Day 2: One Day in Bangkok

Zach and I were showered and dressed with day packs packed before we finally eased the girls from their slumber this morning. They thankfully managed to get a solid seven hours of sleep after our marathon journey to Bangkok.

From the roof deck of our hostel

We crossed off number one on our Bangkok “must do” list immediately: street food! Our hostel in the Silom neighborhood is conveniently located right next to an alleyway brimming with vendors serving up freshly cooked delicacies. It was a really fun introduction to Thailand! We munched on Thai doughnuts, a steamed bun filled with custard, papaya, watermelon, and orange juice. Diane consumed most of the fruits and juice herself and was in heaven. Thankfully it is the dry season and there are hardly any bugs around because otherwise she would have been a fly magnet with all the sweet sticky juices running down her face and hands.

Breakfast

We took a leisurely walk to the river to grab a longtail boat to see some sights.

We toured Wat Pho, an incredibly ornate Buddhist temple and the Grand Palace, an incredibly ornate royal complex. These sites were grand and strikingly gorgeous in a way that we found very difficult to capture on camera. The sheer size of the buildings and statues just don’t come across on film, especially given that it is considered extremely disrespectful to pose in front of the statues of Buddha (which is so so tempting given their evocative poses). Melina took this rule very seriously and was spooked about posing for any pictures at all in any site of significance. Diane however, never failed to provide a cheesy grin.

Reclining Buddha (above) and his feet (below)

We loved the massive gold Reclining Buddha with his sultry eyes and mother-of-pearl feet. The Emerald Buddha (no pictures allowed) was small but striking on his pile of gold and jewels. Even in the intense heat and our sweat-soaked clothing it was so thrilling to see these sights in person.

Side note: Thais love children. The girls get smiles and waves wherever we go. A nice lady gave them free bananas, and a man gave them bread to feed to koi in a pond then presented them with Hello Kitty barrettes and asked us to take a picture of him with the girls (on his camera). It is sweet and innocent but it’s so hard to shake that “GET AWAY FROM MY CHILD YOU CREEP” feeling. But we are working on suppressing that urge while the girls soak up the attention. Diane wore her barrettes proudly for the rest of the day.

Somewhere along the way between breakfast and the boat ride Melina’s mood took a nosedive. She was whiny, rude, and overly emotional for the next two hours while the rest of us enjoyed the sites above. She complained she didn’t feel well but also refused to take any of our suggestions on how to make herself feel better (more water, food, Dramamine) and just got more surly as the day went on. She even refused the cold and refreshing coconut water that Diane was so excited to try and that I promised would help her feel better.

Around noon she told me she needed to find a bathroom and before we could, she threw up in the Grand Palace courtyard. Great. So maybe she wasn’t just being a moody preteen pain-in-the-bum.

We rested up, coerced Melina into drinking more water, and found an air conditioned cafe where we all ordered delicious juices. Melina had honey lime but traded me for my passion fruit once she tasted it. Both were delicious, as was Diane’s strawberry juice, but Zach’s”Chinese apricot” was a little…salty. Not sure why, but it was our least favorite by far.

Thirty minutes later, cooled down and rehydrated, Melina was her usual happy traveler self. We kept buying her cold drinks and juices and slushies and she was perfectly happy for the rest of the day.

That was a very good thing, because we had a lot of day left! It was past lunchtime but we were having trouble finding a restaurant in this area, so took a chance at a local shopping mall. I’m so glad we did! There was an “Old Siam” food court with stalls of traditional foods, and no other white people in sight. And, it was air conditioned! Hooray! We bought everything that looked good to us and had such fun feasting together for well under $10 total.

These were peanutty garlic balls of goodness that even Melina (our resident peanut-hater) loved!

Creamy coconutty delights filled with all sorts of things. And Diane’s favorite: tiny fried quail eggs.

Refueled and energized, we hopped in a tuk tuk to go to the Golden Mountain Temple. We had read that it was good for views of the city, but from talking to two tuk tuk drivers that had no idea where it was we wondered if it was a tiny unknown knoll hidden behind a garbage dump or something. The first driver took us on a wild ride, smoking a cigarette and spitting out of the side of the tuk tuk the whole way. The girls squealed in delight at the speed of the open air death trap. I was a white-knucked ball of terror, clutching desperately to Diane and squeezing my eyes shut every time we nearly slammed into a pedestrian. The driver let us off at a stop where we paid him and waved goodbye only to realize that he had taken us to the wrong temple in the complete opposite direction from where we had wanted to go. Driver number two was much less disgusting but maybe even Wilder on the road, whipping between cars and motorbikes with absolutely no regard for lane lines or stoplights. Melina and Diane raves that it was better than a roller coaster and decided that Epcot Center needs a Thailand ride with tuk tuks on a rail. Each would have a crazy driver and four people crammed into a seat made for two. Zach and I secretly vowed that we would stick to cabs in the city for the rest of the trip, and leave the tuk tuks for quieter, less trafficked towns (if that).

In a tuk tuk built for two. Did I do a good job of hiding the fear in my eyes?

When we finally reached the Golden Mountain Temple it turned out to be a delightful and beautiful tourist trap. There were goofy creatures and bells to ring and a coffee shop on the gentle slope up to the hilltop temple. The temple itself was pretty and the views of the skyline were surprisingly clear and smog free. (In general, the pollution here is hardly noticeable, and not nearly as bad as we expected. Budapest was far worse!)

Our day ended with a lovely dinner of Thai favorites back in Silom. Melina found a non-spicy noodle soup that she slurped down happily and Diane feasted on shrimp entwined in rice noodles and then deep fried. Zach and I relished our pad thai and curry. We all drank hot lemongrass tea in the humid night air.

The restaurant manager (a London native) lectured the girls about wearing sunscreen and drinking lots of water. “If you don’t, you’ll find yourself feeling tired and cranky, and your stomach will hurt because you will be dehydrated!” Melina nodded, wide eyed, as he described exactly what had happened to her that morning. “And the best cure is fresh coconut water!” he concluded. Well, if she doesn’t listen to me maybe she’ll listen to him. But I still couldn’t resist telling her, “I told you so.”