Dining in Margaritaville

My husband's school department chair took us out to dinner on Saturday night. He does this every year with his new teachers to welcome them, get to know them, and spend time with them. It is a nice way to get to know one's employees outside the school.

He picked us up at our house (he lives about ten minutes away) in his car, which we had been looking forward to riding in all day. Just imagine: being picked up and going somewhere without having to find a ride. But I guess we are already more accustomed to our current way of life than we realized because the concept of going somewhere in a privately owned car seemed so foreign! My son kept asking with disbelief if we were getting picked up by someone who owned a car.

My husband's supervisor took us to this place that was only about 15 minutes from us, tucked away on Soi 191 from the busy Ramkhamhaeng Road. It seemed like a different world. Where just down the street was the rushing of traffic and honking of horns, this place was peaceful and quiet, with the sounds of a wall of waterfall and birds, and a body of water right under the flooring of the restaurant. The restaurant reminded me of places we had been to previously on the shores of North Carolina, South Carolina, and Florida, with a chill, tropical vibe. The ambiance was reminiscent of a lazy summer night on the beach. All that was missing were a pitcher of margaritas and fun, summer music.

Connecting the restaurant to the street where it is located is a small walkway, where I was treated to  this view.

As the sun set, lights and lanterns in the trees came on, giving a glow to the place.

Decorations and sparkly lights in the trees.

The "waterfall." We sat right next to it, where the light is in the picture. It was so relaxing and peaceful to listen to the trickling water.

A view of the restaurant as you walk in from the road.

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A pleasant evening spent in a pleasant setting, with amazing food (isn't it always?) and great company. We learned a lot from the department chair about different aspects of working and living here, from filing taxes (I don't even want to think about how complicated that's going to be next year!) to the phone numbers of a food delivery service in Bangkok and of a woman named Miss Emma who is a private driver for hire. She charges 300 baht/hour (about $10/hour). A private driver for only $10/hour?! I'll take it!

On the way home, my husband subconsciously reached for his wallet to pay the driver, only we didn't need to pay for this ride. What a sweet feeling it is to realize that we were on our way home without having to deal with flagging down a taxi driver! A perfect end to the night.

At the Hospital

Sunday saw my son's first visit to a Thai hospital. On Friday, he started with a little cough and sniffles. I was a little worried because my son also has asthma, which is usually not a big deal until he gets a cold with coughing, which on occasion can affect his respiratory system and bring out his asthma symptoms (mainly wheezing).

By Saturday, his cough was a little bit worse, so I had a feeling we would be visiting a doctor soon, though we tried to avoid it by giving him his inhaler, which works most of the time. I was really dreading having to go to the doctor here just because it would be such a process. We also had heard from others that Thai doctors like to push every medication on their patients (especially antibiotics) and hospitalize for every little thing, even just a cold.

By Sunday morning, though, it was obvious that his inhaler wasn't doing it and we would need to go see the doctor. All doctors here practice at hospitals; no doctor has a private office. There are public and private hospitals. The private hospitals tend to have more English-speaking doctors. After spending the morning with a friend at a hidden gem of a market by the khlong (which will have to be another post), we hailed a taxi and headed out to the hospital where my husband had gotten his physical exam last month. 

It was a nice hospital, with excellent facilities. There was some initial confusion about registration because this was my son's first visit and the staff spoke little English. We were asked for our passports, which we did not have with us, but the staff was very understanding and accepted my husband's work I.D. card instead. [Living here also has made me much more sympathetic towards those in America who don't speak English. Unlike us, they probably don't have the benefit of patience from those they might try to communicate with!] After waiting an hour (because, remember, hospitals here aren't just for the sick), we saw a wonderful pediatric allergist who was patient and thorough. She spent about two hours total with us (she would see other patients while my son was getting his treatment, then go back to him once he was done) and explained what she was doing every step of the way. And she spoke decent English, for which I was very grateful.

The only aspect I disagreed with was that the doctor, true to the warnings we had gotten, wanted to prescribe for our son a couple of unnecessary medications. She also used the nebulizer on him a couple of times, and even mentioned using it a third time if she could still hearing some wheezing, which in and of itself surprised us. She wanted his lungs completely clear before allowing us to go home. Luckily, the wheezing was gone after the second time. Before sending us home, she wanted to prescribe a couple of antibiotics in addition to an anti-inflammatory (which we had used before), just in case the inflammation was due to some kind of bacterial infection. And she even mentioned doing a chest X-ray, which we nixed right away. We really had to explain ourselves and our discomfort with taking medication for no reason before she relented and agreed to wait until the follow-up visit to prescribe more medication, if necessary. I mean, we've dealt with this situation before, and never once was it due to a bacterial infection. My son always got better once he took the anti-inflammatory medication, so why the heck would we need the antibiotics?!

In the end, it cost only $40, including filling the prescription. And that was without health insurance coverage -- because we have not received my or my son's health insurance card yet, the hospital wouldn't take the insurance. Overall, it was a good first experience with the health care system here. But this experience also gave me pause. As expensive as health care is in the U.S., we are at least familiar with how the system works and how to navigate it (well, for the most part. I think.). We had doctors whom we loved and trusted, who knew our medical histories, and whose treatment philosophies agreed with our own. Everything also was close by us. And, importantly, everyone spoke English. (Geez, I really sound like an ethnocentric American right now, don't I?....)

So, it looks like if we want to continue to live abroad with a child who may require more medical care than others, health care is one more factor we'll have to consider when looking for our next destination. Not that we hadn't realized this before, but actually living abroad now and having had this experience, we know now what questions to ask to learn what the real story is. I know some of my reservation stems from unfamiliarity with a new system and country (after all, we've been here for only about a month so far), and from old habits of reflexively worrying. I will say that I am grateful we're at least currently in a country where we have access to good health care and good doctors.

The children's department at the hospital.

So clean and cute.

Play area for the kids.

An exam room.

The doors to the exam rooms.

There was some kind of variety show on TV. Check out the hosts' outfits!

It looked like the game was for the participants to throw soccer balls into the nets while on slippery soap water.

Check out the hair on the hostess on the left. It's like a mullet, but not....

Hospital cafeteria, run by Sodexo.

On the first floor of the hospital building were various shops, including Dunkin Donuts, which was very popular, and a jewelry shop (below).

Potpourri, Thai Style (It's a Little Spicy)

Post title credits go to my husband. :)

These are some shots from our daily lives....What we see, what we eat, the things we do, etc.

A park within walking distance of our house with a wall of Buddha statues. It is pretty and peaceful. My son didn't want me to take this picture because it didn't seem respectful to him.

Our first bill in Thailand! This is the bill for our internet - $20/month for fast cable connection. We've also since gotten the water bill ($3/month) and electricity bill (a little over $50/month). Yup, all of our bills here total less than $100/month. So off we went to 7-Eleven to pay these bills (What? Doesn't everyone pay their bills at 7-Eleven?).

The soi (street) right outside our neighborhood (Soi 164) has everything from restaurants to hardware stores to...a plastic surgery clinic (Medical tourism is a big industry in Thailand).

Lipton ice tea in Thai.

Ketchup.

The view to the street from one of our favorite restaurants, Mr. V and Family.

A delicious dish of stir-fried pork over rice, which cost less than $3.

Chicken noodle soup. Doesn't look very Thai, but tasted awesome and very Thai.

As a friend said, "There's a lot of 'Porn' here in Thailand." Yes, not only is it an industry, but also a person's name. The head nurse at the school is named Porntip. There are also other "Porns" at the school!

The Fish Place, we call it. A place that actually sells live fish. We may get some for the pond in our yard.

A great bakery, also on Soi 164.

Would you like a "smootie"?

All the beautiful, yummy cakes.

A slice of chocolate truffle cake. Wow!

My husband had one of the Thai teachers at school write up a card to instruct motorcycle (motorcy) taxi drivers to take us to the hospital in case of a medical emergency. The hospitals here are like hotels in the U.S., some being very high-end and with great service. Medical care here is excellent and cheap in general.

We also had a card written about my son's food allergies to show restaurant staff when we go out. It's worked very well so far! My husband laminated both cards to preserve them.

I think this is one of the first dishes I made here: seasoned ground pork with greens. It actually tasted pretty good! I've given up on following Thai recipes for now because it's so hard to figure out what the ingredients look like at the markets and stores, so we're just experimenting and making things up as we go.

Treats from a friend....On the left are cookies she made from scratch (she has an oven) and on the right are Thai pastry treats. Neither lasted through the day.

On Mother's Day, we went to lunch at an authentic, "off the grid" food stall. There were no farangs to be seen there and no one spoke any English there. This is the extent of the "restaurant," which served one dish - a noodle soup. There was one big pot with broth in it, and the smaller pots on the left had bean sprouts, basil, and other things to put in the noodle. The noodle was put into the broth for a few minutes, then served with bean sprouts and basil. Took about two minutes to cook and serve. We sat at a picnic table to eat.

The noodle soup. So simple, and yet one of the best I've ever tasted. It cost 20 to 30 baht (30 baht ~ $1). But because we are farangs, the guy charged us 40 baht (still cheap, but still)!

Add-ons for our noodle soup.

A soi cat lounging by my feet while I ate.

Thai treats from our landlady.

Noodle soup I "made."

I love the English translations on Asian food containers. This is on a box of crackers. Love that it even tells you what "brunch" means!

Our health insurance manual. I wonder if I could get a job editing these things. They sure need it!

Our first pizza delivery! Neapolitan pizza fresh out of an outdoor brick oven! [The Italian restaurants here are amazing and rival any that we have tried back in the U.S., even some of the three- or four-star ones! The food is amazing!]