Bangkok Part 2

So our main reason for going to Bangkok was to take Sora to a Pediatric audiologist. Supposedly, per the hospitals website, she is the only one in the country. Of course, when we get there she tells us that she isn't. But, I don't think anyone really knows what is going on. We were hoping we could talk to her about getting a hearing aid for Sora. But the whole trip was pretty much a waste of time. The Doctor was very nice but didn't speak English very well. This is a huge disadvantage. It's really hard to have a detailed medical conversion. She also wanted to do another ABR, which is the test where they put her to sleep. I just don't know if this is necessary. She also said that here they usually don't aid a child with single-sided deafness (SSD). This USED to be the stance in the US too, but it's had changed a lot and now it is becoming more of the norm to give the kids hearing aids. Many adults with SSD choose not to have a hearing aid and do fine, but they are finding that it's much more important for kids than they realized. Not just for developing speech but for developing many things. Plus, kids with SSD who do not have an aid are 25% more likely to repeat a grade in elementary school. So, with Sora's speech delay we definitely want to get the ball rolling. The only thing that came out of the appointment was that the Doctor gave us the name of an ENT (not as good as an audiologist but still in the same field) in Chiang Mai. We'll take her to see him next week. If that doesn't work out we'll have to figure out what to do next....

While we were down in Bangkok we wanted to try to do some things we can't do in Chiang Mai. We went to Siam Park City which the kids absolutely loved. It is an amusement part/water park but we mostly stayed in the water park area. They boys had never been to one before and they LOVED it. They were able to go on a few slides that they weren't quite tall enough for (especially Micaiah) but this is Thailand so we figured they wouldn't be too strict about it. It was so much fun. I also enjoy "people watching" at these places. It's a lot of people from the Middle East and Muslim areas, so they are covered from head to toe. Then there are plenty of Europeans who aren't usually covered from head to toe. Such an opposite combination. Bathing suites are pretty expensive here (at least to Thai standards). The ones I've seen cost between $15 and $35 dollars. Most people don't have them...so the water park actually RENTS them! Eeewwww. I'm sure they are washed between use, but I don't think I could do it. We were so confused at first because a majority of the people there were all wearing the same bathing suit. :-)

The boys coming down the side!

I didn't take many pictures because we were wet most of the time. This is outside the park as we were leaving.

The kids love breakfast at the hotel. I try to find one where it's include because it's such a treat for them. Micaiah and Orin wanted to try coffee so I gave them each a little. They loved it. :-) Probably because they felt "old" and it was new and special.

The day we were flying back we had some time to kill so we went to the one American chain restaurant we could find - Outback Steakhouse. They have KFC and McDonald's and things like that, but Outback is the only actual restaurant. It's not a place we eat at while in the States, and it's funny because it's "Australian" but it's the closest we could get to feeling at home. It was nice to have some cheese fries with Ranch dressing and Damien got meatloaf!

The view from the restaurant was really nice.

So as we were leaving the mall after eating at Outback we happened to walk past Krispy Kreme. The only one in Thailand (I think)! We maybe had KK three times before, but you know, we're American, so we figured we should get some. The kids enjoyed it but Damien and I thought it was basically the same mediocre donut we remembered. :-)

And we have got to get one of these things! Hours of entertainment!