Spatafora Family - The Thailand Sabbatical

It was Saturday night in Bangkok and the sun was setting on another beautiful day in the tropics. After a long day of grocery shopping, chores, and a lovely swim, we were ready to hit the town for a night out. We decided to skip the bar scene and take in a movie, so we flagged down a cab and headed north to the Central plaza at Lad Prao. (Look back at the 9/19 entry for Gioia's writing piece on the food court there.) Our language skills are improving, so taking taxis is less intimidating now and we actually get where we want to go. Of course it seemed that all of Bangkok was at the mall complex too, but every place feels like that because there really are so many people everywhere you go.
At the mall, we purchased tickets for an upcoming performance of West Side Story next week. Stay tuned on that because it should be a good show. It is a big deal here because it is the first time a Broadway musical with a real Broadway cast has ever come to Thailand. It is nearly sold out for all seven shows already. We are looking forward to it on Thursday.
Following the wafting popcorn smells, we headed to the top floors of the mall to the movie theater. Wow! The theater was like a small airport with the different theater entrances even called "Terminal A" etc., and a waiting room with monitors showing the movie times like flights taking off and arriving. Like everything here, it was very futuristic in design. We got tickets to see Cars ($3.25 each) and even bought snacks which, as you know, we would never do in the U.S. because they are so expensive. Two large Cokes and a large popcorn (salted, caramel, or BBQ flavor) is only $1.89 here! They even have "VIP theaters" where, for $13.50 each, you can view the movie from a leather recliner with built-in surround sound, eat unlimited snacks delivered by waiters, and kick back in style. It's just like home but with better service!
Anyway, we waited for what seemed like a long time before we were allowed in to the theater only to find that we should have waited outside until the previews were over like the other parents who knew better had done. They showed the most frightening and violent previews I have ever seen before a kids' animated film! Next time we will know to wait. It was kind of cool, however, because after the previews everyone in the theater suddenly stood up and they began to play a short tribute film of the King and play the National Anthem. It reminded me of the old TV sign off with our anthem and the flag before the stations went off at night. I guess that is never shown now because the stations never stop programming. I also can't imagine everyone being so reverent about our leader and seeing a film about his achievements. The flip side of that is that I cannot remember a time when we could feel like our leaders truly loved us as a people and had our best interests at heart the way the King here seems to for the Thai people. The film was quite nice really.
We enjoyed the movie (Cars), although when it was over all the restaurants in the mall were closing so we did not get to eat dinner out. We were full of popcorn anyway, so we headed home for a little late-night snack and bed. All in all it was a great, relaxing family day. We should all have more of those.