ThaiBankie

After a few weekends sitting around the house doing nothing we decided we should do something fun and get out in the fresh air for a few hours.

Nok started off this morning taking Megan for her piano lesson and then they came back home and we headed of for Dream World, which is about 30miles north of where we stay.  I have been there with Nok before but that was about 5 or 6 years ago and I thought that it would have changed a little in that time.

Nothing had changed but it was good having Megan with us this time as we were seeing it through her eyes this time.  At first she was her normal hesitant self but after a while she started to calm down a bit and started to get into it a bit more and do more and more things.

We started of in the Giants House, this was a room that had everything in it oversized, Meg was a bit freaked out and ran through the place in a matter of seconds.  I was starting to think that it was going to be one of those days…

I did the main roller coaster that they have and it was really quite impressive, fast and loads of tight corners.  It was the first time that I have been on a roller coaster that your legs just dangle in the air so I was a bit worried that my feet would hit something while we were going round as I am a bit taller that your average Thai so I wasn’t sure if they had considered this when they were designing it.  In the end my feet were still attached to my legs but exiting the ride my legs were a bit wobbly from the effects of the ride.  In the video below I am in the last row.

Roller Coaster from ThaiBankie on Vimeo.

We moved on to Snow Town and Megan got her first experience of snow and I think it will be memorable to her even if we were in a large freezer at -30C.  I had a go on the snow slide and nearly killed some young girl.  I was flying down the hill and at the bottom the guy bounced into me to try to slow me down before I bumped into the wall but all he did was put me into a spin and some girl had to jump over my legs as they spun round or she would have been flattened.

Deep Freeze from ThaiBankie on Vimeo.

I had a go on a couple of the fun fair games and I managed to pop 5 balloons with 7 darts getting Megan a small stuffed monkey who we named Coco.

We had a 15min go on the boats and then onto the train that runs round the grounds of Dream World.  Finally was Megan’s biggest achievement, she went onto the racing cars by herself and wasn’t even fazed when the girls in front of her were screaming and had to exit the ride halfway through.  I think we really made a breakthrough here.

Racing Cars from ThaiBankie on Vimeo.

A really good day out was had by all. Photos are in the Holiday section

I am about a month late in writing about our Songkran holiday.  At first I was planning on doing a daily diary but I got lazy because I was enjoying being at the beach and somehow forgot about it.  Anyway, here is a brief update on our holiday.

This year for Songkran we decided to go to Pran Buri, this was our first time to visit there and it was only about 20Km south of Hua Hin where we have been so many times over the last few years.  I think Pran Buri is more for Thai people as it is a bit cheaper than Hua Hin but some of the resorts there are well on par with what Hua Hin has to offer.  The down side of Pran Buri was that other than a strip along the beach which was a few Kilometers long there was very little else to do there.  Hua Hin seems to have more of a complete package for tourists as there are much more bars and restaurants to choose from.  We decided to stay at the Golden Pine Beach Resort which was a little small but it was very well run and it was very relaxing.

We arrived a few days before the crowds arrived as our office finished work a day or two earlier than most companies.  There only seemed to be about half a dozen other people staying at the resort when we arrived but the people at the check-in desk assured us that the place would be full over Songkran.   The good think about finishing work before other people is that we don’t get stuck in traffic which is often the curse of New Year and the Thai New Year (Songkran). 

Megan fell in love with the beach on this trip much more than she has done on previous holidays, maybe it is because she is getting a bit older or maybe it is because I am not keen on the sand getting stuck all over me.  Anyway, Megan was having a ball and she was loving making castles and playing with all her toys (or friends as she calls them!!). 

Nok, who usually doesn’t enjoy eating hotel food, thought that the food at the hotel was really good and she was also happy with the cost so we ate at the hotel most of the time.  On our last night we went to another hotel which was not to far away from us.  This was a real luxury hotel which looked really good.  I had a steak there and it was probably the best steak that I have had for many many years. 

All in all a really good holiday that was a great way to recharge the batteries.  I think I didn’t have high expectations before the holiday so it was great to have such a nice time there.  I think there are a couple of nicer hotels around that area so we may try there again in the future.  Also, going on holiday with Nok and Megan I don’t really miss the nightlife too much because we don’t get much chance to get out and enjoy it even when it is on our doorstep.

I have uploaded some photos into the holiday section and also posted a couple of videos which you can see below.

After the recent success of taking Megan to the photo studio last month, Nok though that it would be good to take her again today.  The results are good but I don’t think they are as good as last time.  Megan also was not smiling as much as she was the last time.  When Uncle Paibool asked her why she didn’t smile too much she said it was because she doesn’t have any teeth….  I think she is starting to get a bit self conscious.

[Show as slideshow]

Megan was struggling not being at school and was getting a bit moody and maybe lonely too since she finished school a few weeks ago. Nok decided to ask her brother, Kai, if Yang and Chi could come and stay with us for a few days to keep Megan company and give her some friends to play with during the day.

For most of the first couple of days while they were here they spent most of their time in either the small pool that Megan has or at the big pool at the Clubhouse in our village which is just round the corner from where we stay. Megan was still being a bit naughty and on Yang and Chi’s first night here Megan told Yang that she wanted then to go home. She didn’t mean it when she said it, she was just a little frustrated but Yang took it quite badly and was a bit upset. It was business as normal the following morning and Yang seemed to forgive her.

Nok also took them to the play area at Yo-Yo Land at Seacon Shopping Center, the same place I took Megan a few weeks ago when Nok was on holiday. I was at work so couldn’t join them but they seemed to have a great time and it looks like Megan was a bit more adventurous than she was when she was there with me. She was jumping around a lot more and sliding on some of the larger slides that they have.

On last weekend we took them to Leoland, this is a big water park on the roof of Central City shopping mall in BangNa. We have been there before, probably a couple of years ago when Megan was much younger, I think she was able to enjoy it much more this time because she is older and less scared about playing in water. They were all a bit wary at first so I decided to get in the water with them and play with them a bit more and try to bring them out of their shells. Megan was more interested in eating and spent most of the time running between the pool and eating the food that Nok had bought. I think it was a good time for Yang and Chi to get a bit more used to being around me and they seemed to relax much more than they had done previously. Most of the time before then they would just stare at me like I was a big monster because they found it difficult to communicate with me because they speak little or no English and they also don’t get much experience being around westerners.

Yang is very much like his dad and is much more confident and is very jovial. Chi is very different and more like his mother, he is much quieter and a lot of the time you feel he is just sitting back and watching and learning. They are great kids and more that welcome to come stay with us again. I know that Megan will miss them a lot over the next few weeks.

Here is a great video from a couple of years ago.  It is amazing just how much Megan has changed and grown up over the last couple of years.

Noddy from ThaiBankie on Vimeo.