Sunday
On the way back from the Chatuchak Market yesterday, we passed a massive mall complex at Siam. We decided we wanted to come back and check it out today. Thailand, and Bangkok in specific, are all about their malls! I’ve yet to see one with fewer than five floors and many are quite fancy.
Siam Paragon is a huge mall spread out across more than 8 floors. It specializes in high end stores, so we passed LV, Hermes, and Cartier during our explorations. We also scoped out the KidZania location on the 5th floor — something the kids DEFINITELY want to do while we’re here.
While wandering we saw a dessert place that looked really really good. Did we know what it was? Not really! Dessert first? Why not? We tried the mango kakigori, a Japanese shaved ice dessert. It was really tasty! And messy too, but worth the effort. We all shared a large one and thoroughly enjoyed it.
We didn’t find a food court like we’re used to, but many independent restaurants. The prices were a bit higher than we wanted to pay, so we walked toward the Siam Central mall to see if the options were better there. Not much of a food court here either, so we went to the MBK center — just across the street. Lest you think we’re trekking all around town, these three malls are all caddy corner to each other. MBK has the best food court that we have found yet! Higher quality food and only slightly higher prices makes for a win-win. Favorites included … pad thai, green curry with rice, and fried chicken. LOL. Keller also liked the Indian curry with saffron rice for a little change of pace.
We aren’t big shoppers at home, and Keller even commented that “we’ve spent more time in malls in the last week than we have in the last five years combined.” With the exception of my job in the mall, I’ve never spent significant time shopping in malls. That being said, if you like to shop till you drop, Bangkok is the place for you! A lot of prices in American and Western stores look pretty comparable to what we see at home.
Keller went to see a movie at a local mall in the evening while the kids and I stayed at the apartment. Kamy and Caden wanted to swim again and were able to get their friend Laura to join them in the water.
Monday
Today we’d planned on visiting the Grand Palace, but the pollution is really bad right now. News reports are mixed about cause, because this level of pollution is unusual for this time of the year. Apparently lack of rain and no wind is keeping the smog stuck over Bangkok.
Since Keller and Caden are particularly sensitive to pollution, we decided it would be better to stay indoors for the majority of the day instead of spending all day breathing the gunk.
The kids played in the pool for a bit before we took the SkyTrain up to Phrom Phong. Keller scoped out the food court the night before during his movie trip, so we wanted to check out the options.
This food court seems to be a significant step up from the other food courts we’ve visited. Unfortunately the prices reflected it as well, though Keller really enjoyed the braised pork with hard boiled eggs. Meals are always a balance between accessibility, cost, and quality.
In the same mall there is an indoor trampoline park for kids. We treated Kamy and Caden to an hour of jumping, during which they finished exhausted, sweaty, and happy. The final verdict was it was not as much fun as UrbanAir at home, but still fun.
Back at the apartment, the kids promptly disappeared to play with KumKum and YaYa. After about an hour they were hot and sweaty and asked to go swimming again. KumKum and YaYa were able come too, so there was much laughter and splashing.
Tuesday
The Grand Palace was on the agenda today, since air quality had improved a bit overnight. It’s a bit of a trek to get to that part of Bangkok, so we left about 12:30, hoping to get to the Palace by 2:30.
Lunch was at Prachak where we had several different kinds of meat including roasted duck, sausage, and crispy pork. The shrimp wonton soup was a surprising hit too.
Right across the street is Boon Sap, a well known mango and sticky rice dessert shop. They were out of white sticky rice by the time we got there, but they had sticky brown rice instead. It was really good! The brown rice added a nutty taste to the dish and we actually liked it better than white rice! Pricing was better too since the portion was definitely generous. There was more than enough to share.
However, by the time we caught the SkyTrain, transferred to another line, grabbed lunch, waited for the water ferry, and actually got to the Palace, it was right at 3:30. Since the tickets are a bit pricey and kids are full price, we decided one hour wasn’t enough time to justify the cost. We’re aiming to return later this week.
Instead we took another water ferry across the river to Wat Arun. Also known as The Temple of the Dawn, it was the royal wat when Thonburi was the capital of Thailand. The stupa is quite large and even has some stairs we were allowed to climb up to the first level. They were doing some repair work on the stupa and I don’t think their scaffolding would hold up to OSHA inspection. 😉
Surprisingly, there are bells hanging from the chedis that ring in the wind. A little breeze picked up and rain was threatening upriver, but we stayed dry. We did appreciate the slightly cooler temperatures.
Keller particularly enjoys seeing all the demons that guard the various temples and stupas. Unlike in the Western world, these demons are protectors, rather than opposing forces.
Back across the river via ferry, we took our first TukTuk! We wanted to see the famous Jay Fai restaurant (Michellin starred street food) and check out a well known pad thai place just around the corner. The kids loved the TukTuk ride! We jokingly referred to it as MarioKart — zipping around the streets quickly and all the chaos going on around us. It was fun, even if Keller didn’t really fit. 😉
Jay Fai was fully booked for the day (and through November for reservations), so after watching her cook for a few minutes we stood in line next door at Thipsamai. Thipsamai is often called the best pad Thai in Bangkok and have been cooking in that location for 80+ years.
The wait wasn’t too bad and Kamy amused herself with a GIANT leaf she found on the way. It was longer than her torso!
The pad thai was definitely good, though not world-changing for me. Prices were fairly reasonable but the portions were a bit smaller than we were used to. They also serve in-house squeezed orange juice with the pad thai. There are even chunks of orange in the bottle. It goes together surprisingly well!
The most direct way to the BTS from here is a water taxi! So we added another mode of transport to our day and caught the ferry that runs down the canal in Bangkok. It was NUTS! We’re moving along at 22+ mph down the little narrow canal, with houses all along the sides, in the dark. And the ticket guys are walking on the outer railing, taking money and passing out tickets. Not for me, thanks!
BTS back to On Nut, then the shuttle home. It’s been a long day!
Wednesday
Today was a “divide and conquer” day! Visiting Ayutthaya was high on my priority list for Bangkok, since it is a UNESCO site and I really enjoy learning the history of ruins. Tours for Ayutthaya are an all day thing and Kamy and Caden have not really expressed much of an interest. Plus tours are expensive and we’ve run into almost no kids discounts here in SE Asia. Instead I booked a tour for myself!
I booked a tour last minute with Bonnie, who had really good reviews online. We started by meeting at the Mo Chit BTS station in northern Bangkok at 8am. There were 5 other people on the tour, so the group was just right. We were large enough to have some diversity and be able to get to know each other, but not so large that we couldn’t hear or had to jockey for position. On the tour was a couple from the Phillipeans, a single guy also from the Philippeans, a guy from Las Angeles, and a woman from Australia.
Our first stop on the tour was the Bang Pa-In Palace, a royal residence that was designed to mimic a European chateau. Short of the Chinese palace (used at Chinese New Year) and the royal pavilion, it could have been somewhere in France. The lookout tower was unique too and was built for the king by a Chinese businessman.
After the Summer Palace, we worked our way through four different Wat ruins in the old city of Ayutthaya. Bonnie did an excellent job explaining the history of Siam and setting the scene for Ayutthaya’s fall. Siam was defeated by Burma in the 1700s. At the time Ayutthaya was the largest city in the world with more than 1,000,000 people! It was a major trading hub for all of southeast Asia and was very wealthy.
One story says that the king of Burma wanted two of Siam’s royal white elephants (considered lucky) but the king of Siam refused to give them to Burma. So instead they waged a series of wars, culminating in the total destruction of Ayutthaya. In 1767, the last Wat fell and the resulting looting destroyed the city. Ironically, once the city had been looted and destroyed, Burma only controlled the region for about one year before withdrawing back to their prior border. What remained of Siam was in disarray, though a new capital was built in Thonburi and shortly thereafter moved across the river to Bangkok.
UNESCO declared the entire area as a World Heritage Site in 1991. We were able to visit four different Wats — Wat Mahathat, Wat Mongkol Borpit, Wat Phrasri Samphet and Wat Chaiwatthanaram. One of the most iconic sites includes a stone buddha head sculpture that is being slowly engulfed by tree roots.
The sites weren’t particularly busy today either, so I was able to get some great photos with no one else in them. That’s always a pleasant surprise! I was definitely glad that I went and I appreciated Keller wrangling the kids so I could!
Meanwhile, the kids really wanted to go to Kidzania. Keller’s inner-child was interested in seeing the complex too, so he offered to take the kids. KidZania is a massive indoor mini-city with activities and “jobs” that kids can do. Think firefighters, doctors at a hospital, and restaurant cooks. Admission is definitely steep, including for the supervising parent, but Kamy and Caden LOVED it. They’re pretty independent at this point (who knew?), so they’d come back and check on Daddy every 90 minutes or so … just to check in, get some water, and tell him what they’d been up to. Ultimately, they stayed at KidZania all day — nearly from open to close.
Highlights for Caden included arresting a criminal as a police officer and being a firefighter, while Kamy really liked the gas station, hospital, and nail salon.
Keller was quite a trooper too, since there wasn’t anything that parents could really participate in but only could watch some from the window. He parked himself in the parents’ lounge and hung out while the kids amused themselves. Keller said his inner-child was jealous. 😉 I had experienced a few days like this before, but this was Keller’s first full-day adventure that essentially only required the parent to be present.
We all met up at the food court at Phrom Phong for dinner before heading back to the apartment. The kids had lots of stories to tell and have extra kid bucks that they’re going to hold onto in the hopes of going to the new KidZania location in Dallas that opened this fall.
Thursday
Today’s plan was a repeat of Tuesday, except with more success. Our goal was to visit the Grand Palace. We caught the shuttle to the Tesco and had lunch there before getting on the BTS. Back to the river and back up on a river ferry. This time the river was closed to traffic past Wat Arun, so we got off the boat there and caught the little ferry that runs across the river. Then it was just a 10 minute walk back to the front of the Palace.
This time we bought tickets and filed with lots of other tourists into the palace. It is separated into two main sections — the religious section with chedis and stupas and the Wat of the Emerald Buddha, and the political section with the main palace and supporting buildings. These were some of the first buildings that were built when the king moved the capital across the river to Bangkok.
We were particularly impressed with the twelve massive demons all facing the Wat. They act as guards for the Emerald Buddha. The Emerald Buddha was moved from Thonburi and is the most important Buddha image in all of Thailand. It even has three changes of attire that get swapped out by the king in a ceremony at the start of each season (dry season, rainy season, and winter). No photos were allowed in the Wat though, so you’ll have to Google it. 😉 The exterior was very ornate though, with thousands of mirror mosaics.
The palace section was a bit of a disappointment, to be honest. The largest building was actually designed in a European style and had three domes intended for the roof but they were changed to the Thai pinnacles during building. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to go into the building at all, but only see it from the outside. Overall, we were a bit disappointed, especially since this is touted as the best tourist attraction in Bangkok. Alas, palace fatigue has struck again!
We just managed to catch the included masked dance performance, called Kong, after the palace. Free shuttles run to the venue and our tickets included the show. Our favorite part? The dark AC’d room! Keller took a nap, but the kids and I enjoyed the masked performance. It was pretty simplistic in story but the costumes were elaborate and it was nice to see an example of traditional Thai culture.
From there we walked over to Chinatown to explore a bit more. We found a little street-side curry place that was recommended on a youtube video we’d seen and enjoyed a light dinner. Nothing fancy, but true street food that locals regularly eat.
We wandered the alleys and stalls within Chinatown, stopping for some various munchies on the way and plenty of cold water. When we made it back to the river, we caught the ferry back to the BTS and returned home.
Friday
As we’ve been busy all day the last three days, so we decided to take it easy before we spend tomorrow traveling. We all slept in and I finished off laundry. The kids went swimming and spent some time with a new friend, Jaden. After about forty five minutes of pool time, the heavens opened and the rain came down. Lots of rain. We ran across to the apartment door and by the time I got there I was dripping wet. The kids were in their swimsuits, so they were wet anyway, but it was a bit chilly for everyone! All the laundry hanging on the porch was soaking wet again too, unfortunately.
For lunch we decided to visit the food court up at the Terminal 21 mall. Last time we were there we ended up at the Foodie Fest and ate at the stalls downstairs instead. This time we went to the top floor. Kamy’s eye was caught by the pizza rolls, but the rest of us stuck to Thai cuisine. The prices were super reasonable too, which makes everything taste better. I think this food court has the best balance between cost and flavor! Too bad we’re leaving tomorrow. LOL!
The kids made a point of playing with some of their new friends this evening and ended the night swimming in the pool. They’ve gotten a lot of use from the park area and the pool. A win for everyone! This apartment worked out great for our first two weeks in Thailand.
Overall I’d say Bangkok is fine. It’s a larger city than I was mentally expecting, and the commute time to get to most of the tourist sites was easily an hour or more. Excepting Ayutthaya, we weren’t blown away by the major tourist attractions, nor are we big shoppers to take advantage of the malls. We mostly used them for the food courts. 😉 The pollution definitely impacted our time in the city and altered how much we chose to do outdoors. It did provide an easy intro to SE Asia though — excellent public transportation, large grocery store, and plenty of safe food options in the food courts and restaurants. I doubt we’ll intentionally return to Bangkok again (except the three days at the end of this trip for our flight back to Tokyo).
Onward to Koh Lanta tomorrow!