Quinn and Mackenzie hold hands with flowers in their hair walking behind Jacob

Bangkok and Kids

Soon after arriving in Bangkok, Thailand, we quickly discovered that Thai people love kids. They smile and attempt to catch the girls’ attention with winks and funny noises. The women love to touch the girls’ arms and hair in a really endearing way and they are the stars in a dozen photos. Eight days in this crazy city may seem like too many for some and for folks with a shorter time frame in Thailand it probably is but we travel slowly to accommodate lots of play and rest for the girls. The week also allowed us to get in the last of our vaccinations, visas for Vietnam and our first taste Thailand.

tip: Japanese Encephalitis vaccine is WAY cheaper here than in the States and you can make an appointment online with the Thai Travel Clinic to get it done soon as you arrive

Upon arrival, we quickly realized we needed to fine-tune our gear for Southeast Asia in the rainy season (umbrella sized hats are must to protect from the sun, a water proof cover for your daypack and water shoes for those suddLine of sitting Buddhas and Mackenzine examining one of themen storms). Luckily there is no shortage of markets that sell cheap clothing and everything else you can imagine (like the entire block of umbrella covered tables piled high with bras, which gave Mackenzie and me a little chuckle).

Like most cities, Bangkok has a plethora of “must see” places to visit. The first place on our list was the Grand Palace with its numerous temples and palace for Thailand’s royalty. Across the street is Wat Pho a beautiful temple complex with the famous reclining golden Buddha who stretches the entire length of one of the temples. Street food is abundant and one must set aside any apprehensions and take part in this piece of Bangkok’s culture. We tried weird foods like the fried wanton with a whole hardboiled egg inside (Quinn loved these) and the more familiar pork Satay on a stick (Mackenzie went for these a couple of times). We also joined the electric energy of nighttime in China Town where we gorged on a tapas style dinner on the street. We loved a dish with soft white dumpling things that had a yummy sort of mushroom hash piled on top (wish I knew the name and Google won’t tell me).

Another must when visiting Bangkok is a ride on the bus like boat that runs up and down the Chao Phraya river transporting loads of people both locals and tourists. Take care to choose the boat with the orange flags as they stop at every pier. For the environmentalist in me, it was actually really depressing to watch the black smoke of the idling boat engine pour into the river as the boat waited for passengers to board. Oh, and try to ignore the plastic bottles and bags that are floating in the water, too. Otherwise, it is a cultural anomaly to behold and you must be quick getting off and on as the boat waits for two seconds and two seconds only. Here are a couple of great travel blogs/guides that I like to use for SE Asia:

Nomadic Matt ;  Travelfish;   Rough Guides

Aside from the regular tourist track we also found that activities for kids are scattered throughout this giant city and if you are willing to go just a little outside of the Central Business District, you can find some really beautiful parks. I wrote most of this post from the Funarium. It is an indoor playground sort of like a McDonalad’s play structure on steroids. It has a trampoline, ball pit, a swirly slide that is pitch black inside and one of those slides with multiple hills that is so fast it made the girls’ hair fly back, eyes widen and voices squeal with each trip. While the girls played, Jacob and I thought we would use the “free” Wifi and solidify our plans for Cambodia and Vietnam. This didn’t work out so well for us; he left almost as soon as we arrived to go search for a cell provider and purchase a sim card.

tip: when staying in Bangkok and I imagine the rest of Thailand, if you are not using your regular carrier, a sim card is a must. Many of the business that advertise “free wifi” require a text from the cell provider to be able to sign on.

We also took the girls to the Children’s Discovery Museum. If you can believe it, the city recently invested about 70 million Baht to build this FREE museum for the kids of Bangkok. It has two buildings with three stories in each that Three story playground with bridges and next connecting the rainbow colored structuressurround an outdoor courtyard with a really fun jungle themed, multilayered playground and splash pad. Plus, there is a sand pit where kids can excavate giant dinosaur bones. Inside of the museum the girls built their own city, learned about Thai culture, created art and played in a room full of mirrors. If we had more time they would have had a little Thai cooking class too (and that was just one of the buildings).

Located on the backside of the museum is Queen Sirikit Park. This is a beautiful park with several picturesque bridges that take you over slow moving rivers whose banks are lined with big trees sporting their best colorful flowers. For every one of the park’s attendees there were three gardeners, which made this a magically picturesque after-lunch walk. Most tourists come to area where the children’s museum is located to shop at the huge Chatuchak weekend market. I wonder how many of them took the time to go across the street to wander through the magnificent Queen Sirikit Park.

Another place the kids absolutely loved is called Kidzania. It is located in the Siam Paragon Mall, which is a GIANT five story, two-tower complex that caters to the high-end, designer shopper (I felt very underdressed in my blowy Thai tourist pants and tank top). On the fifth floor of one of the towers is the Movie Theater and bowling alley. On one of the rainy days, we opted to see Finding Dory. It is such a fun experience to see movies in other countries. This one gave us our first chance to stand for the Royal Anthem of Thailand called Phleng Chat. It is played before the beginning of most state and entertainment events, even TV and radio programming. After many, many commercials and previews the anthem began and we joined the audience on our feet to show solidarity for the country.

Kidzania fills the fifth floor of the opposite tower. It is an entire city built for kids. To start, they each get about 100 Kidzo (money) that can be used for beauty treatments, cooking classes (literally they can learn to make sushi then get to eat it), eye exams, and Mackenzie’s favorite, a climb up the side of a building. If they spend all their money then they need to get a job to earn more. There are factory jobs like packaging peanuts, green tea and bottling coke. Kids can work in a hospital, dental office, or vet clinic. They can be police and fire people, judges, lawyers, and investigators. Mackenzie climbs a building at KidzaniaThere is even a carwash in this crazy place. People must step aside for the fire truck and ambulance filled with kids on their way to sort out an emergency as well as move over for the slow moving tour bus. The kids were thoroughly entertained for three hours and would have stayed longer if it wasn’t closing time.

Before I end I must give a shout out to 80/20 BKK. We ended our tour of Bangkok with a fantastic meal at this relatively new restaurant located in Old Town. We spotted this place as we were walking back from the pier stop close to our hostel. The vibe we saw from the windows made an impression because we couldn’t shake the feeling we needed to go back for dinner. The menu consisted of foods that were both familiar and unfamiliar which, according to one of the owners we spoke with after our meal, is their intention. Their mission is to make classic Thai flavors and recipes feel accessible to the outsider. The owners are Thai and the chef is from Toronto. They seem to be following the trend of so many spectacular restaurants around the world: to create simple, elegant food from locally sourced ingredients. With each bite of our meal we felt the love that was put into the food. We savored amazing fresh ceviche made with delicious green mango for crunch and dried Thai chilies for spice (the chef kindly put the chilies on the side to make it kid friendly) and the cheese plate with blue cheese made in Chiang Rai (Northern Thailand). The crowd pleaser however was the brazed pork shoulder with garlic rice berry and house-made Kimchi. Garlic rice berry is black rice, goji berry and garlic and is divine. The entrée is brought out deconstructed so that you can pile the ingredients into a piece of romaine lettuce and top your creation with toasty sesame oil. Don’t you wish you were in Bangkok right now? Me too.Quinn looking out of a giant silver ball perched in a tree at the playground

Traveling as backpackers with kids has it pluses and minuses. Jacob and I don’t get to party in all night bars or catch the spontaneous train trip (frankly, I’m ok without the all night bar; hangovers are a beast after 35 much less 40). However we love to discover people and culture through food and it is rubbing off on our girls. They have become adventuresome eaters and I love listening to their dialog as they describe the food. Our kids allow us to find the spots off the typical tourist track and understand, a little more closely, the daily lives of the people where ever we go.