My weekend chez Monsieur et Madame FinLAND

This past weekend, I had an adventure unlike any of the others I've written about on this blog -- I did something that is completely foreign to my life here in Thailand.

Before coming here, my grandmother, who was quite nervous to see her little granddaughter venture across the world to teach English, reached out to the one person she knew in Bangkok, the Finnish ambassador's wife. I didn't think much of this contact, because it didn't seem real to me. That is until about a month ago when she spontaneously phoned me and insisted I come down to Bangkok for a visit. My mother told me I should absolutely take her up on this invite, I mean, when else will be invited to an ambassador's residence?


So when we found out rather last minute, as always, that we were going to have 6 days off, I decided to give Brigitta a call. Six days off meant I should definitely do something with that time, but as I'm coming to the end of my semester, I am also a bit travel weary, not a good sign since I will be living 6 weeks out of my backpack. Brigitta immediately invited me to come spend my days off with her. So I thought, I could definitely use a weekend of pampering, hot showers, and good (maybe western?) food.


I got on the bus on Wednesday night, with scrapes all over my legs, running on two hours of sleep from the previous night (my roommate and I decided to have a crazy night out since we didn't have to teach for another week) - anyway, I was definitely ready for some real comfort.

Real comfort doesn't even come close to what this place was like. It was absolute luxury by any standard, let alone my Chiang Rai standards. I arrived at dawn on Thursday where she showed me my room. I thought it was a mirage: a queen size bed, the pillows were soft, and the bathroom was huge with hot water of course. She insisted on serving me some biscuits as I must have been starving. I zoned out till noon when I had lunch with her of course served impeccably by the butler. After our afternoon tea where we of course ate only the best scones in all of Bangkok, as she said " out of this vvvooorld! " (oh she is from Austria, hence the accent), she took me to her favorite chic shops downtown.

The next day I spent by myself strolling around Bangkok, going to Jim Thompson and then meeting up with Phil and Waqas, my program coordinating people for lunch and the whole afternoon. I had such a nice time seeing them that I nearly missed high tea, where of course my scones were waiting for me.

That night, Mr and Mrs Finland hosted their friends for a dinner party. Everything was perfect. The pictures you see here are from that night. Everything from the table set, the menu, the flowers was impeccably planned. The life of an ambassadress is busier than you would imagine! I mean, she often times wakes up at 5 in the morning to do her hair (it takes her about one hour) so that she can be at some function by 8 in the morning, busy busy busy. It's one dinner party after the other!

To the left is a picture of my name tag and the delicious menu. I had wine and champagne!

The next day, we woke up early to do more shopping. We met her friend Mrs. Copland and invaded the Jim Thompson outlet. I went a little crazy there, but who can resist when everything is about 6 dollars!?

We then headed to their favorite designer friend MarIIIIsa, who is really fantastic, but completely and utterly out of my price range despite it being Thailand. Finally, we had an incredible lunch at the Blue Elephant where of course Brigitta knew the owners.

I spent my last day there sitting at the pool devouring my book. These next two pictures are of the garden, which Brigitta takes huge pride in.

All in all, I had a wonderful time there, but I felt so utterly out of place. As their little houseguest, as they called me, I was also treated with the utmost respect. It was nice, but I almost felt a bit uncomfortable -like I was faking a life that is clearly not mine right now. I can do posh in Europe or the States, but in Thailand... it feels just so foreign to me. Even from my wardrobe... I had a very difficult time finding clothes to make myslef look appropriate. Of course, Brigitta was dressed to the nines, even when having breakfast. I felt like I stepped into a different universe, one in which I for the life of me couldn't quite relate to.

It was amazing, don't get me wrong, but it felt so funny having a butler wait on me. I mean, when in Rome do as the Romans. I enjoyed it and will definitely be going back. And Brigitta showed me a whole other side of Bangkok that without her I would have never seen! Plus, I'm sure that after living out of backpack for x amount of time, I'll be ready for some more real pampering... :)

Bangkok - the Venice of the Orient or just a big dirty city?

A couple weekends ago, Olivier and I spent 3 days in Bangkok before his return to New York. We chose to stay in Bangkok for practicality reasons, not because we particularly wanted to be there. But hey, a weekend on the parents in the big city is not a bad thing, right? We had gotten the fair warning from our parents to make the best of the three days, by that they meant, go DO things, do not sit and watch TV! Now, I am definitely more of a doer than a sit-at-home-and-watch-TV kind of person, but after 2 and half months of hard beds and no TV, I didn't mind the latter!

Nevertheless, my brother and I found the happy medium, and I must say I was very pleased with our three days. I couldn't have found the better transition from a comfortable family vacation to my life in Chiang Rai.

One of the first things, Olivier and I did was take a long tail boat through the canals of Bangkok. Yes, were completely ripped off, but it was well worth it. These canals really do bring out the charm of what Bangkok must have been like before it became such a massive city.

What I really wanted to write about was a 4 hour bike tour we did on our second day. I had read about this tour in a travel magazine, it was advertised as seeing the backstreets of Bangkok and taking you back to the Bangkok of 30 years ago. Indeed, this tour proved to be well worth it. Firstly, the tour attracted an interesting array of travelers, some who also actually lived in Thailand - this always bodes well. We biked through back alleys of rich neighborhoods, slums, and markets. We then took the long tail boat across the river and peddled in a neighborhood just outside the city, which has been preserved. We essentially found ourselves in a jungle biking on narrow passage ways above canals. You would never know you were just minutes away from Bangkok!

So Olivier and I were thrilled to see the charming side of this city, which is not really known for it's "charm." However, we also saw the m0re unpleasant side that the city has to offer to foreigners like us. I've been living in Thailand for 3 months now and you would think I would know better than to be scammed, but in Bangkok it is so difficult to escape. I follow the basic rules (i.e. always take a metered taxi), but still Olivier and I had the constant uncomfortable feeling of being ripped off. There were times when I wanted to scream and thank God he was there to calm me down!

Here are a few pictures from our bike tour...

A typical Thai house on the river in Bangkok.

Olivier and I in the long tail boat.

After being ripped off by a taxi driver who claimed to have misunderstood us after we pointed on the map to one of the most famous tourist destinations, then taking us across town (we had a suspicion we were not going in the right direction, but how could we know for sure?) and finally taking us back (charging us double of course) and then laughing at us when we found out our destination was closed (!), Olivier and I posed angrily in front of the parliament in protest.

The utter frustration of not being understood and constantly fearing being jacked was not fun, but ultimately I was wonderful to spend an extra 3 days with my brother :)

Having dinner on the river.