Thailand Honeymoon Part III: Bangkok day 3 and Travel to Koh Pha Ngan!

Today has been the first day in MN that has really felt like fall - a welcome relief after a hot and humid week. I went to the State Fair on Thursday with co-workers and almost melted out of my shoes. Last night Ben and I had an amazing dinner at Piccolo, one of our favorite neighborhood restaurants - although, I forgot to bring the camera so we had to use the one on my phone. None of the food photos really turned out, and this one of me in front of the restaurant has some serious freaky-camera-eyes going on.

This morning we walked to the farmer's market, and then back home for breakfast - I know they are all summer fruits but something about the color of this yogurt and cereal bowl just says "fall" to me. Makes me happy

Anywhoo - on to the main event!

I started off the third day right with some healthy fruit - a dragonfruit! I had never tasted one before but they were easy to come by in Thailand, so I brought one back to the hostel from our local supermarket.

(Amount of food we were allowed to bring up to our room: none. Amount of food we actually had in the room: six or seven granola bars, some godiva chocolate bars, banana bread, moon cakes, a bag of mangosteen and a dragonfruit.)

Dragonfruit, as my friend Evan pointed out, looks a lot prettier than it tastes. Not that it tastes bad, it's just slightly underwhelming - but I still much prefer it to papaya, honeydew and canteloupe (those are my three least favorite fruits...sorry if I've offended anyone...).

After breakfast and dragonfruit snack, we ventured out for another day of sightseeing! Our first stop was the Jim Thompson silk house.

Jim Thompson was an American businessman who helped turn the Thai silk industry around in the 1950's-60's - when his fabrics were used in the film adaptation of the musical "The King and I," Thai silk became highly sought after and the industry hit the big time. However, in addition to his business savvy, Jim Thompson has sort of a weird and creepy story. While vacationing in the Cameron Highlands, Thompson went for a walk one day and just never came back. No one ever found him and his mysterious disappearance was never solved. Thompson was a former U.S. military intelligence officer, so obviously there has been speculation that he was part of a "planned disappearance"...but really, no one knows.

In any case... the house was gorgeous but we weren't allowed to take photos inside, so this is the only picture I have from the Jim Thompson Silk house: the flower pots outside of the garden.

Lotus Flower :)

After visiting the silk house, we went to the flower market...which took forever to get to. I will give you this one piece of advice: if you ever have a choice between taking a taxi through Bangkok traffic and not taking a taxi through Bangkok traffic, choose not. Just saying. But it was worth it because the flower market was really interesting.

After our long day of running around the city we were pretty hungry, so we went downstairs for a bite at the Suk 11 restaurant - with special guest Michael Cuddyer!

This might need some explaining - last year we brought former Twins outfielder Carlos Gomez('s baseball card) with us to India and took pictures of it in strange places. This year, we decided that Cuddy should have the honor.

Cuddy bounds fearlessly through the foliage - is there anything this man can't do??

It was a great dinner, even with Cuddy barging in on our romantic evening ;)

After dinner we grabbed a quick drink at Cheap Charlie's, a local bar, and then went to bed super early because we had to be up at the extremely painful hour of 4am to catch our flight to Koh Samui. Love those early mornings...luckily the Bangkok airport has coffee.

The flight to Samui only took about an hour, and it felt so great to finally be relaxing on the beach!

Landing in paradise

Alright... I have wayy too many pictures from the rest of this day to fit into this entry - mostly of the beautiful island and our awesome villa - so I'll save them for the next. Plus, Ben and I are going to hang out and enjoy our evening with a movie and some tea. Happy holiday weekend everyone!

Previous Recaps

Honeymoon Recap Part II

Honeymoon Recap Part I

Friday Five - Wedding Edition! (Part I)

We received so many AMAZING gifts at our wedding - the most amazing of which, obviously, was being able to celebrate with our friends and family. In addition, we've been having a LOT of fun with our new wedding gifts and I'd love to share a few of my favorites with you guys every week. I already mentioned the yogurt maker from Ben's mom, which we use all the time, but here are a few others that we've been enjoying lately:

1.
Awesome Adam Turman print of Target Field
Our friends know us too well... this gorgeous framed print by local artist Adam Turman is now hanging in the living room next to Honus Wagner and Ty Cobb, so that particular corner has quickily become the Baseball Shrine.

2.
"From the Deep" Stoneware
These were actually on our registry... we skipped china and silver and went for regular old dishes instead...but these are quirky dishes and I love them. They remind me all at once of Treasure Island, Pirates of the Carribbean and maybe Moby Dick.

Please not that the teacup handle is a tentacle. Love. It.


Back of the dinner plate


One version of the salad plate - Puffer Fish (we also have some with a striped fish)


Back of the salad plate (the back of the Striped Fish plate has the fish's tail continuing around the side and onto the back of the plate - also awesome).

3.
French Tablecloth
Ooh la la! Hehe. This tablecloth from my friend Tessa and her parents is a bit long for our dining room table, but that isn't stopping us from using it! The matching napkins (which I don't have in the picture unfortunately) are really beautiful, too. And check out those flower centerpieces... a little dried out but still hanging in there!

4.
First Year of Marriage Memories Book
This has to be the most creative gift we received. Ben's lifelong friend Krista, who was a groomswoman in the wedding, and her boyfriend Paul gave us what at first appears to be just an ordinary antique book - which is great, because we love books...

...but when we opened it, we realized it was much, much more than just a book.

She even scattered pictures of the two of us (copied and printed off of Facebook I'm guessing) throughout the pages - this first one is when Ben proposed to me in India. He was very sneaky in having our tour guide take this photo, but I'm so glad we have it because I know we will cherish it forever.

We filled the first pocket already - with my plane ticket from my business trip and momentos from the Harry Potter Party on Saturday.

5.
Sara Teasdale Poems
...and it's a first edition advanced copy. NO idea where my friend Rachel found this, but apparently she saw it just a few weeks after finding out Ben and I were engaged, and it practically fell of the shelf and into her hand (metaphorically speaking). The poems are beautiful - I only wish we'd had it earlier so we could have used one for a reading!

The Tree of Song
I sang my songs for the rest,
For you I am still;
The tree of my song is bare
On its shining hill.

For you came like a lordly wind,
And the leaves were whirled
Far as forgotten things
Past the rim of the world.

The tree of my song stands bare
Against the blue --
I gave my songs to the rest,
Myself to you.

In other news, the temperature has finally calmed down to a much more reasonable 85 degrees (as opposed to 105 for the last week or so). The dew point is still a little out of control, but at least now it doesn't feel like a tropical jungle. Thankfully there are still hilarious signs like this one at the Uptown Theater to make me laugh:

Just let the love begin

So this was my 4th of July view. From Event Suite C at Target Field... no biggie.

And we had an entire room just for us, stocked with beer, soda, popcorn and hot dogs ...and best of all, friends are here!

Rachel is one of my best friends from college - we sang our junior recitals together, and she is not only a bridesmaid, but she's also singing in the ceremony! Rachel went on after undergrad to get her masters in voice and she is basically a rockstar. Just saying.

Here we are looking all normal and civilized...

....and here is a more accurate representation.

Some more college friends - Chris, Tyler and Mark

...and me and Ben with our "Circle me Bert" sign. Ben concocted this masterpiece on Monday morning, with a spare piece of cloth and some sharpies. Bert Blyleven, one of the TV announcers for the Twins, likes to "circle" fans on TV so people make signs to get his attention. We were really hoping to get circled but I don't think we did :(

... we also ended up with an extra ticket so we invited our Twins blogger friend Betsy to join us for the festivities!

...yeah...we're kind of a big deal.

This picture I believe is Luke Hughes fouling off for about the umptillionth time in a row...

...and another pic of our amazing view.

Twins win 7-0! Fireworks galore!!

It was a great game, and I had so much fun with my friends and family. I am really glad we set up some events during the week so I'll actually get to spend time with some of the out-of-town peeps. I know the wedding day is just going to fly by, and it's not likely I'll actually get to talk to everyone.

I feel so "supported," hahaha...

After the game Ben, Chris, Tyler, Ellen and Amanda and I had a picnic in Boom Island park...unfortunately the park was a little torn up from construction but we made do with what was there!

Our lovely bottle/cracker/cheese sculpture... so classy.

Alright...back to wedding projects!

P.S. it is STILL hot here...and I just bought a hot tea from Crema... why did I make this choice??

Happy 4th

According to my friend who is a history teacher, July 2nd is the day the founders declared independence. The 4th of July was the day they voted on the wording of the declaration, and it wasn't until August 2nd that they actually signed the document. If the founding fathers were alive today, they might just be really confused rather than celebratory. It is also doubtful that they grilled hot dogs.

But that won't stop me from celebrating :)

A patriotically-striped sundress

Watermelon and blueberries...wouldn't be the 4th of July without 'em

...and the great American pastime

Right now, we're watching "How the States Got their Shape" on the History Channel (nerd alert) and soon we're heading downtown to meet all our friends and family at Target Field for the Twins game! Wedding celebration week kicks off in T minus 2 hours...get ready peeps!

More things I am loving

1) Salman Rushdie When I discovered Rushdie a few years ago, I immediately wanted to devour everything he had ever written. Shalimar the Clown was the first book I'd read in years that actually made me cry! I know Rushdie probably isn't everyone's cup of tea but I just love him - his writing style is like poetry and the worlds he creates are fascinating and full of magical realism. His new book, Luka and the Fire of Life, is a sort of sequel to Haroun and the Sea of Stories which I haven't read, but I think it stands on its own. I haven't finished Luka yet, but I'm really enjoying it and it's a quick read - if Alice in Wonderland, the Scott Pilgrim series, a Miyuzaki film and Salman Rushdie were to all get together and have a beautiful love child it would be this book. More than just an adventure story, Luka takes a broader look at stories and the role they play in our lives and, while it acknowledges that today's kids are growing up with their own, new stories based in video games and technology, and we have to fight to keep the old traditional stories alive, it asserts that there is no reason these two worlds can't coexist and compliment each other. Plus how can you not love lines like this:

"Now it so happened that the moment when Luka shouted out in anger was one of those rare instants when by some inexplicable accident all the noises of the universe fall silent at the same time, the cars stop honking , the scooters stop phut-phuttering, the birds stop squaking in the trees, and everyone stops talking at once, and in that magical hush Luka's voice rang out like as clearly as a gunshot, and his words expanded until they filled the sky."

... who doesn't know exactly what that feels like? :) If you love reading and nerdiness, and want to check out Rushdie I'd recommend starting with Shalimar... I think it's probably the most accessible while still giving a good introduction to Rushdie's style of magical realism. Midnight's Children, while also awesome, is so full of allusions and metaphors involving Indian politics and history that you'd pretty much have to read an entire textbook to really understand it...which I did not do.... and The Enchantress of Florence is lovely as well. I've been meaning to pick up The Satanic Verses, but I haven't had a) a large chunk of time, or b) a chance to read up on my muslim theology... I learned my lesson with Midnight's Children and knowing the subject matter of Verses I don't want to make the same mistake twice!

2) Organization!! Did I mention I'm in total denial about that whole moving thing? Yeah... over the last few days I've been busy re-arranging all my closets and cupboards. I love these glass door built-ins in my apartment... they give me motivation to keep my dishes neatly stacked :)


3) Helpful Books So as it turns out, there's like, a whole ceremony thing that goes along with the wedding? What's up with that? I'd been so busy planning the music and food for the reception (aka party time) that I completely neglected the actual part where we get married. Like, we have to say stuff to each other. And other people have to say stuff. Ack! Luckily, one of my yoga friends recommended this book to me:


Since our officiant(s) isn't planning the ceremony for us we're basically on our own - which is great because it means it will be more personal, but also scary because it means a lot more work for us. This book is great though, and it even has a section on co-officiated ceremonies. Hooray!

4) Things that smell like summer I pretty much can't get enough of anything that smells or tastes like a coconut. I also have a mild obsession with body products, and Pacifica is one of my favorite lines - they're quite committed to using natural ingredients, no animal testing, and no sulfates which are harsh on skin. So, when I saw this new scent at Sephora this weekend I had to snap it up. Here comes the sun (and hopefully warm weather...)!

5) BASEBALL!!!

It's that time of year again...the time when we embrace the smell of grass, the taste of beer and mustard, and the agony of losing to the Yankees on the road. Oh wait, no we don't embrace that last one... but those other things are good. Also good - Victoria's Secret has baseball gear! I snagged one of these as my annual Twins gear purchase:

Not cheap but also not any more expensive than buying one at the ball park. We actually looked at why sports fans pay such high prices in my Corporate Strategy class last fall - fascinating analysis of value created and value added, but I won't bore you with it here :)

Go Twins! Oh yeah, and my baseball blog I share with Ben, Peanuts From Heaven, is now on Twitter! Follow us and you too can be party to the snarky commentary and random humor that is PFH. DO IT NOW.