A Social Evening

No pictures today, even though this may have been the best day of the trip so far. I met a longtime friend (retired State Dept) at his apartment for drinks, followed by dinner with several of his other friends.

The last time I saw John was in Virginia on my Wing-across-the-country ride a couple years ago, when he was recovering from some minor surgery. Today he was his old self, and it was my most enjoyable evening in a very long time.

John’s condo is in a very remote area of Bangkok, but his directions to get there were perfect, and I was able to guide the taxi driver right to his door. A pleasant change from a couple days ago. I expected to get lost, so I got there a bit early, but John was very gracious about it. He is going back to Virginia in a few days and was having a sort of farewell dinner for several of his friends, all Thai, from his days as director of the Thailand USIA post. He invited me over early so we could catch up a bit before the others arrived.

Soon the friends arrived, and after a couple more drinks we all went to a very nice restaurant (Thai, of course) about 20 minutes away. My girls already know what it is like to be feted by John, but this was even better. The restaurant has a klong (canal) running through it, and it reminded me of a very large version of the Tahitian Lanai in Waikiki, where Donna & Julian celebrated their wedding. This place is about 20 times larger, however, and we were taken to our thatched hut area in a boat. The klong was filled with very large and very active fish, though I guess they were there for the entertainment and not menu items. The food was both awesome and inexpensive, the menu prices being about half what they are in a typical Thai restaurant in the U.S.

Throughout the course of the evening, there was beer from Laos and wine from Cambodia. In more quantities than probably necessary. With an apologetic nod toward SMG, there was no Benedictine & Brandy, one of my favorites back in the old days. There were seven Thais in our party, all past or present US Embassy employees, and two Americans. The language of the evening was of course Thai, and I never felt left out. As I noted when writing about my trip 3 years ago, I continue to be amazed at how much of my language skill is still there and seems to pop up from nowhere when needed.

Getting back into the boat after generous quantities of wine was for some a bit comical, but we all made it back to the other side, and they dropped me off for the taxi/train ride back to my hotel.

Tomorrow, Frank and I join John on a trip down to Pattaya Beach, where Saisamorn and I spent a mini-honeymoon weekend back in its infancy as a resort.

There could be actual photos taken there.