Thanksgiving In Thailand

When we were working in St. Bart, French West Indies (island in the Caribbean) there was one French restaurant that prepared a traditional Thanksgiving meal for tourists.   I think it was good but still no family means a less happy occasion.   

This year, we decided to go to the Central Plaza mall here in Udon Thani, Thailand and find a good restaurant for lunch.   The last time we were at the mall, we saw this restaurant that looked really good, so we decided to try it.   

They had a place to check a person for fever at the door, the first I have seen since we arrived.  Ron said every business had them operating in Chiang Mai, Thailand last year.   We see everyone wearing masks, but I think most cases are in other cities, such as Bangkok.   

I asked the waitress to take our picture, so this was made while we were waiting for our food.   

Ron ordered salmon in garlic sauce since salmon is his very favorite.    We also got fried shrimp with coconut flakes.   These were pieces as long as your hand and not at all like our shrimp (but I see regular shrimp here in the markets too).  

The fried rice and mixed platter of vegetables were delicious.    We had hot green tea to drink.   It was very delicious.

Our food was brought out from the kitchen by a robot and when it stopped at our table, the waitress appeared to put the food on the table.   It said something, but of course, we didn't understand it.   

After lunch, Ron had an ice cream sundae at Dairy Queen which was right outside the restaurant in the mall area.   

The mall is decorated for Christmas but not nearly as much as we find in the U.S.    Thailand is primarily Buddhist, so Christmas is not celebrated here to any large degree.   

A storm came up before we left, and it had gotten darker, so the lights came on the large Christmas at the main entrance to the mall.    

We shopped at TOPS market, which is in all Thailand malls.    It has many specialty items and everything in made to look so appealing.   It is expensive so we shop for items we cannot get elsewhere.

We had trouble getting Uber to pick us up to take us back to the condo as they claimed they could not find out application.   An Uber taxi took us to the mall a few hours earlier, but the lady said we had to file the application for an account again.   In the meantime, TG called to see if we were back at the condo.  When I told her we had trouble with Uber, she said she'd come get us.   I told her she was our #1 Uber driver anyway.   Before we came to Thailand and she began working with us, that is what she did for her living.   She said her worst time of driving was from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. because she had to take a lot of people home that were drunk.  She said being registered with an Uber company made it a little safer since they can trace people easily from where they are picked up. 

Anyway, Thanksgiving was good even without turkey.   We just missed our family very much.