Yesterday I put away the changing table, the diapers and the wipes. The toddler bed is awaiting removal in the hallway. It felt strange but good to move on out of the baby stage. Alinya could still sleep in a toddler bed of course, in fact, Liam still fits in it--but we have more room if it's gone. We are officially out of one stage and onto the next! I think the next will be interesting and challenging too. In fact, it already is. An almost 12 year old, a nearly 10 year old, a 6 year old and a nearly 3 year old makes for an interesting mixture of needs to be met. Some days I manage....

Our swiss friends in Thailand

The view out the back onto their garden (bananas, papayas etc) onto a rice field, currently suffering from floodwaters.

The market closest to Amy and Remo's place

Wendy House and the market. We stayed at a guesthouse very close to the center of Bangkok. It was a basic and simple place but very central yet quiet. The sister workers were here before us and after us they were moving in as they couldn't get to their batch because of the floods. We also visited the weekend market on Saturday as well as on Sunday. On Saturday we were moving into Bangkok after staying one night with our Swiss/American friends who have been transplanted from the heart of the emmental to the heart of Thailand. It was great to see them again and to see where they are living.

The Blue Elephant

One of the things we wanted to do is take an authentic thai cooking class. Both being a fan of thai dishes, we decided to unlock the mystery of creating them. It's not as hard as one might think. The dishes were surprising simple and easily made. Preparing the ingredients took much longer than cooking it. It was super fun and we have some great ideas now and the know-how to implement them. Just to find the time now....:) We started out at the market with our chef's assistant. She explained what different fruit and veggies were as well as let us taste a few things. It was fun to visit an original market, frequented by locals and full of fresh, tempting produce. Then we returned to the building and were shown how to make a dish (there were four menus) and then we had to go make it too. Then they got it ready for us and we ate in their restaurant, our own food. It was really neat. The flowers are really pretty everywhere and I loved that they were simply done but looked so cool.

Wat Pho and the reclining budda
A trip on a tuk-tuk