What a weekend. I think I have experienced every emotion known to man. I started off positve and looking forward to having Marcus home, but after a drama filled morning it all went down hill. We decided to hire the house car again with a driver and unfortunately they gave us the same girl that I had on Thursday. She once again got us lost, we were heading north towards Bangkok at one point. Then she pulled over, well not really, as we were still half in a lane on the motorway, and asked me to drive through the busy streets of Pattaya. I didn't mind, it gave me the opportunity to practice again. The plan for the day was to go to the Big C and get Marcus some work shirts then head over to a flower market that have elephant shows and tiger and monkey shows. But our driver made it very clear that it was meant to be her day off and she wanted to spend it with her husband. She even told me that her boss threatened her job if she didn't take us that day.
So it kind of put the damper on our day. After buying more toys for Judd we decided to head back to the apartment and just chill out for the afternoon.
I also made Marcus tip her generously as I felt bad. I got cross though when Marcus went to pay the bill, we were charged an extra 400baht and we had only done the same trip in the same time as when I went out on Thursday. I told Marcus before he went not to get ripped off and when he came back and told me we of course had a big fight. I really wanted to march down there and tell them what I thought, but I knew that it would make things worse. The Thais are all about 'saving face' and if a big white lady walks down there and starts yelling and stomping it would accomplish nothing. Also Marcus would lose face as well if his wife kicked up a hissy fit. I decided to let this one go and remember next time to negotiate myself.
That night Judd had a little adventure which put the finishing touches to my shitty day. Marcus was downstairs looking for someone and I was putting Lillie to bed. I heard a click and thought it was Judd in the toilet. I came out from their bedroom and there was no sign of Judd anywhere in the apartment. My first place to look was the balcony as the locks are so low he can open the doors and the balustrades aren't to safety standards like back in Aust. Then I checked the hallway and called him as sometimes he runs to the elevator at the end, but there was no answer. So I knew he had pressed the button and gone down the elevator by himself (at least I hoped so). I quickly locked up and ran down to the lobby. The doors opened and there he was all happy as he had found his daddy. I however was not happy. I had the worst shock and was furious. I marched him straight back upstairs and explained how naughty he had been. I needed to make it clear how dangerous going off by himself is, especially in a country where we don't know the language or anything. He was sad but he understood. He then said something which broke my heart and sent me into a sad spiral.
He said, "mommy I want to go home".
After the day we had had, this was all I needed. I sat on the couch and started to cry. Marcus doesn't understand my mood swings and makes everything worse so I don't bother showing him when I am upset. The kids down the street had their boom boxes out and the men out the back where playing a noisy game of a cross between soccer and volleyball and all the noise and strangeness of this place overwhelmed me. I had a shower, put in my ear plugs and read my book on Culture Shock in Thailand. How appropriate.
Today, Sunday. Marcus went down early and caught the manager Mr Chatree, and arranged with him for us to hire the car without a driver. Thankfully he said yes, and said we could have it all day for 2000baht. Not bad considering he charged us 1200baht for 4 hours the day before.
It has a GPS so we found our way fairly easily. We drove down the motorway to Sattahip, where we tried to find a naval base that had a museum open to tourists and a turtle farm. Of course we couldn't find it, but we did get a fair idea of where everything is.
We decided to stop in Jomtien along Beach Road. They have all their lounge chairs and umbrellas set up and for a small price you get to sit there all day. It was lovely. To finally do something touristy. The kids went swimming with Marcus in the lovely blue water and I sat under the umbrellas and got a foot massage and pedicure. I got ripped off but I didn't mind, I couldn't be bothered haggling too much. I didn't actually want the pedicure but the girl started and before I knew it she had taken off my nail polish on one toe and repainted with a different colour! She asked me if I like, I said yes, she said "200baht more please". Man, of course I had to say yes she had already painted one toe! Anyway it was nice to sit and relax for a while. I had been itching to get out there and see all the lovely beaches that everyone tells me about. The girl then tried to give Marcus a pedicure, how funny, he kept saying "No" and she kept trying. He eventually had to tell her to stop as he has really ticklish feet. All the hawkers came past once they saw that farangs had arrived to try and sell us their crabs and prawns in buckets and weird fried food. Of course we said No as our stomachs are nowhere near ready to try fish from a bucket. Of course the people selling kids toys came by trying to get Judd to demand a toy. Luckily he was happy swimming and we didn't have any tantrums. After a few hours of this we packed up and hit the road again. We decided to stop and have McDonald's. What a mistake. It was crap! Never again.
We headed towards a lake we had been told about, Maprachan Lake. Apparently alot of British and Aussie expats have settled out there and we want to look at some houses. Not much luck on that front, but I did find where the Regents International School is, so I will head there next week to talk to someone about putting Judd into kindergarten.
Marcus has hired a car for me for the week, so I will finally have some wheels to go out whenever we want and start adventuring. One week sitting at home is more than enough, I am ready to check this place out and after today I am more than confident I can find my way around.
Tomorrow is Lillie's first birthday, I want to go and buy her something special. I cant believe she is One already, how time flys.
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