American Breakfast in Thailand

Good afternoon from Bangkok!! Today was our "off" day. We didn't do anything really until 11am! Granted, we keep waking up at 6:00 in the morning, so we did have an early breakfast and then took a nap. I wanted to stop a moment and comment on the hotel's "American Breakfast." You see, breakfast is included but there's only one choice. I have no idea what Thai guests get, but basically you just sit down and they bring it to you, no ordering or questions asked. Breakfast is some toast with a neat citrus marmalade, mandarin juice, eggs over medium, and ham lunch meat and a hot dog! That's what cracks me up every morning - a hot dog for breakfast. It's good though, so we don't mind. And it's free - even better!

We went with the Eckrote's on the SkyTrain to our first mall today, and it looks remarkably similar to what you see in the US, except the clothes are smaller. Everything looks like the Junior's department! Definitely catoring to those smaller Thai sizes. Anyway, they must have had the nicest food court I've ever seen! They have all kinds of food - Thai, Italian, Chinese, etc. and you select what you want and they prepare it fresh and scan a card that is essentially 1000 baht credit (you pay when you leave). The seating area was bright and airy with a gorgeous fountain, and of course squeaky clean. I had my first Italian food in Bangkok since my tummy's not doing so well - it was shrimp fettucine alfredo with a side of fresh fruit and some tea, all for about 250 baht ($6.25 US). So yummy! Matthew took advantage of the chance to eat Indian food, since I generally don't like it so don't go to Indian restaurants. Up until now all we've eaten is Thai (which is very yummy, don't get me wrong) so it was a nice change.

We also spent a little time at Anna and Leah's (pastor's daughters) school today to get an idea of what an international school here is like. Very nice. I was SO EXCITED AND AMAZED (can you tell) that people here know what IB (International Baccalaureate) is!! Many of the international schools here use it (though the girls' school doesn't). FINALLY someone will know what that means when I say IB! No more blank stares! :-)

Tonight we have the youth parent's meeting. We have no idea how many will show up but are looking forward to it!

Love from Bangkok!

p.s. this is the view from our hotel window: