Family Dinner
Tuesday, April 3rd, 2007Sarah and I left Chumpon very early this morning. We were on the road by 6am and we were lucky we got such an early start because today was another blistering day of sunshine and humidity. The highlight of the ride was probably the fat little Thai boy at the restaurant where we stopped for breakfast. He was literally cracking up every time he looked at us, we guess because of our sweaty, white bodies. He brought us our drinks and then sat down at the table right next to ours and stared at us, chuckling to himself. His mother kept sending him away on errands to distract him, but he always returned to catch one more glimpse of the strange bicycle tourists.
After 100+ sweaty kilometers, we arrived at our destination of Bon Sapphon Noi on the coast of the Gulf of Thailand. This area is full of beach resorts that are popular with Thais but that don’t see as many farang as the main tourist areas. We were surprised to learn that the accommodations are a lot more expensive around here; the rooms at the beachfront resorts ranged from 800 to 1600 baht! Those prices are way out of our range so we when saw a sign for a resort about 400 meters off the beach we decided to check it out. As we rolled up, the owner was sitting in front of one of the bungalows. Our conversation with him went something like this:
“How much are your bungalows?”
“400 baht”
“Can we see –”
“300 baht”
“OK”
After unpacking our gear, we sat down for a beer with him and began with the usual smalltalk. The owner told us his name was Mr. Bong, “you know, like beer.” After about five minutes of pleasantries, he told us he made bead jewelry and then immediately took off the two bracelets he was wearing and gave them to us because “we were his friends.” I usually get nervous when people start giving us stuff because I worry that they are going to ask us to pay for them later, but we thought Mr. Bong seemed a little eccentric but genuinely friendly so we continued to drink with him and a short while later we were served fried prawns and squid from his restaurant. Delicious! Half a dozen beers later, he blurted this out, “I have hormone problem. Married ten years, no children, wife say goodbye.” Our guidebook says that Thais are very open people, but wow, we weren’t expecting that! He said he loved babies and loved making them fried eggs and tom yum soup. Awww! He wanted us to come back to his resort in 2008 with a baby. Maybe we will! He also told us he was having liver problems and was waiting for his sister to arrive to take him to the hospital in Bangkok tomorrow. We weren’t surprised given the amount of beer he was drinking but we were a little shocked when he told us he drank a bottle of Johnny Walker Red and a bottle of Johnny Walker Black last night Is that humanly possible?! Maybe we misunderstood and those are his two favorite whiskeys. In any case, we kept him company for several hours while waiting for his sister and he seemed happy to have us around, saying before we arrived he was “home alone.” He showed us a giant mango tree in his backyard and taught us how to pronounce many Thai words, which is always entertaining for us. Lately a lot of people are thinking Sarah can really speak Thai – she is getting pretty good! Mr. Bong showed us a photo album of his niece and nephew, and told us about the upcoming water festival called Songkran which celebrates the Lunar New Year. People line the streets all over Thailand to splash each other with water. If we understood him correctly, it is permissible to get water on someone’s face but if someone gets your body wet you can tell them to “go to the police station.”
Around dinner time, his sister arrived with her husband and daughter. They didn’t seem too happy with his drinking and some strained discussions ensued that we could not understand. We went off to our room to shower and to give them some privacy. When we came out a while later to find some dinner, he invited us to eat with him and the family. The family seemed a little uncomfortable but they didn’t speak enough English for us to ask them whether or not it was alright and he was insisting so we went. Dinner turned out to be very nice at a beautiful restaurant overlooking the Gulf of Thailand. We dined on fresh squid, prawns, soft-shell crab and a variety of Thai dishes. The family was friendly, but very shy – especially the nine year-old daughter. She buried her face in her hands when we used our phrasebook to ask, “What is your name?” and “How old are you?” Her mother kept encouraging her to practice her English with us, but she did not want to talk to strangers! After dinner we thanked everyone and headed off to bed while they got ready to drive back to Bangkok. A few minutes later one of the resort staff showed up with a TV for us to use in our room. Another gift from Mr. Bong! What a generous host and friendly person.
