Upon leaving Singapore and heading for Bangkok I had a sort of nervous excitement. I had enjoyed the clean, safe, orderly environment that was Singapore, but it had left me feeling ready to visit somewhere totally different. It was that silly part of me that says, yes we live in Australia, which is a different country from where I was born and raised, but many days it feels just like being in the good ole United States of America. It leaves me craving to visit and experience somewhere totally different than I am accustomed to living. One where I am in the minority and don't understand what most people are saying around me. But one that leaves me absorbing everything around me, wanting to know and understand more. I knew I would find this in Thailand, but I would be lying if I didn't say that every once in awhile I get a tiny bit nervous at the thought that I am deciding to embark on this sort of experience with two young children in tow!
But anyways, I digress... We arrived in Bangkok late on a Thursday evening. It was a relatively short flight at under 2.5 hours. We were looking forward to what would be much cheaper eating, sleeping and transit costs than Singapore (and significantly cheaper than Australia as well). And while we are usually smarter than this, we admit to falling prey to paying way too much for our taxi from the airport to the hotel (but an amount that still seemed very cheap). We were anxious to make the 25 minute drive to our hotel as it was getting late and we didn't want to waste too much time looking around for the metered taxi stand we couldn't find. Instead we paid some silly extra rate for our taxi and then promptly upon leaving saw the taxi stand we had been looking for. Oh well, we'll know for next time.
The dark drive into the city gave me a small glimpse of what I would see in the light of the next day. A bustling Bangkok full of life, poor living conditions followed by high rise modern buildings, crazy amounts of electrical lines and cabling, street vendors, expensive shopping districts, and picture after picture honoring the recently deceased king, some covering 25 floors of the side of a building.
We finally arrived to our hotel on what seemed like rush hour traffic at 9 pm in a very busy shopping district. While we don't always like to say it, we will both tell you that every once in awhile we get pretty excited to see a familiar Marriott sign and this was definitely one of the cheapest and nicest Marriott's we have stayed at. The westernized creature comforts that we know we will find along with top notch service and cleanliness. Once again, although we like to go off the beaten path, especially when children are in tow, we sometimes just like the normal too.
When we awoke Friday morning we were blown away by the view of Bangkok outside of our window. Emma was too. Every morning during our stay the weather was perfect and the photo shoot repeated itself as we saw the sunrise over Bangkok. I couldn't help but to also repeat the famous Robin Williams movie line (Good Morning Vietnam), albeit it was for the wrong country and city, "Good morning Bangkok!"
Emma posing over the Bangkok skyline!
Sunrise over Bangkok
Excited to be in this new city, a great night's sleep, and a giant western/Thai breakfast buffet helped us all get ready for a big day ahead exploring the history, culture, and main religion of Bangkok. So we sucked in our last bit of air conditioning for the morning and set out in the hot, humid, semi-polluted air of the city. We made our way to the Grand Palace via Uber (Steve had since done even more research on the best method of getting around Thailand, even cheaper than the already cheap taxis, and making sure you didn't get scammed by taxi drivers and to our surprise, Uber was a popular, very reputable option thanks to the fact that money is not directly exchanged between driver and passenger).
We had also done our research in regards to visiting Buddhist palaces and knowing the conservative dress codes that we should be careful to abide by. I felt bad having the girls in pants and covered shoulders on such a hot day, but didn't want any potential reason for us to be turned away from visiting these places. Although, the girls especially, were far off from wearing the black that most all Thai were wearing in honor of their former king (the Thai mourning period is no joke with intense rules around the first 30 days following a king's death [we were just past the 30 day mark] and other rules still in place for a year following his death), we did our best to fit in, which was clearly going to be not at all. It had begun, the love affair with our two blonde haired, Caucasian, brightly dressed little girls. Even the palace guards were so excited to see them.
We made our way through one set of security outside of the general palace area and were immediately in awe of the various temples, areas of worship, and beautiful architecture we were surrounded by. Stepping out of the otherwise somewhat dirty city streets, this area felt like a sparkling crown jewel. No doubt, this was a very important place for the Thai people.
Walls outside the Grand Palace
One of many memorials to the King
Sacred elephants
Just us and all the other tourists at the palace
It was extremely hot and sunny, but we drifted through the area just trying to take it all in and understand a small part of what it all meant. Between it all we tried to keep the girls out of the scorching sun and Emma especially holding hands with us as within minutes of entering the palace grounds we had people wanting to pick her up to take photos with her. While a bit confused by her popularity, Emma thoroughly enjoyed herself meandering from statue to statue trying to pose with the same face and position (a trend that would continue during our travels) and found another American family that invited her to learn how to fold flowers.
Typical Emma making friends with everyone while the other girl is being forced by her mom to take a photo with the blonde haired girl.
Super friendly family that invited Emma to fold flowers with them while we were waiting for Steve to finish taking some photos.
Me and my girls
All of the temples and palace were beautifully constructed
So many statues and faces to make
More posing to be done
Family photo!
So many different buildings around the palace grounds
Love those trees!
Another "guard"
By late morning we were all excited to see a familiar Movenpick ice cream sign and were happy to pick that in lieu of a real lunch to cool us down before continuing on to the neighboring Wat Pho (Temple of the Reclining Buddha). This massive Buddha really was something to behold and the peaceful grounds of Wat Pho were a welcome change to the bustling grounds of the Grand Palace. As the heat was intense and the girls had seen enough of the Buddhist temples for the day, Steve and I took turns wandering the grounds while the rest of the family found a shady spot to rest and play games while they waited.
Just the face of the reclining Buddha - it is hard to depict just how large it was as it was hidden behind columns and there is no angle where you can see the entire statue.
So many water breaks!
The grounds of Wat Pho
So interesting to see the different ways another religion honors its god
We had gorgeous weather!
When we had seen our fill of Buddhas for the day, taken our shoes on and off enough times, and were sweaty enough we decided to call it a day. While waiting for our Uber we were approached by many tuk tuk drivers anxious to give us a lift through the streets and sit in rush hour traffic. In our American ways we voted for the air conditioned car that took nearly an hour to get back to the hotel in what should have been perhaps a 20 minute drive. Needless to say by the time we got back we were ready for afternoon tea, the pool, and I took full advantage of a complimentary massage before we found dinner and crashed for the night.
Saw so many things on our ride back to the hotel - maybe it's just me, but I would have felt uncomfortable parking there.
Motor bikes, electrical wires, dirty facades on the buildings. This is much of Bangkok.
Stuck in traffic, will take selfies. A whole lot of selfies.
Love these two.
Saturday morning arrived and Emma started Christmas Eve out by falling out of one of the super tall hotel beds despite our attempt to surround herself with pillows before tucking her in. Unfortunately we didn't know a goose egg on her forehead would not be the only injury to her that day. We headed out via Uber again to take a boat ride along the Chao Phraya river. As we had come to discover it did seem that directions were a bit difficult even with google maps, so after a few wrong turns we eventually settled on being dropped off a good half mile still from our ultimate destination. We made our way to the water taxi station and avoided many other overpriced boat tour options.While some of them may have taken us down some of the smaller waterway canals, we opted for a quicker, cheaper straight boat ride to the Wat Arun (Temple of the Dawn). Unfortunately we had not done our research to know it was currently undergoing massive renovation on the exterior. While we could see the beauty of it, it was certainly not quite what we had hoped to see.
Entrance to the Wat Arun
Around the grounds
Emma in action!
Semi-happy family photo
So again we took the boat back to where we started earlier and then opted to test out Bangkok public transit in the form of their above ground Sky Train. Although it was the only time we took it during our stay we still gave it relatively high marks for ease, cost, safety and cleanliness. It far from goes everywhere in the city, but it seemed that more lines were being constructed in the future. Once again leaving me to wonder when the US will catch up with everyone else in terms of public transit options.
Selfies on the boat
This is what we do for entertainment with limited toys!
Beautiful new building on the river, replica old long tail boat.
Older, historic building on the river.
After a quick swim, afternoon tea and a little rest back at the hotel we were ready to go for the remainder of Christmas eve. We set out for the nearby Lumpini Park - think Bangkok's version of Central Park. It was a beautiful, calm, respite from the rest of the city. There was a constant circuit of runners and walkers around the perimeter pedestrian only street. Emma and Steve opted to rent a swan paddle boat for a ride around the small lake while I took Morgan for a walk. I figured Emma and Steve would have great fun as long as the boat didn't tip or capsize, I could have never imagined the drama that occurred when I saw Emma crying loudly from across the lake midway through their time. As I made my way to meet up with them I could hardly believe the story that a fish jumped out of the water and hit her in the face so hard that it made her bleed! But Steve did in fact confirm the true story as did nearby people that saw it happen. Oh Emma!
Pre-jumping fish
My brave girl.
Sunset in the park
The weird giant lizard that lived in the city park making a dash back into the water.
Safely back on ground and in happier spirits we finished with a play in the park before heading to a nearby English-speaking church we found for a family friendly Christmas Eve service. And Emma was pretty excited when she found out that all children could participate in the nativity scene at the front, although we acted too slowly and she missed out on getting to wear a costume. Second failure of the evening.
It was a welcome change to find a church instead of a temple for the evening.
And there she is!
Beautiful Christmas lights in the more westernized shopping district near our hotel
While we thoroughly enjoyed our very friendly warm worship service, we were all amply tired by the end and ready to get back to the hotel and in bed in hopes that Santa might still find his way to our hotel to at least fill our stockings. The very nice Marriott staff helped us to locate some cookies to leave out for Santa too (don't worry we left carrots back in Sydney for his reindeer in case they stopped there too).
Family Christmas jammy photo!
Sisterly love
When we awoke Sunday morning Emma was thrilled to find her stocking filled and Morgan (by default) was excited that her sister was so excited!
Santa did a great job bringing a few extra special gifts for the remainder of our travels. The rest of Christmas day was you might say pretty far from normal. It was of course hot, which we're still growing accustomed to in Australia at that time of the year (although kind of missing it now as we approach winter and I sit bundled up inside of our house), and while many local Thai simply assumed to say Merry Christmas to us, obviously the majority of the Buddhist population was not celebrating the holiday.
Everyone was happy, except dad, who wanted more sleep.
We took to visit the huge Chatuchak weekend market that has something like more than 8,000 stalls ranging with just about every possible good you could imagine. It was a bit like the Istanbul Grand Bazaar as it was quickly apparent how lost you could get, and if you ever hoped to find your way back to a particular vendor you certainly needed to make note of the stall number.
One of many entrances/exits to the Chatuchak Market
So we got some extremely inexpensive shopping done, did a terrible job of haggling per normal, and got back for our last swim on the penthouse level indoor/outdoor pool at the hotel before packing our bags and heading to the airport.
As I left the city listening to Emma point out every photo of the king and black and white garland "for the king's death," and watched our Uber driver quickly bow at every tiny Buddha statue/shrine on the side of the road during our drive back to the airport I acknowledged how much this city had surprised me. It was the exact essence of why I love to travel and get out of my comfort zone. That's when you discover how amazing the world around us is, how at the end of the day most everyone is good, despite our differences, and how very different we all can live. I no doubt would love to pass through Bangkok again in the future and discover more. But we were out of time on this trip and about to go onto our third new country of the week, Cambodia.
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