Long Weekend

090920.Dusit.Zoo-1004, originally uploaded by eBv iMAGES.

The kids had a four day weekend this past week. We played it fairly low key on Thursday and Saturday. On Friday, Yaow and I took the kids to Dreamworld. Recently, we've had great luck with both the weather and the crowds. On Friday, however, the tide turned a bit. It rained for about forty-five minutes and it was fairly crowded.

Still, the kids had fun. We also ran into one of Aleena's classmates from last year, Alexander, and his family. We left early, as I had planned on taking some photographs with Sine that evening.

The photoshoot didn't end up working out. I got to SC Plaza at about 4:30, but she had to work until almost 6:00 p.m. Unfortunately, the light had fled, so we decided to scrap it.

Today (Sunday), I took the kids to the Dusit Zoo. Tim is out of country and Yaow was off today, so I asked Sine if she'd like to go, and she agreed. This worked about fabulously, as Nalin and Aleena absolutely adore Pee Sine The kids add the Pee title as a matter of respect. Its like referring to an older brother or sister. Although he might admit it, Jacob actually likes Sine as well.

We picked Sine up at SC Plaza and headed for the zoo. Less than five minutes into the drive, all three kids start saying how Sine is my girlfriend and we are going to get married. I'm just shaking my head laughing, as is Sine.

The really funny part is that a lot of Thai people who see us together might think the same thing. Let me be very clear. Sine and I are friends. We are not intimate, nor have we done anything in to suggest otherwise. The reason is that the sight of a beautiful young Thai woman walking with an old, fat foreigner man is all too common here. And in a great many cases, they are boyfriend and girlfriend; at least for the night.

I ask Sine about it sometimes. "What do people thing when they see us together?"

"That we are boyfriend and girlfriend," she replies without hesitation or concern.

Last week we were taking a cab together back to SC Plaza. SC Plaza is also the bus station for all the buses that go to the South of Thailand. When she told the driver where to go, he asked her (in Thai) if we were going together on holiday. Most of the time the answer would have been "duh, of course." I pretended that we were by asking Sine in Thai if we were going to her mom's house and if they had a water buffalo. She kind of glared at me and then laughed.

After hearing my children's predictions of my impending second marriage, we managed to make it to the zoo. The Dusit Zoo was incredibly affordable. I think the entire cost for all five of us, including parking, was less than seven dollars. The tram cost another two dollars.

The Dusit Zoo doesn't have the largest selection of animals that I've seen in a Zoo. It was pretty hot and we might have missed some of the zoo, so maybe we missed some of the big attractions.

In any case, the kids had a great time. In addition to seeing the animals and riding the tram, they got to ride the paddle boats and eat lunch at KFC.