This December school holidays (i.e. 2017), I went on a Mum's-side-extended-family-trip (the Lims) to Thailand Chiangrai and Chiangmai. Had wanted to do such a trip for a long time, so it's finally a dream come true.
Family members and dynamics:
Mum has 5 siblings. Including herself, 3 are married and 3 are single. From this group, there are 7 children, which are me and my cousins. 3 of us are married, and only 3 grandchildren, i.e. Lynn and her 2 cousins. Thus, including the spouses, we are an extended family of 22.
The Lim extended family consists of members who do not not fancy such bonding. The classic example is my Dad. Other than CNY (when my grandparents are still around) and weddings, he was hardly at the Lim families' gatherings and occasions. My sister and her family also seldom join in our events. Thus, each year's CNY eve reunion dinner, the core group are the rest, which is about 16-17.
Previously, the Lim siblings and my 2 cousins had been on trips organised by the Hakka Clan association to China together. I resist such (cultural) trips with big bunch of elderly folks, so I did not join them.
For this trip, we tried "jio" everyone (except my dad) to go. Uncle Eric & family, eldest Uncle and wife, and Jayne (my cousin-in-law) couldn't join in. Not surprising, Yin & family did not join us either. Eventually, its 9 of us, fun loving and sporting ones who went! Not as large a group as I hoped to achieve, but still my first attempt, and a wish come true for me!
The 9 of us were my mum, 2 aunts and 1 uncle, 3 of us (Yaps) and siblings Wee San & Wee Loon (my cousins).
Having known each other for "a lifetime", we know each others' "pattern". There are the rubber-time, the perpetual late comers, the very troublesome, etc. Like every families (trips), we had little dramas here and there, but nothing major. Shall write about some of these along the way, cos these are what make the (so-traveled-CR/CM) trip uniquely ours!
Day 1 itinerary:
9am: Meet at Changi T4
Flight: SG to Bangkok (transit) to Chiangrai
4pm: Arrived at Chiangrai airport
6pm: Dinner at Chiangrai night market
9pm: Check in at Imperial Golden Triangle Resort
Departure from SG, 9 Dec:
WS and I conducted a briefing a week before our departure for the group, but some didn't turn up, some were late or physically-here-but-mentally elsewhere. Sign..
On the morning of the trip, 8 of us went in 2 cabs from TPY. We agreed during the briefing to be at the airport exactly 2 hours before the flight's departure time, so that everyone had ample time to check in together (in order to pool the baggage allowance), then explore the new terminal and eat breakfast. I was taken aback when the first "incident" occured at this first event, which was to receive a last minute request in the morning, to reach the airport earlier. Sign.. I had a family (including my mum) to manage that morning; alarm clocks and schedules were already set in motion the night before, so I declined the request. In order to have more time to explore the airport, the other group decided to eat breakfast at home, and was thus late to the airport. We had to wait for them to do the check in together, thus we had only time to eat breakfast and nothing much else (while they explored). I kept up my good spirit (although I did complain to WS the impact of their decision on us), mainly having expected such things to happen. Luckily, the rest of trip (except day 6) were quite on time, credit to Aunt Cindy I was told (will elaborated further on).
Changi T4:
The first of many group photos to come:
WK, Aunt YY, Uncle SK, Mum, Me, Lynn, WS, Aunt Cindy. Wee Loon took a different flight and was scheduled to reach Chiangrai airport 1 hour after us.
We transited at Bangkok DMK airport. We thought that the transit time (1hr 40m) was comfortable, but it turned out to be a big rush. It was a 15-20m walk from the arrival (international) terminal to the domestic terminal. At the domestic terminal, we had to go through immigration (arrival in Thailand), but only one lane was in operation. We had to grab sandwiches before we board our flight to Chiangrai. Based on this experience, we should have ordered meals (lunch) on this leg of flight.
A picture of the 3 cousins, after waiting for WL for one hour at Chiangrai airport.
Wee San created a hash tag for our trip: #HakkaLimsRnRInThailand2017.
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