Departure Days

The next morning a slightly subdued group drank coffee and spoke of departure plans – some to the airport and back to the States, others on south to Krabi and the beach. Lady Baby and her staff headed back to Bangkok for a final day and half.

We had accomplished our mission – a Traditional Thai wedding with the farang family all in attendance, and we enjoyed our last days – talking about the wedding, about coming back – about the beach, about Chiang Mai.

I loved watching Lady Baby on this trip and sharing new experiences with her – she’s on the cusp of so many new things. She learned to clap that week, first just one hand against the other and then both, and she practiced climbing up and down on any available stairs.

And who knows what she thought as she rode in her backpack through airports and passport control lines, on the sidewalks of Bangkok past vendors with hot food, fresh fruit, and vegetables, a watch repairman working in a tiny glassed-in space right on the sidewalk and, one after another, small stalls chockfull of whatever you want. From her backpack, after watching us grab straps or poles in the Skytrain, she wrapped her little hand around a pole like a pro.

On the flight home, I watched the little airplane icon on the seat map as it moved from Bangkok to Honking, flying near Viet Nam, Da Nang, Haikou, over the Gulf of Tonkin. Not my usual flight.

The return flight to Vancouver only took ten hours – easy peasy – what a trip!