Birthday Songkran

OK, it’s time I shared a secret with you…

Last week….

It was my BIRTHDAY!

Was that the biggest surprise ever?! I mean, anyone reading this blog would have been thinking “well, it’s business as usual over at Where is Sarah?” But the TRUTH is that I am just so mature now that I don’t even mention my birthday numerous times in every blog post for the month of April. I’m way cooler than that.

Soooo, it was birthday on Wednesday the 15th of April. I felt great about this birthday because Wednesday seems to be my special “Birthday Day”. Do you have one of those? The day of the week that your birthday seems to fall on most frequently? Lara’s is Sunday. I TOTALLY agree with that. It seems like her birthday is always on Sunday. We tried to do the maths on this but if you give it a try you’ll probably discover, as we did, that it gets boring fast. This “Birthday Day” could actually be one of those false associations you have in your head, like Monday=Red. Three=Blue. We’ve all got those associations, don’t lie. Anyway, my most birthday-y day is Wednesday.

Wednesday was also the day I had to go back to work after a few days off and the day everyone was going back to work after protester/state of emergency madness…but guess what? I wasn’t feeling fabbo in the morning so I decided to work from home. And work I did! Promise!

But don’t worry, I didn’t just work on my birthday. Lara was still in town until midday so we had a quick lunch before she headed to the airport, and after work I went out to meet my former Aceh-housemate Mike, who was coincidentally passing through Bangkok on the way to Laos!

Because it was my birthday I decided to take a motorbike across town. I don’t use the motorbike to go across town very often because they are actually more expensive than taxis for longer trips, and the statistical probability of death or serious injury goes off the charts the minute you hop on the back. But I LOOOOOOVE riding the motorbikes, it’s kind of like lollies, you know you can’t do it too often because it’s bad for you. But on my birthday I can eat all the lollies I like!

Mike was staying in Samsen Rd, nearby the backpacker mecca, Khao San Rd. Khao San Rd is also the heart of Songkran festivities…which I failed to take into account when I decided to take the motorbike. I got well Songkraned. This is me arriving at Mike’s guest house:

Songranization

Mike gloated that he was clever enough to have taken a taxi from the city earlier. Thinks he’s so smart. We headed out to get some dinner but wait…what was that Mike?

Mike gets Songkraned

Suck it smart boy!

So just a quick bit of background: At Songkran the streets turn into massive battle grounds and the weapons are water pistols, buckets of ice water, hoses…and chalk paste. Kind souls walk up to you, smear it on your face and wish you “Happy New Year!’ Thanks guys!

The girl on the right side of this photo is being wished a happy new year!

Songkran at Khao San Rd

Yes, you’re right. It’s the best holiday in the history of the world.

When it was time to go home I battled through the throngs to find another motorbike for the trip home. It was pretty messy. This is me when I got home:

Happy Birthday Songkran Sarah

Birthday dinner at Longtable

Last Tuesday Lara and I decided to declare the State of Emergency “Over” or perhaps “not something we care about anymore” and went out for a night-before-my-birthday/Lara’s-last-night-in-town dinner. Keen to take advantage of the vertical strengths of Bangkok we went to Longtable on the 25th floor of some building over near Asok BTS.

Bangkok skyline - the view from our table

Sarah

Lara

Lobster, papay salad, fried rice and morning glory. Even more delicious than it looks!

The city of Bangkok was lit up behind us but my clever camera holding means you can't really see it.

High Tea at the Oriental Hotel

Last Saturday Nicky, Lara and I went to Oriental Hotel for High Tea for my birthday.

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We woke up in the morning to torrential rain and thunder. I filmed the storm from my balcony because Bangkok thunder must be heard to be believed, but I think I’ll save the 8 min clip for a special occasion another time.

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After the rain subsided around 1pm Nicky met us outside my apartment. Nicky lives in the same street as me, which for some reason makes me like her even more. I suppose I watched enough Neighbours growing up to know that neighbours, become gooooood friends…

At Saphan Taksin Pier

We took to the BTS to Saphan Taksin pier and waited for our boat. I took this photo using the timer setting. Oh the hilarity. Just like Family Ties.

Complimentary boat to the Oriental Hotel - most of the hotels on the river have one

Look at the Oriental Hotel boat! Isn’t it fancy. But there was one boat we liked even more…

Obama! Obama!

A few minutes after we left the Saphan Taksin pier we pulled up to the Oriental Hotel and headed straight to the Author’s Lounge.

Nicky on the way to the Author's Lounge

We took our seat in a quiet corner by the window and got busy deciding what we’d have.

What ever shall we have?

We all knew what we wanted pretty quickly, but took our time reading the menu: exotic teas, rose jam, clotted cream! agh!

Nicky and Sarah peruse the menu

Lara and I ordered the Traditional English High Tea, and Nicky ordered the Special Thai High Tea – ethnic profiles in check!

While we waited for our tea I spied a room sectioned off from the rest of the lounge, and went for a peak through the glass doors. Only a moment later one of the staff politely ushered me away from the doors. What was going on in there?! I wanted to see in more than ever! A few minutes later three abnormally tall men walked out of the room, having ended what looked like some kind of important person meeting (although one of the men looked positively out of mind with boredom). I took the opportunity to snap a photo of the room when the men left the doors open behind them.

Some kind of VIP lounge

Out of nowhere, the same lady who had politely warned me to stay away before was on top of me in a flash! “There’s a meeting going on in there!” I quickly ran back to my seat, mumbling that the meeting had finished. But I didn’t want to push it. I already had two strikes to my name, and even though it would make and excellent blog story, I didn’t want to be ejected from the Oriental Hotel – we hadn’t even started tea yet!

Lime sorbet

Shortly after my brush with authority our tea started to arrive. You know any meal that begins with sorbet is right on track.

Tea time

Then our tea arrived. I had a green tea with citrus notes. And then our food arrived. Oh look at it!!

High Tea in all its glory

And look at the ladies enjoying the fine spread!

Nicky and Sarah sip tea

But wait, what’s this? A birthday cake for Sarah? Two of the staff brought this out singing happy birthday to me! Nicky had set it up!

Happy Birthday Sarah

There was one thing possibly even better than the delicious apple slice with a biscuty base and real vanilla ice cream (my favourite)… The lady who snapped at me earlier was now singing to me! Yeah, that’s right lady…I’m the boss around here, the birthday girl! SING!

Birthday

And then she took a nice photo of the three of us, and all was forgiven between us.

Quite a number of hours later it was time to move on from tea and walk the grounds before reluctantly boarding the boat back to regular Bangkok. Oh I do enjoy the East in the Summer. Simply mahvelous!

Oriental Hotel

Oriental Hotel

Sneaky Birthday Peak

So yesterday was my birthday, but it certainly wasn’t the only day I celebrated my birthday! I have lots of photos I want to post about the fun I’ve been having (which will continue over the weekend), but alas, a five day weekend has left me rested, relaxed and staring at a very long ‘to do’ list with very tight deadlines.

So instead I offer you this sneak peak into my birthday celebrations

27 is the new black

It’s my birthday!

More later….Right now it’s time for sleep.

Bad internet and my birthday

Internet access is terrible at the moment. It cuts in and out throughout the day and is so slow that sometimes an email without an attachment will sit in my outbox for hours. But there is a greater concern that has far wider reaching ramifications…

I can’t upload photos to this blog.

All week I have been trying to upload photos from a concert I went to two weeks ago.

A million more things have happened since then and I’m stuck in the past.

Conveniently, last night at my birthday party my camera battery was flat so I have no photographic evidence of the night and thus it’s OK to post about my birthday without photos.

My Birthday. By Sarah L Fortuna
It was a pretty chill day, like most other work days. But when I chose not to do much work I didn’t feel guilty. That’s the specialness of birthdays.

In the evening a billion friends and I went to the German restaurant. It was tasty, tasty schnitzel goodness.

To top it off, my housemate who had flown in from Jakarta that afternoon brought Krispy Kreme donuts to represent a birthday cake! This was an excellent choice because western style cake here isn’t so delicious. (Local cakes are truly excellent but didn’t seem right for a birthday cake).

It was really lovely to hang out with all my Banda Aceh friends in one place. They are pretty much the coolest people in town, obviously, so my birthday dinner was like, the place to be.

Thanks everyone who wrote me emails, and posted on my facebook wall, and sent text messages. I had a steady flow of love all day and some extra love today. Birthdays are so excellent.