There are lots of fun things to do here that you don’t normally do so often in the U.S….like bowling! To take all six of us bowling, eat plenty of spring rolls and fried dumplings at the bowling alley, rent shoes, drink soda/beer/etc., it costs next to nothing – maybe $20 tops for two games with all the trimmings! We went last weekend and the kids, as usual, got a huge kick out of it (though Nate does get pretty cranky when he can’t hit all the pins down and get a strike, like he does in Wii bowling! Thank goodness there are kids lanes with bumpers on the side – they help Nate – and the rest of us – a lot!) Some funny things about Thai bowling, though…..they turn all the lights down at 5pm and it turns into “Cosmic Bowling” complete with black lights, glow in the dark balls, etc. The music is blaring, people are busting out bottles of Johnny Walker and Absolut to go along with their towers of beer (didn’t take a picture of one….I’ll have to do it next time – it’s a sight to see!), money is changing hands as they put some wagers down on how many pins they’ll hit (I wanted to get in on the game in the lane next to ours….I think I could have come away with more cash than I started with! :) ) The music is also blaring, and mostly it’s Thai music, though the odd American song is thrown in every now and then (maybe in honor of us, the only Western people there at all that night?!??!!) It’s pretty funny bowling with a bunch of Thais with “Baby You, Got What I Need!” blaring away! We also laugh because there is a wide assortment of bowling balls available, but very few of them have finger holes in them big enough for Western fingers…even mine! Thus Rick’s patented side arm bowling technique you see in the pictures here…..he just kind of hucks it down the lane, puts a big spin on it, and hopes it hits lots of pins (sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn’t!) Oh yes, and the slight interruption in the middle of your game as they stop to wax each lane – you just kind of pause the game while the waxing machine makes it up and down the lane once, the continue bowling! Only in Thailand! :)
