Thailand Family, birthdays and FIsh

We landed in Bangkok at midnight and caught a cab to the infamous Khao San Road, it was time to see what all the fuss was about. True to form it was rammed with street stalls selling the obligatory travelers uniform and paraphernalia, said travellers weaving around the streets in varying stages of inebriation and touts abound. In a way it kind of felt like coming home – there’s comfort in the predictable. We hung out here for a couple of days preparing for the arrival of ma and pa Tribe. For Mum’s 60th birthday my Dad had shouted he and she a trip out to Thailand and a couple of nights at the (Ooh Ahh) Shangri-La en famille. Marty and I took great pleasure in rocking up to the front doors of this establishment in a tuk-tuk looking like we needed a bath. Having been watching our backs like hawks for the last 9 months we both almost thumped the porter when he made a move to take our bags away, realising our indiscretion we backed off and pulled out our wallets instead to give the would be thief his much anticipated tip. It dawned on us how far removed we had become from refined culture.
Enter stage left Ma and Pa Tribe, I was spying on them through the peephole waiting for them to walk down the corridor to pounce on them. I’m not sure if they needed this after a 14 hour flight but it’s difficult to resist… and in any case a bigger surprise was on it’s way in the form of my elder sister, on her way from the States. Fast-forward to the next morning at breakfast – Susan was sat at a table opposite hidden behind a newspaper with the obligatory spyhole cut-out, Mum gets up to pour some coffee and Susan sits down in Mum’s seat – Mum turns around to sit back down and has a coronary when she clocks who it is sat in her seat. Most amusing. Never in the history of the Tribes have we EVER been able to pull one over on Mum – happy birthday old gal! So The Tribe are out in force spending the next few days tearing around Bangkok whizzing up and down the Klongs on boats and having a jolly good time.

Marty and I become bloated on copious amounts of wine and incredibly good food and then, we all climb aboard the Koh Samui express and head to the beach. We all get to spend a few days together soaking up the sun and good vibes having a generally excellent time.
All too soon it is time to say goodbye, as we wave first Susan off and then a few days later Mum and Dad it seems it has hardly started before it’s all over. Before we let ourselves dwell on things too much Marty has a birthday surprise for me. We’re off to swim with the fishes.