume). Erik said, "Why don't you always wash your hands on an airplane?"
"Well, I didn't know how to work it before. But this time I thought, 'my hands are disgusting because I pooped. I should figure out how to wash my hands!' So I did."

It took some time before we could locate the driver sent to fetch us. On the way to the hotel, Ethan observed a gas station. "Mom, if you lived next to a gas station, it would be good, but also bad."
"Alright, tell me why."
"Well, it would be good because if you needed gas, you could just go right next door. But it would be bad for two reasons. First of all, if the gas station blew up, you would die. Second, you would always smell like gas."

That Ethan, always thinking.

We are on the 10th floor of our hotel, where we have a nice view of the foothills lining one side of Chiang Mai. Our two rooms have wood floors that have already provided plenty of fun sliding for the kids, and moments of fear for the parents as we see them careen out of control toward objects in the room.

More Thai adventures to come.