Re: Holiday plans

As mentioned in my earlier blogpiece on 22 Oct about my family's "holiday plans", we just reurned from a 1-week trip to northwest Thailand (within the province of Chiangmai). The highlight of the trip was a 2-night stay in a farflung village much away from the 'realities' of modern city life. It was a hark back to the kampong days of Singapore in the sixties (my wife grew up in a kampong). There was no electricity supply in the whole village of about 40 families. All of them live mostly on subsistence farming and in wooden huts. In short, we felt transported into an altogether different world. In this world, none of the 'skills' we possess apply - we can't do any of the things they do every day: farming, rearing livestock, erecting/repairing their huts, setting fires for cooking etc. We were totally dependent on their generosity for our daily provisions.

We were thus understandably concerned about how my children (ages 4, 10, 15, and 17) would fare under such circumstances. Surprisingly, they adapted very well and very quickly. They blended in with the children quite nicely and played with them very happily. On our departure, we can see that the children there were quite sad to see us go. My wife and I gave each of my children a score of 9 out of 10 for adaptability (the 1point deduction comes from their avoidance in visiting the toilet there). I was glad that we made the decision this time round to change the destination of our yearend holiday to a place that is radically different from places we went in the past. All the children said they enjoyed the trip and would like to return to stay longer next time. We might do just that next year ...

Meanwhile, I gave my wife a score of 5 out of 10 for adaptability. As a kampong girl, I expected much more from her. Her inability to sleep well and her refusal to 'paktoh' with me along oneof those mountain roads were disappointments. I gave myself 10 out of 10 for adaptability. I did all that a kampong boy would do with great courage even though I did not grow up in a kampong. [my children, though, protested. They gave me 0 for having involuntary bodily seizures when the first scoop of cold mountain water landed on my bare body during bath time. That I was woken up by the crow of the rooster at 3 am on both nights worked against me too ...]