Our Family Seeks Familiarity

No matter our ages or temperments, there are just certain things we think we have to have.

This morning Ava refused to board another Tuk Tuk unless it took her to a playground. In New York City, the kids were spoiled with countless playgrounds in our neighborhood. Chiang Mai, although it’s full of lovely temples, gardens and a river, has only one real outdoor playground. So off we went.

Kayan woke up from his nap crying for cranberry juice. Fresh passion fruit, watermelon, mango, dragon fruit, orange, guava juice or coconut water are available everywhere. But not cranberry. I was able to trick him with a concoction of apple and pineapple juices. He was suspicious, but it worked.

Sandeep couldn’t deny his Indian cravings any longer so we went on an evening hunt for Biryani. We found it at the Anusarn Market in the Night Bazaar, which has half a dozen Indian and Pakistani food vendors.

I’ve been missing my random trips to our corner bodega. This evening when I craved chocolate I went down to the Seven Eleven. So it’s not as quaint as a New York City bodega or a Thai corner store, but it was open at 10 PM and it had that Mars bar I needed.

Luckily these are all simple pleasures that we’ve been able to meet in Thailand, which is more equiped and easy to navigate than most other countries we are visiting. Let’s see how long we can fuel our habits.