Maui Fire and Summer Travels 2023

Posted on September 14, 2023 by Nanette Harter

Thank you to all for your outpouring of love and concern when you heard that Lahaina and other parts of Maui were burning. Neil and I were on the mainland visiting family when the news reached us early in the morning on August 9. A friend from the Big Island texted me to ask if I had heard of the tragedy? She was up way too early Hawaii time (turns out she was on fire watch at her home in Kohola.) She texted “Lahaina’s gone.” I thought it was a slightly exaggerated statement until I read the article that she included. I was in shock. The entire town of Lahaina as I knew it was literally gone to the ground. Neil and I were stunned and saddened and felt powerless to help our friends. Group texts started flying around among my friends and coworkers and all turned out to be safe. But some of my friend’s family were not. The nightmare continued when Mailea, Neil’s daughter who lives 5 minutes from us, called to say that she was preparing for evacuation and had her cats in their carriers and the car loaded. She asked what we wanted rescued from our house when she picked up Neil’s stepfather Morley next door. We are grateful to private companies and individuals who drove their bulldozers all through the morning on their own initiative to create a fire break around the houses up slope from us. They were able to stop the fire from reaching the homes, otherwise, once the first line of houses caught fire all of North Kihei would have been devastated since there were no firefighters or equipment within a half hour of us at that time since they were fighting elsewhere. The fire came within one or two football fields of the housing development before it was stopped. Neil got photos from the airplane when he flew in.

The Maui community is amazing and strong. Within hours, grassroots efforts brought food and water to the people on Lahaina side who were in desperate need. When they couldn’t go by road, they took it by boat, sometimes from the next island over. We love Maui and feel it is a sacred place. We will do all we can to help the communities and the families rebuild on their family land.

As I mentioned, we were on the mainland visiting with our family. I had a busy spring working in hospitality as a travel director and Neil started working activities and dinner events as well. We were ready for some visiting time. Mid-July we flew to Missoula Montana for 2 weeks playing with our grandsons Patrick, 7 years, and Connor, 4 years, and their mom and dad, Ariann and Eric Schultz. We loved having in-person time with them! Some of the best highlights of our time there are also the most mundane sounding. Sitting on the floor playing with cars, trains, and games. Going bowling or to the trampoline park. Driving to the lake for a swim. Dining at some of our favorite brewpubs. And helping Patrick ride his bike without training wheels for the first time.

Next we flew to Minnesota spending 2 weeks with Neil’s sister Cindy and her son and daughters. Cindy has done a beautiful renovation of her home and we thought we would have some down time. But noooo, she had a minion list for us (at our request). On top of that, we encouraged her to have a garage sale to reduce the basement and garage clutter so Neil could install heavy duty shelves all around the walls of the basement. Finally, Cindy was able to get everything off the basement cement floor and her clutter became highly organized. She is so happy. In fact, she told us multiple times a day for several days how happy she is.

A road trip to Iowa came next. Neil and Cindy got to visit their niece Stephanie, attend a family reunion on their father’s side, and have a great time visiting with some of Neil’s high school friends. We had such a warm welcome and great food at John and Cathy’s home, we want to go every year.

Neil and I then flew to Ohio to visit Dad and my family. Mom flew out from California and we had a family reunion on her dad’s side. Mom has a sister and brother living in Ohio who she gets to spend time with when she visits Ohio. Dad and Jane are still in their home on an acre of land. Dad enjoys his workshop and caring for the yard. Neil sharpens his tools every time we visit. My brother Warren and sister Pamela live in Van Wert near dad, and Melanie and Will just bought a place neighboring Pamela! I am grateful they are there to help dad and Jane. Mom and Bill are still in Ridgecrest and I am grateful Bill’s daughter is there to help them.

Neil flew home to Maui the last week of August while I went on a road trip with my mom and Melanie. Our goal was to visit seven of the states Mom hadn’t been to yet, working towards her bucket list goal of being in all 50 states. We traveled through 13 states in all from Ohio and ending in Virgina. I thought the New England states and Delaware were all she had left but she said there are three more: Mississippi, Alabama, and North Dakota. Maybe next year, Mom. We concluded the trip staying a few days with Mom’s grandson Will, his wife Meghan, and their children Jackson and Violet. Violet is Mom’s newest great-granddaughter and she a sweetheart.

Mom and I flew together to LA where I had a long layover. She took a shuttle to Palmdale, drove from there and arrived home in Ridgecrest by the time I was boarding my flight to Maui! It was great to finally be home and sleep in my own bed. Neil had been volunteering in the community several times already and I have been able to help some myself. There will be much to help with on Maui for many months.

Our travels are soon to continue. We will be leaving next week for a month in Southeast Asia. Our first stop will be in Cambodia for 5 days in Siam Reap and the Angor Wat temple area. Then on to Phuket, Thailand for 2 weeks where we will have dental work. Afterwards, we will stop in Singapore for 3 days to visit our friends Vanessa and George Spencer. Then on to Bali to celebrate my birthday. On the way home we have a long layover in the Philippines where we plan to visit Manila’s Old Town.

I will aim to do another update after we return! Love to you all.

Bangkok Touring

Posted on March 5, 2017 by Nanette Harter

Wednesday morning, Grace, Jill and I decided to make our own touring adventure and see a floating market. Grace suggested Bang Nam Pheung which was also the one Neil suggested to me earlier in the week when he was researching floating markets. It is located in area called Phra Pradaeng, known as Bangkok’s green lung because of all the trees and greenery. It is a peninsula that is almost an island formed by broad sweeping curve of the Chao Phraya River as it meanders through the fertile lowlands. The market itself is described as “by the water” instead of “on the water” in the floating sense but was to be full of locally grown produce, home cooked items, and handicrafts. I read three articles on it before venturing out and just one said it was only open weekends. The other two didn’t mention times so we thought maybe the only weekends was old info. We three hopped in a taxi and arrived to find all the stalls closed midweek, sigh.

There was a permanent open air restaurant on the canal and we were ready for breakfast. The taxi driver wouldn’t wait for us, so I communicated with him to pick us in an hour. (Later it was clear my gestures had failed.) We had a wonderful fresh-cooked Chicken Pad Thai for our breakfast and then walked along the canal viewing what would be bustling stalls on the weekend. We came across a government building and read the signage that this area was known for fireflies! We returned to the restaurant waiting for the taxi. Grace and I went to visit the neighboring temple while Jill waited. The mourning banners and King’s photo were in front of the temple and we ran into a monk as we wandered around. He let me take his photo and then he wanted to see it. Of course I left a donation in his bowl.

Finally, a local woman felt sorry for us sitting waiting for a taxi to show up and sent one of the scooter taxi boys to get a car taxi. (Of course we tipped them all.) It was interesting to see the south part of city and drive over the huge beautiful bridges spanning the river.

Dental Update

Wednesday night I had my three crowns put on as I mentioned before. Thursday night I had my two right infected wisdom teeth extracted. It went fast and smooth and was over quickly with no pain. I had to bite down on gauze for a couple of hours after she sewed in the stitches. She said to hold an ice pack to my face for a few hours too but when I went downstairs at the clinic, they couldn’t find one so said I didn’t need it. Actually I was just fine without because I didn’t have any pain in my jaw as the Novocain wore off but I did take one ibuprofen for a slight headache. I had eaten dinner early because I knew I wouldn’t want to eat after the teeth extractions. I changed the gauze before I went to sleep and continued to leave it in place to bite on all night. I slept well with no throbbing (I had been having continual throbbing in jaw because of the infected teeth and it was finally gone!)

I had an appointment Friday night with the oral surgeon for her to check the healing process 24 hours later. She said “oh very good work” and laughed because complimenting her own work. It did feel like it was doing well and no bleeding. I was feeling fine. They scheduled me for Monday night for my final appointment. That night I resumed using clove oil and started making fresh ginger tea.

All the scheduled dental work that I approved (and paid for) the first day of my arrival was completed within a week, except for the checkup appointments which we scheduled a few days later since I had already planned to stay in town longer. I was very glad I had built in more time because if there was a problem like infection I figured it would show up within the first few days and I wanted them to be able to catch it.

Where to go?

I planned to spend a quiet day after my extractions. I felt good enough that Friday morning to walk the neighborhood and find a mango smoothie (just fruit and ice; I couldn’t find a protein smoothie anywhere.) I then settled down at my favorite downstairs Craft Café with my tablet, a cocoa, and a croissant to do more research on where to spend the following week. Options that I was considering were flying to Chiang Rai and taking the bus to Chiang Khong to visit with Grace and Jill, flying to Singapore to visit with my friends Vanessa and George, going to southern Thailand and finding a beach to sit on, going to western Thailand to a national park, going to eastern Thailand including some cities with more historic sites. Neil was helping me from Kihei, doing research and sending me lots of interesting links. He had even found a train schedule that would take me from Bangkok to Singapore in just over 48 hours.

While I was browsing, a gentleman came into the café and approached me saying “You look like you speak English, do you know anywhere to change money?” I said the only place I knew about was at the BTS station one stop south of the café and it might not be open yet. He said his name was Silvio and he was visiting his son for a few days from Australia. His son Rennie had told him to wait to exchange money in town rather than the airport for a better rate but Silvio woke before his son and thought he would go get some breakfast. I bought him a cup of coffee and we visited until it was time for me to meet Grace and Jill for lunch. He gave me a $2 Australian lucky coin. 🙂 I ran into Silvio and Rennie a couple more mornings at the café and he was so appreciative, he bought me breakfast as a thank for the first day. He had even gone for an initial appointment with Dr. Sunil after I told him why I was in Thailand, however, he decided to come back another trip with his wife to have the work done.

Saturday morning was my goodbye breakfast with Grace and Jill. They were heading to the airport at noon for a flight to Nan. I really enjoyed their company all week. I then headed out to explore the nearby canal. Neil had viewed the area with Google Earth and there appeared to be an obstruction across the canal a little ways down. On reaching the canal, there was a boat taxi dock that is nestled under the bridge. I walked to the right (southwest) on the sidewalk that runs all the way along the canal. Sure enough, a short distance down there was a lock across the canal and the Phrakhaong Pump Station. The canal had split at one point making an island in the middle of the canal that appears to be only accessible by boat or by a foot path over the lock on my side of the canal. Homes flanked the canal right up against the sidewalk, in some places with potted plants and drying fish overhanging the canal. I walked the sidewalk back and continued in the other direction (northwest). I came upon some fishermen and one proudly displayed his catch for me to get a photo. I then came to the end of the sidewalk, literally. The sidewalk just ended with no railing or barricade. One more step and I would have dropped into the water! Several yards beyond that point was a concrete pillar sunk into the canal supporting the overhead roadway bridge. It seemed clear the sidewalk had once gone farther but had been crudely removed when the modern roadway infrastructure was put in place.

On my way back through the Phra Khanong neighborhood market, I stopped at one of my favorite street vendors for dinner take away. She cooked up my single serving of Pad Thai on her shiny silver griddle. I couldn’t resist taking a series of photos. She got into it putting on her cap and posing. As I passed through the Food Court on my way home, they were setting up specialty vendor stalls for Saturday night. I bought a brownie for desert and a chocolate croissant for breakfast. I have to say the brownie wasn’t as good as the ones I make but the croissant was wonderful the next morning.

Sunday morning, to the sound of Mozart’s Horn Concerto from my tablet, I made breakfast in my room with fresh fruit from Jill and Grace plus the chocolate croissant and an avocado I bought the day before. I then ventured out to the large Bangkok Weekend Market, officially named Chatuchok Weekend Market, to do my souvenir shopping. Very easy access by taking the BTS to the end of the line where I emerged to enter a 35-acre flea market complex, broken into 27 sections with over 8000 stalls. They even have maps available to navigate the 8000+ numbered stalls. I spent a few hours shopping and people watching in one small area. One hint given on the websites was to remember the stall number if you think you will want to come back for more purchases because otherwise you are lost in the maze. I understood because I went back 3 times to the cotton scarf shop and one of the times I had to wander a little to find it. A few hours was my limit for shopping and crowds and heat. One of the most interesting realizations about this touring adventure was it’s the first time I was in a “tourist area” surrounded by foreign (international) visitors. I was used to my Thai residential neighborhood and local Thai shopping areas.

Dental Update

Monday evening was to be my final appointment to review all my work and I would get a disk of the x-rays and work charts. I thought I would be seeing Dr. Sunil but they took me upstairs to my oral surgeon. I complained about two places in my mouth still having a little pain and she checked my lower left wisdom tooth and said there was some infection in it. However, they don’t fill wisdom teeth, they pull them. I was taken back downstairs and waited to see Dr. Sunil. He checked and said both wisdom teeth need to be extracted and I said only one was infected. He explained that they take the pair when they extract wisdom teeth. Another quick decision, I was in Thailand to get all my teeth taken care of so I decided to have it done. Another trip to the money changers and I was back in the chair with the oral surgeon. She was concerned I might need to eat first because it was getting late but I said I had dinner before I came in. (I had learned from a few long waits in my past week.) Two more wisdom teeth gone and I was biting down on gauze again. When she found out I wasn’t taking any of the antibiotics, she practically begged me to take a course of them. I relented and took the strong ones for the 3 day course but the first thing I did was have Neil order Probiotics so I had them to take when I got home. I had a headache the three days I was taking the antibiotics and it quit the day I was done. Imagine that. I’m sure I would have been better off with the clove oil and ginger (both are antibacterial).

I went back Tuesday night 24 hours later for her to check the healing process. This time I had one place bothering me a little. She snipped the knot on one of the stitches and the pain disappeared. They set my final appointment for the following Tuesday night because they said coming in Wednesday at 1 pm right before I flew out was too early for an appointment. I was now free to head out of Bangkok for a week! Stay tuned to hear about train rides, waterfalls, and a floating bedroom.

Text and Photos by Nanette Harter

Photo gallery below:
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Sea Life Bangkok Ocean World

Posted on February 14, 2017 by Nanette Harter

I was free all day Tuesday and decided to spend the day going to the downtown Bangkok aquarium. Grace and Jill didn’t feel like going on this outing so I headed out on my own adventure before noon on the BTS Skytrain . I was a little delayed leaving because I was trying to book a package online that would have included the Behind the Scenes tour and the 4D movie for the same price as regular admission price. It was through a 3^rd party site and suffice to say that I needed to be booked at least one day in advance. (I read later that even if you buy online tickets on the Sea Life Bangkok’s website, you need to make the purchase a day in advance.) After this little bit of hassle, I was on my way.

The first thing I noticed was color. Sea Life Bangkok Ocean World (formally Siam Ocean World) is located on two basement floors of the Siam Paragon Shopping Centre (The BTS conveniently stops right at the shopping center.) Descending the escalator to the lower floor, it looks like I was entering the ocean because the floor is painted to look like moving water and the walls are filled with marine life. This entire underground floor belongs to the aquarium and there are several venues beginning with the Shark Dive kiosk staffed full-time to provide information and book dives.The souvenir shop is next door and you can enter to shop without aquarium admission but I was also funneled through the shop on exiting the aquarium from the floor below up a narrow escalator. This design seemed to work well to prevent backwards entry into the aquarium. The shop selection was pretty much limited to small plastic souvenirs and tons of stuffed animals.

The main entrance had multiple cashier stations moving the queue quickly and behind on the opposite side of the floor was the prepaid queue and a separate entrance to the 4D movie theater allowing purchase of tickets for the theater only without aquarium entrance. The snack bar was nestled in the back corner open to all. All signage throughout was in both Thai and English and everyone I interacted with was bilingual.

When I reached the cashier, she very efficiently laid out a laminated sheet (in English) which visually described purchase options listing the prices in both Thai baht and in US dollars. Beyond regular admission there were various bundle packages providing a combination of 1) a glass bottom boat ride on top of the large tank, 2) a behind the scene tour, 3) the 4D movie, and 4) a soda plus popcorn. I opted for just the regular admission at $29 USD. She handed me the English version of the map brochure plus a separate insert titled Talks and Feeds schedule and very politely told me where and when the next presentation would be occurring. I thought this was a brilliant idea to tell the guests where the next presentation would take place until I found that I was zooming thought the entire aquarium to get to the Gentoo Penguins exhibit which happened to be the very last exhibit in the aquarium!

The aquarium is designed so you follow only one route through the two floors of exhibits (at one point you walk gradually down a boardwalk to the lower floor.) I will explain the exhibits in a moment because after my mad dash to the very end for the presentation, I went backwards to a seating area, took time to look at the map and presentation schedule, and then walked all the way back to the beginning to start my tour after noting a few talks I would be able to see on my tour. It is interesting that most of the presentations are billed as feeding shows. At Maui Ocean Center, we don’t announce feeding times but now I understand why so many visitors ask me when the next feeding show will be.

The naturalist presenters outside the exhibits all spoke in Thai and then translated to English. When there were staff inside the exhibits communicating with the naturalist as part of the presentation, they only spoke in Thai in the few talks I saw. The first presentation at the Gentoo Penguin Feeding was very clear and I could understand the naturalist. At the Diver Communication talk located at the Tropical Ocean Exhibit, not only could I not understand the either presenter (I couldn’t tell when the naturalist was switching from Thai to English and the diver only spoke in Thai) but the volume was so blaringly loud, I had to leave the presentation area. Later when I walked back by, I noticed that at the end of this presentation the diver had stayed in the water moving closer to the lower front of the exhibit and the naturalist was encouraging guests to come up and take photos with the diver behind them (many were taking advantage of the photo op.)

The Sea Life Bangkok brochure map was confusing but there were numbers next to the area names that indicated the flow, plus it didn’t really matter since there was only one route to take (online map version of the map). The first exhibit was Rocky Hideout including a Giant Pacific Octopus and other camouflaging marine animals. Shark Walk provided the first glimpse into the huge tank that houses the sharks and rays by allowing me to walk across an acrylic see-thru floor. I next moved into the Coral Reef area. The coral was brilliant bright colors—all painted plastic—but the fish were beautiful in their real colors! This top floor level had two doors with stanchion queue lines for access to the Behind the Scenes tour and the Glass Bottom Boat ride. Even though I wasn’t taking the tours, I was able to take photos through the windows in the door where the tours started. The part I saw looked very shiny and impressive. I could also see the cables strung over the top of the tank creating the path guiding the glass bottom boats. After viewing the Seahorse Kingdom, I moved onto the Tropical Rainforest. This transitioned out of the ocean world into fresh water and included not only fish but amphibians and otters. Walking along the very gradual descending boardwalk to the lower level were terrariums of bright colored rainforest frogs. It was at this point that the soda and popcorn café was situated off the walkway with a few tables if I had wanted a snack. (That area and vending drink machines were the only refreshments inside the aquarium area.) When I reached the bottom floor, here were the adorable looking Asian Short Clawed Otters housed in a playful water world exhibit.

Back to the ocean world and the Green Sea Turtles were next! They were housed in a clear walled exhibit so I could see in from multiple views. Beside it was the area called the Rockpool where I could touch sea stars, sea cucumbers, and empty shark egg casings. The touch zone was a small defined area in the middle of the exhibit which was staffed by a naturalist at all the times. I spoke with the naturalist about the rotation and she said each naturalist only needed to work a one hour shift per day at the touch station. (They are open 10 am to 9 pm.) A thoughtful addition was having a hand washing station right by the touch zone area.

There were exhibits for Jackass Penguins (aka African Penguins) and the Rays before reaching a children’s interactive activity and play area. Next was the 8 meter (26-foot) high Tropical Ocean tank exhibit stretching up the height of both floors. The Diver Communications presentation occurs three times a day in this exhibit and doesn’t include feeding. (This was the one I left because it was so loud and I couldn’t understand anything.) There were seating areas on both floors in front of this tank; the top floor provides balcony-like seating for the presentation or just sitting to enjoy the tropical exhibit.

From here, I moved into the first tunnel walking under several species of sharks, rays, and some huge fish before emerging into a small room surrounded by clear walls with a few seats to pause and continue viewing the pelagic marine life all around me. A second tunnel lead on bringing me out to a seating area where they present the shark feeding show. I did see part of this presentation because it was scheduled after the Gentoo Penguins as I moved back toward the beginning of the aquarium. A naturalist started a presentation (again, I couldn’t understand her) as two divers entered into the exhibit and knelt on the bottom with a box between them (no diver communication equipment hookup.) They each had a stick with a long metal rod tucked under their arms and I wondered what it was for? I soon found out as a few HUGE Sand Sharks came around, one diver would open the box enough to poke a large piece of fish on the end of the metal rod and then hold it up. As a sand shark swam by, the shark would take the piece off the rod. Sharks don’t need to eat every day and it was clear that it was just a few of the sharks coming by to be feed at that time. The feeding presentation happens twice a day so there seemed to be enough sharks in the giant tank that most likely one or two will eat during each show. I didn’t find out the actual size of this tank but I would estimate it to be about 3 times the size of the 750,000 gallon Open Ocean exhibit at Maui Ocean Center.

The Sea Jellies were next and they had several different kinds of jellies including the Immortal Jellyfish. The last exhibit was the Gentoo Penguins in their frigid ice enclosure. Around the corner was Conservation Cove with signage describing Sea Life Trust programs and contributions (there was also a column about their conservation activities on the Brochure Map.)

Right before the exit escalator was a photo station where guests could have their photo taken in front of a green screen and then choose from a variety of aquarium scenes for the backdrop. As the guests sat for their group photo, the wall to the right had about eight different monitors with their group displayed in each aquarium backdrop scene so they could see immediately what each looked like! Once they picked the background, they walked around the corner to pay and the photo was printed right then—no wasted paper!

The photo gallery below includes pictures I took while touring the aquarium. If you are viewing this in the browser, clicking on any thumbnail photo brings up the full size photo with a description. To easily see them all, use the arrow buttons or keys to move through the full size gallery photos with descriptions.

Text and Photos by Nanette Harter

Bangkok Activities

Posted on February 7, 2017 by Nanette Harter

I fell into a daily routine: talk to Neil when I wake about 7 am my time which is 2 pm the day before for him. Within the hour, the internet at the hotel would get slow for some reason so I would head downstairs to the Craft Café for tea or hot chocolate and use their internet to continue talking, writing emails, or researching on my tablet. I would stay there for breakfast or else meet up with Grace and Jill at 71 Coffee Café. (No, it’s not 71 kind of coffees but the street name of Sukhumvit 71 Road.) Then have an outing before my evening dental appointment. Dinner would either be before or after depending if the driver was picking me up at 3 or as late as 6 pm. Of course every day had unique experiences for me to share with you.

Hair Cut

Jill had gotten a great haircut her first night for 99 baht! At 35 baht to a US dollar, that is less than $3! It was time for me to have a cut but it took me a couple of nights to find the right shop. I had the same sweetheart of a hair stylist as Jill and he did such a fantastic job, I went back two and half weeks later right before I was to leave to have him trim it. I wish I could bring him here to Maui! I haven’t been able to find a hair cutter since my friend Annie moved 2 years ago. I went to the shop a few days later for a pedi-mani and another day for a Thai massage. I have concluded that after having a Thai massage on each of my Thailand visits, I just don’t enjoy the vigorous feet and elbows poking Thai style. I like deep massage but this vigorous deep poking is not relaxing at all for me.

I was enjoying my time with new friends Grace and Jill and they were speaking so fondly of their months in Chiang Khong that I asked if I might join them on their travels for my week holiday after the dental procedures. They were very excited about of the idea of me traveling with them. Their plan was to leave by bus Saturday morning for the northern province of Nan then proceed to a small village near the town of Nan (Yep there’s a city and province with my name.) They would stay a few nights in the house Grace’s son had recently built on his Thai partner’s family land. Then midweek, we would continue journeying onto Chiang Khong. I was thrilled about the opportunity to travel with these experienced travelers but as the week went on with daily dental appointments, I realized it wouldn’t be wise to spend all day Saturday on a Thai bus after having two wisdom teeth extracted on Thursday night. I was sad but it was a good decision in the long run to wait in Bangkok a few more days before traveling.

Dental appointments

Monday night’s dental appointment was the drilling to prepare for my crowns, take an imprint, and put on temporary crowns. It did take about 2 hours but again no pain. When they were setting my appointment for two days out to have the crowns put on (the crowns would be prepared in house and ready Wednesday), I asked when my three composite fillings would be done. They looked at my chart and said all three had just been done tonight with the other work! They gave me more medication. I did take one for swelling on Tuesday and Wednesday thinking it might reduce swelling in the gums before the crowns installed.

Wednesday night I had 3 crowns put in and I was her last client for the night. Both Monday and Wednesday I had eaten dinner before the appointment so I wouldn’t have to eat while numb. I had the same dentist as the last two appointments and I wasn’t in the chair for long this time. She only numbed one side because the other two were root canals so teeth “dead”. She had some problems getting the temp off the one tooth but then put all new crowns on and they fit snugly. I had to sign acceptance before permanent cement was put on. Then she did the grinding to get them to fit smoothly with the upper and lower teeth and we were done.

General Impressions

My general overall impression of the Thai people is they are very industrious and entrepreneurial. They have small business filling every nook and cranny. I would see a small table or blanket appear on the sidewalk near the bus stop and entrance to the BTS during the morning commute with take-away sandwiches and lunch items. Commuters could buy lunch on the way to work and then the table would disappear an hour later when their inventory is sold out. At night when the shops closed, the sidewalk would become filled with cooking wagons, portable lights, tables and chairs: instant street side restaurant! To-go items are put in plastic bags for transporting home for dinner. In front of the pharmacy, a man had a sewing machine set up for business. Under the overpass on-ramp were numerous barber and beauty shops; a single barber chair would fill the little space and there would be another shop right next to it. In the narrow backstreets north of the main road was the local-style shopping mall filled with clothing stalls, accessories, fabric shops, eating places, and far at the back near the canal is the fresh meat and produce. It is a whole community in the shadows of the apartment buildings.

Text and Photos by Nanette Harter

Bangkok Life

Posted on January 29, 2017 by Nanette Harter

I stayed in Bangkok almost 2 weeks. As I wrote in my previous post, the initial scheduled dental procedures only took a week. But the last procedure was to have two wisdom teeth extracted on Thursday night and they wanted to see me Friday night to check on the healing.

So let’s back up to my arrival date and my time in Bangkok. After my appointment Friday (the day of my arrival), I watched the sunset over Bangkok from the rooftop garden and met Chris who told me how much he loves living in Bangkok. I found the W District open air food court he told me about and had a yummy Pad Thai. You can get Pizza or Mexican or Greek or BBQ in the food court, but I am in Thailand! I want to eat Asian food! I slept well that night after not sleeping on the red-eye flight. My next appointment wasn’t until 3 pm, so I went for a morning swim and meet Grace and Jill enjoying a morning dip. They are retired and travel each year during the Australian summer. The last few years, they have spent four months in Chiang Khong, a north Thailand town on the Mekong River. There is a new bridge to Lao (Laos) near the town which expanded Chiang Khong from a local market town to an international border crossing in 2013. They spoke so fondly of the people that have befriended them there and their many activities helping with children’s reading programs and women’s projects. They had stopped over in Bangkok for some dental work this year but were anxious to get on the bus and out of the big city!

Hotel Search

It had been my plan from the beginning to stay at Dr. Sunil’s boutique hotel a few nights and then look for a budget hotel. The boutique hotel room was only $45 a night so very reasonable, but if I could save a little more then the overall cost of an international dental trip goes down. 😉 Neil did some research and gave me a few leads close by. I spent the morning walking to look at some hotels, then brought the BTS Skytrain back one stop from On Nut to Phra Khanong; the BTS is very modern, clean, and fun to ride! Right under the stairs as I exited is a small hotel, The Mix, that wasn’t on my list. I walked in to look at the rooms: clean and bigger than the one I was staying in but not as new or gleaming white. I inquired about price and availability and was told it would be basically ½ the price of what I was paying but they were booked for several more nights. Time for lunch and a rest from the heat.

When I got back to the hotel, I was handed a letter on Dr. Sunil’s letterhead that there would be a ceremony in the lobby from 1 to 3 and we guests were invited. Some of us dressed in our black clothes (of course that is all I had, ha) and went downstairs to the main building lobby. When nothing was happening there, we went back to the 5^th floor hotel wing and in what I would have called the common room was a Hindu pujari (priest) preparing for a ceremony. We watched the color and patterns evolve for a while but then I had to leave for my clinic appointment. I was later told the ceremony started about 3 with much chanting and clanging cymbals. The beautiful colorful patterned art was still there for me to appreciate when I got back. [I never learned what the ceremony signified or honored.]

That Saturday afternoon, I had two root canals and then my teeth whitened. The teeth whitening is the one procedure I could have, should have, skipped. My thought was that it might make my teeth match the one front tooth cap/crown I got when I was 17. Didn’t really work and it was actually more uncomfortable than the process of getting the root canals. There was no pain during the root canals because I was well numbed and relaxed while she drilled and dug in my mouth doing two side by side upper left molars. Afterwards they handed me three drugs I could take: pain killers, antibiotics, and one for swelling. I didn’t take any; didn’t feel the need. I had clove oil diluted with coconut oil which I would put a few drops on cotton and sleep with the cotton against my gum for pain and antibiotic. I also took turmeric capsules and ginger tea for swelling. No problems.

Sunday exploring

At dinner that night in the food court (I had soft Indian dahl, yum), Grace and Jill asked if would like to join them for an outing the following morning. The clinic is closed Sundays so we had the full day. They were heading to an English language bookstore that served organic coffee. Their plan was to have breakfast and browse. We took a taxi the couple of miles to the bookstore along the road with the BTS track overhead. It is very efficient construction with broad pillars in the center of the street separating the traffic and the track elevated overhead. It utilizes the existing thoroughfare and doesn’t take any real estate away from buildings. There are lots of cars on the road but probably almost equal number motor scooters! I later observed that scooter drivers with orange vests were registered taxi scooters.

The bookstore only had a coffee bar and no breakfast. We ventured a block farther to find a local restaurant with a plate lunch buffet. They handed us a plate and let us spoon on our choices. Then she came to the table and decided how much to charge for the amount taken—60 baht which is less than $2 for oh so good food! Now satiated with brunch, we returned to browse the 3 story bookshop. It clearly caters to the expat community and has a good niche market with English and other foreign language books plus a small espresso bar.

We walked to a nearby high-end grocery store where you can find imported products. I got some chocolate and Grace got them a loaf of fresh rye bread! Then we covered a couple more blocks to the EM Quartier Complex, one of the many upscale multistory shopping malls in the downtown area. It’s interesting to look at the architecture and the variety of stores even if there was nothing I needed to buy. One thing that impressed me about Bangkok is the love of plants and greenery. Even in the concrete and paved city, there were plants everywhere the residents could put a planter pot. Many rooftops had gardens and potted trees growing high above the streets. When space was limited, they designed vertical planter walls. We found the Quartier Water Garden on the top floors of the mall with indoor and outdoor sections allowing you to meander through a variety of habitats. The Mall is integrated with the Phrom Phong BTS station so it was an easy three stops back ride to our neighborhood.

What to do about housing?

I was feeling mixed about moving from Dr. Sunil’s hotel because I had friends now in our little community, however, I did want to economize. I was already emailing with Grace and Jill to coordinate meals and getting together, so my logic was that staying at a place in the local area would still allow me to hang out with friends. (It did work out that way all week!) I walked over to The Mix Monday morning and they had a room opening up after all. I went back and packed, check out of The Bloom, and moved to my new hotel for the next week. My first night was VERY noisy from the street noise (even with earplugs) but they were very accommodating and moved me to the garden side room on the same floor the next day. I had a mini fridge, an electric kettle to make tea, free wifi, and the Craft Café right downstairs. I had found my little haven in Bangkok.