updates …

Don Muang and Suwannabhum airports are still closed. This is the Amazing Thailand Airport Siege, ongoing from Nov. 25 , guaranteed  to cause headaches and depression to all involved. For those stranded, the nearest airport is Utapao airport, located near Sattahip, a town further down Pattaya . The escape route is to take a domestic flight there to Samui or Phuket island, then on another flight out the country. Samui island have flights to Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur , and Singapore. Phuket have more . You can call the Bangkok Airways branch there at 038-245-979 or 038-245-599 to check on availability and flights. This airport is mostly used for domestic flights and chartered planes, so, if you are lucky and booked a flight there, get there early because it is going to be chaotic due to the increased traffic. ( the airport numbers are : 038-245-194 ;38-245-600 ;038-245-595 ;038-245-975 to 977 )

Also check the local english newspapers for more updates. I read on Bangkok Post that some hotels are helping as check-in venues.

Ack.

Can anyone tell me how to fly out of this country ? My brother + family are suppose to leave this Friday and the airport is being held siege by the PADs . You would think, with such a drastic move, things would resolve within the first few hours , but no, we are entering day number three of zero air traffic.

Bangkok Marathon

Is it still on ? I heard the PAD is calling for an ultimate, final D-Day war on Sunday. I don’t want to run with tear gas flying over my head ? I have to ask them when I collect my goodies bag tomorrow.

Today’s Menu : Cinderella’s Rice

Anything to get the K2 to eat more rice , not just pork and chicken. The color comes from a flower called butterfly pea ( in Thai, ” Dok Ang Chan ” ). We got this flower from the mother-in-law. She have a very prolific plant growing in her garden. All I know of  this plant was that it is use as a natural food colorant and that people rub it on babies’ head/eyebrows to stimulate hair growth. Actually , the blue colors come from the anthocyanins, which contains antioxidant properties.

This is an easy way to add nutritional value to plain white rice. After you’ve washed the rice, take a handful of this flower, give it a rinse. Next, put them into clean water ( same amount you would use to cook the rice ) and squeeze the living daylight out of them. The water will turn into this exciting vibrant blue color with every squeeze. Then pour it thru a strainer into the rice and cook ! The rice will come out without any weird taste or scent. It’s just blue.

The Uni-eye Family

The K2’s masterpiece. She taped it above our bed. I think it will ward off evil spirits and keep us safe at night.

(I did asked why they all have one eye. She said they had their heads turned and are all looking at the beach. )

New!Shower!Curtains!

The kids are not chummy with the old shower curtains. It’s too long, too dark and creepy to stand behind it. They never use it and it just sadly molded to its death. Today I found some LeSportSac inspired fabric. They are polyester, they are colorful , they match the color in my bathroom ! I bought just 2 yards to sew a mini shower curtain. It dangles just a little above the bathtub , so it should not get moldy too soon.

First Crochet …

Well, I crocheted something … at last … It is going to be an outer pocket for The Kid’s bag. The bag’s going to be big enough for a small notebook , some pens so that they’ll stop messing with my notebook. I plan to draw some fancy artsy doodles in my notebook ? They always borrow my book and draw pages and pages of princesses and mermaids, ngaaaaaa… can’t even find my own drawings.

If I do not forget , I will post a finished picture of the bag.

Oh, Happy Loy Krathong

That was 3 days ago. This year there wasn’t much crack down on firecrackers. The teenagers in the neighborhood had a ball, several days of them that lasted into the wee hours of the night.

We did the usual… took the kids down by the river, check out krathongs ( kratongs are water lanterns ; this year the new eco-krathongs are those made of dried corn leaves and coconut shells . ) We mistakenly took the kids further down the pier and introduced them to the dark side of Loy Krathong Festival. There were a group of people busy at work at the pier, some were in the water, some armed with fishing nets. At first I thought they were helping people put the krathongs into the river. They were actually raiding the krathongs of coins, and discarding them over their shoulders back into the river. When they find a nice looking krathong, they fished them out and put it aside for reselling. The Kid asked what they were doing. I was stumped, do you tell them the truth or do you try to protect them and keep the tradition clean and beautiful ?

This was the same dilemma I ran into when The Kid was old enough to ask about beggars. We know that they belong to human trafficking gangs and the money they begged for doesn’t go to them. But, do you teach your kids to be charitable or be streetwise ?

Sushi Anyone ?

I’ve been secretly making sushis and nigiris. Today I placed them into a lunchbox and mix it up with the real breakfast boxes ( the kids eat breakfast in the car ) haha, so funny when they opened the box.

The red part of the sushi is velcro, so they can be stuck together into a sushi roll. The nigiris , you can take the whole thing apart ( rice ball + topping + seaweed ) This should be quite a fun kitchen toy addition.

Where did I buy that ?

I’m sure somewhere in the tiny prints on the package of the body scrub I’ve bought, it’s written “manufactured by The Little Shop of Horrors”. It smells so damn good, but after I used it I developed  a funky rash, and all my fingers swollen up into sausages. It took 3 kinds of anti-histamines to tame. I will stick to good old Dettol liquid soap and not be adventurous for a long time.

The Kid’s back in school. After the fever went down she broke out in a rash and that was all the after shock we had. The hospital was very nice ( Phayatai 3 ) , called us everyday to check on her progress.