A Pictorial Journey Through Four Wings Apt. 18C

To give you an idea of how we're living these days, here are a few photos of our apartment here in Bangkok.

Here's the front door from the other side.


This is our living room. The building supplied the couch and easy chairs; we were lucky to get the cream upholstery, which makes for easy decorating. We had the walls in this room painted and were very pleased with the results. We still have a few things to hang on the walls, once we find them. We're also considering a carpet for this room. There was no possibility to remove the built-in shelving unit -- "the Monstrosity" -- so we've tried to disguise it as best we can.


The TV room is where we spend much of our time. As you can see from the view, we're right in the middle of downtown. We were happy to figure out an arrangement in which the TV is hidden unless you're actually sitting on the couch to watch it. This was set up as a formal dining room, but we had the building management take out the dining room table and chairs. (We don't "dine" very often.)


The kitchen is small but functional. There's a storage pantry just off the kitchen. We have to use a water cooler because the tap water in Bangkok is definitely not safe.


A hallway leads back to the three bedrooms and bathrooms. The carpet is made from yak wool; Patrick got it from a Nepali carpet maker who works with Tibetan refugees.




This is our music room / office / spare-bedroom-in-emergencies. We turned the twin bed into a daybed for lounging. It's been a lot of fun to play with color in this room.


Here's our guest bedroom. This is the room we've spent the most time trying to fix up, including tailor-made bedlinens and curtains, and cool tribal cushions from a hill tribe in northern Thailand. The mirror on the left-hand side wall is a reproduction of a traditional Nepali carved window.


As you can see, the guest bathroom is spare but very clean. Each of the three bathrooms has a sink, toilet, and full bathtub with shower attachment. Each also has its own water heater, so we never have any problems with running out of hot water ... not that there are any cold mornings in Bangkok!



Our bedroom needs the most work. The curtains are a distressing splotchy battleship grey, made from some sort of weird acrylic. We'll eventually replace them, get a bed skirt made, and hang something above the head of the bed. At least we got rid of the hideous Embassy-issued lamps.


It's a great apartment -- just the right size for us. We're really happy here, and it's such a pleasure to come home to a cozy place like Four Wings 18C!

12.20 North, 99.58 East

This past week we had a much-needed vacation in Pranburi, about three-and-a-half hours' drive south of Bangkok, on the Gulf of Thailand. This was our first road trip in Thailand, which was not without its own challenges, but it was great to take our car out onto the open road. The highways in Thailand are very similar to those in the States -- at times we could've been on Route 460 on our way to Virginia Beach.


We stayed at a tiny resort called Aleenta. The resort has only fifteen rooms, four of them bungalows that sit right on the beach. The resort -- which has won awards from Conde Nast, Luxury Travel magazine, and a bunch of others -- was beautiful. Since it's currently low season in Thailand, there weren't many people around. From our bungalow we had an almost 180-degree view of the ocean and could watch the tides and the fishing boats right from our bed.


We didn't really do much other than lie around and read all week, which was exactly what we needed. We took a few walks on the beach, but we didn't risk swimming in the ocean, thanks to the hordes of very large jellyfish.


Our bungalow had a private plunge pool, though, so while we couldn't swim any laps, we could cool off whenever we needed to.


We drove up to the town of Hua Hin in the middle of the week to see Thailand's oldest beach resort. Hua Hin used to be a small fishing village, but it's grown up a lot over the last few decades. The King of Thailand has a summer palace there -- in fact, it's where he lives most of the time. We can't say we were real taken with Hua Hin, but we had a lovely lunch at the Sofitel Railway Hotel, a beautiful colonial-era hotel built in 1923. Its topiary garden is thought to be one of the best in the world, and it really was incredible. Most amazing were a pair of 30-foot-long peacocks, a flight of geese, and a life-sized elephant.

All in all, it was a wonderful week with lots of good food and relaxation.

Working with Ratt and Kook

Thais have nicknames. When a Thai child is very young, his or her parents will give the child a nickname to distract evil spirits who might want to harm him or her. Often the name is a shortened version of the child's given name -- not a bad idea with given names such as "Watcharaporn," "Potchanat," and "Saengroaj" -- or a descriptive term, such as "red," "shrimp," or endless variations on "small."

However, use of these nicknames doesn't end in childhood. Most people continue to use their nickname throughout their life. Thai custom encourages the use of these nicknames rather than family names (i.e., "Mr. Patrick" instead of "Mr. Wilson") in polite discourse, prefaced with the word "Khun," which is something like Mr. or Ms. -- also not a bad idea with family names such as "Komsatayapongvudhi" and "Damrongwatanapokin."

So, Patrick's colleagues include Mr. Ratt, Ms. Apple, Mr. Kook, Ms. Pim, Ms. Pum, Ms. Oo, and Mr. Boy, while one of the staff members in our apartment building is Mr. Aa. So far neither one of us has attracted a nickname, but it may just be a matter of time. Any suggestions?