Bangkok

Well last Tuesday hubby walks in the door after work and says, "Hey we are off to Thailand on Thursday!" Talk about short notice. 2 days to pack and arrange babysitting and clean the house and buy all the things a person needs to travel overseas. Wow! I was a little stressed.
Saying good bye to the babies was hard but I had craved a break away from the kids for so long I was nearly running out the door.

The plane ride sucked! 9 1/2 hours trying to sleep sitting up, cramped, back pain beyond belief and my darling hubby slept like a baby. I wanted to elbow him and make sure he was in as much pain as me. We landed at 5.30am on Friday and our host for the weekend, Mr Thai I will call him, picked us up and thus began our tour of Bangkok. My first impression of Bangkok was the humidity, then the driving. Oh my goodness, they are crazy. The law is...There is no law. Speeding, weaving in and out of traffic, barley missing the other cars, no one checks over their shoulder when merging, they just expect you to slow, stop or flat our swerve to miss them. There are stray dogs everywhere, just casually wandering around or sleeping. Not like strays in Melbourne who once getting their freedom from their backyard run around like crazy sniffing and peeing on everything insight, then realising they are lost they just keep running until being hit by a car. These dogs are veterans of the street. The Thais believe if you stuff up in this life you will come back in the next as a dog, so they tolerate these dogs and feed them just in case it is a relative who was reincarnated from their previous life.

Our apartment was great and I was dying just to go lie down however we had only 4 days to get everything done so we just sucked it up and pushed on. Our host showed us the basics to get around in Bangkok which was really helpful, simply knowing how to ride the sky train was vital. It allowed us to get about by ourselves more confidently. Mr Thai having lived in Thailand for 11 years taught us how to catch a cab without being ripped off, how to barter and the most important he taught us why it is important not to give to the beggars in the street. Apparently begging is a business, some women actually buy small children from Cambodia and Laos and bring them to the city to beg from all the tourists. But the children don't see that money, the so called mother takes it. He said if you want to help them out, donate to charities or to a school to really make a difference. By giving to the beggars you just encourage more begging and make it a viable way to live. It broke my heart to see children on the street, but once I knew what to look for I could see the "mother" not too far away usually working a stall or food cart.
I always knew from the beginning of our decision to move to a foreign country that the poverty and the small children would be my biggest problem. Hubby reckons I will end up wanting to adopt a baby and bring it home with us. And he is probably right, it is right there in the back of my mind. I plan once we are settled to join a group called the Pattaya International Ladies Club who do alot of charity work in their areas. I hope to be able to help out some way, not just live like a Fat Cat.

Anyway back to our trip. After a little shopping for a hat we got a couple hours sleep in our room before dinner. We were exhausted, I had a mini breakdown at this point. The smells and strangeness of this city overwhelmed me and I was wondering what the hell we had gotten ourselves into. I couldn't imagine bringing our babies to this strange country and risking their lives on the roads with all those crazy drivers. But after nap and a swim we freshened up for dinner. For our first night we ate Italian. I know, why Italian when you are in Thailand? I tell you this was the best Italian I have ever had, and living in Melbourne the Food Capital that is a big call. After dinner our host took us to a place called The State Tower. We went up to the 64Th floor to an open air cocktail bar and restaurant with the most amazing views of the city. It was so high up my ears popped in the elevator. I wish I had of worked out how to use the camera properly and got some decent photos.

After a good nights sleep we woke up feeling much more positive and started a new day by getting a foot massage and a bit of shopping. Then we were off down the coast to Pattaya, Sri Racha and Ban Saeng. Our objective for that day was to have a look at the areas and view some housing estates. I wanted to get an idea of what the houses were like and the neighbourhoods. We found a lovely house on a Golf Course just 15 Min's from were hubby will be working, but they would not barter down to our price. They beauty of Thailand is everything is negotiable, even your rent.
We ate like kings each night and slept like babies. But we were sad every evening missing the kids so much. Hubby even got teary at one point. Being so far from them and having this experience without them just felt wrong. After longing for a break from them, I realised that I couldn't bear to be so far away.
We were on a very emotional roller coaster and at first I thought it was just me freaking out but after talking with hubby I realised that he was feeling exactly the same way. One moment I was on a high looking at the lovely homes, eating great food and swimming in the resort pools. Then next I was horrified by the lack of regard for children's safety in cars or near roads and even riding on motorbikes with no helmet and barley balancing on the seat with 2 other people. Little babies having their milk bottle in mums arms while riding on the back of a motorbike weaving in and out of traffic and barley being missed by cars and trucks. And little toddlers up at 11pm at night walking around the night markets amongst the GO GO Bars with their bottles while their mums worked the stalls selling to tourists. All I could think was, Oh my god these babies should be tucked up in bed!
However having said all that, I never saw a sad or mistreated child. They were all happy and getting cuddles and there usually was always an adult nearby watching. The poverty shocked me but after speaking with Mr Thai he told me that its not poverty like we think, its more like a laziness. They only want enough for the foreseeable future. What is poverty for us, is everyday life for them, they aren't hungry as food is unbelievably cheap and abundant. Poverty is misery and they are not miserable. He explained that I will need to adjust my way of looking at life like "our way is the best way" and broaden my thinking to allow for the fact that some people just live like this. And in saying that, so many Thais have new cars, and not little shitty ones, big Hilux's and 4WD's. Cars that us living in Australia would struggle to afford. Thais would rather buy a new car than improve their house or buy a bigger house. It is a far different culture to what I am used to and it is going to take alot of time and work to come to terms with how they live.

Our trip ended back in Bangkok at the same apartments. And funny enough our attitude towards our impending sea change flipped. Our last night we were relaxed, talked more, laughed more and looked more closely at the Thais working and living around us. The smell I could never ever get used to as it is awful but I do believe that after an initial culture shock when we first move there I will begin to enjoy our adventure and even come to enjoy the "Thai" way of living.

We have only 4 weeks now to pack everything up and get organised and it's quite daunting but the excitement is starting to build and I know that having my babies with me this time will make it that much easier (as well as harder). I still cannot believe that this is happening. Hubby said that I always wanted to have an adventure and live a more than an ordinary life. Honestly though I never really thought our adventure would be this big and I don't think our friends believed it either.