Day 48: Buckets of Fun

DID: Into town for brunch/pho and shopping along the canal market. Bought Rhys a Hue-style motorcycle helmet (looks more like a baseball batting helmet, and has enough padding to probably protect him if takes a spill onto the balcony from the big wheel trike.) Loads of merchants in conical hats carrying baskets suspended from a pole over their shoulders. Does not look comfortable.

Back to the hotel for an afternoon swim and I booked myself in for a mani/pedi at the hotel spa. Confirmed that indeed all the good nail technicians have been exported. Actually I shouldn’t say that, she did a great job with the shape and the polish.  But there was nothing special about the service (she didn’t even put topcoat on the polish so it was scratched within minutes) – surprising especially because it must have been the most expensive mani/pedi in Vietnam ($50 – even London is cheaper than that). The most notable thing about it was that clipped my nails. Yes my nails were long enough to warrant clipping. Mom, rejoice.

Headed over to the Citadel (Hue’s Forbidden City) after dinner, concierge said it would be lit up at night. Um, no. Well yes, there were lights on, but none of them were directed at the buildings. So that was a bust but on the way we saw a childrens’ amusement park so we had the taxi bring us back there. Cheap thrills – rides ranged from 15-25 cents so GnR got to ride everything they wanted for a total of $3 on the night. Plus the rides were mega-long – to the point where Gavin was kind of getting bored about halfway through. Best ride in my mind was the free child-sized ‘bucket bikes’ – bikes with a bucket seat attached to the front wheel for a passenger, similar to ones all over town carting tourists. I’d love to have one of these for our balcony!! But if you asked the locals, they’d probably say that GnR were the main attraction. They were slightly more covert in getting photos – GnR would get on a ride that was empty, then other people would run up to put their kids in the cars right next to them.

Stayed until closing at 9.45, then headed back to the hotel to pack up. Three days in Hue is definitely enough to soak in the city, of course we could have done more with more time but I felt ok to leave.

ATE: Breakfast, pastries from La Boulangerie Francaise. (www.laboulangeriefrancaise.org). Day old and showing their age. But shop works on the Jamie Oliver principal (employs underprivileged kids to give them vocational skills) so we’ll just call it a donation rather than a meal!

Brunch, pho at Pho Yen. Jason said it was good but still not at all like he’s had at home. Rhys enjoyed petting the baby chicks and crowing at the rooster at the back of the restaurant.

Snack baguettes at Hung Phat Bakery. Nice and crispy crust, dough a bit buttery.

Iced coffees at Café Hoang Pho. We were hoping for another round of pho but they weren’t serving food at 2pm.

Dinner at Quan So. What a find! Nothing special, two floors of outdoor seating on plastic chairs amidst giant poster-sized photos of the food and puke-green décor – but the food was just right. Cold rice noodles with grilled pork, fresh meat spring rolls in rice noodle wrapper, beef and egg noodles in XO sauce (we ordered a second plate of these and contemplated a third), pork skewers with DIY rice paper wraps and greens, crispy pancake with shrimp, chicken and beansprouts. Hung Beer on tap.

SLEPT: Fable tonight was a repeat (the mosquito one). Boo. Internet connection at the hotel stinks, even in the hotel’s internet lounge. Hope it’s not the same all over Vietnam!

Day 47: Gavin Declares a New Love

DID: Slept in, then headed into town for breakfast (pho). More on that in ATE. Meandered through town, generally heading for the river. GnR were a huge attraction, they received lots of waves, high-5’s, handshakes and smiles, even a few handfuls of fruit!

Found ourselves at the dragon boat marina. $22 gets you a private boat and a 3-hour tour along the Perfume River, stopping at two tombs and a pagoda. Later learned that it’s 3 hours on the water, not including the stops! Our boat was run by a husband-wife team and their four-year-old son (the youngest of their 5 children, and they also have four grandchildren) The little one was napping for the whole trip out, but the way back he + GnR had a good time playing with cars and doing somersaults on the boat deck. I know now why so many people have been amazed at Rhys’ size, he and the 4 year old were pretty much the same height.

First stop was “at” the Tu Duc Tomb. Once we got off the boat we were told that the temple was actually a few kilometers away.  Solution - they’ve got people there who will take you on the back of their motorbike. We weren’t totally comfortable with Rhys on a bike so Jason stayed behind with him while Gavin and I took a ride. Gavin was so excited (and so was I, let’s be real!) to ride the bike. He said afterwards that ‘it was a little bit scary but mostly fun’, and I’d agree. We didn’t see any other cars until we were just in front of the tomb, and the driver kept it at an easy speed across the hilly road.

Could have easily spent a few hours walking around the tomb and grounds. Was very beautiful in a not-restored-but-very-well-maintained-and-respected kind of way. But didn’t want to keep Jason and Rhys waiting so we kept it short and sweet before hopping the bike back to the boat.

While we were away the wife bought and cleaned a fish, and started cooking it on a little stove hidden in a cupboard on the floor at the back of the boat. Smelled wonderful, starting to think that this boat doubles as their home.

Next stops were the Dien Hon Chen and the Thien Mu Pagoda. Both thankfully right at the pier, no motorcycles required! Pagoda was easily my favorite stop, it was beautiful in and of itself but also the views from the grounds of the river and mountains were really something.

Returned to Hue just as the sun was setting so got to see the city lighting up as we approached – perfect timing!  No dinner spot in mind so just wandered for awhile. Eventually found a bakery with pastries for breakfast, and the woman there led us to a restaurant around the corner. We apparently were in the ‘shoe district’ of Hue – shoe stores everywhere. Can also see the French influence here, shoes are displayed just like stores in France (and Italy too) – lined up in the shopfront windows for you to examine (but not touch!) Which brings me to another observation – finding a manicure in Vietnam appears to be like finding shoes in Italy. All the good stuff is exported. After a good 3-4 hours of walking around this city, I have seen all of two nail salons, and they both looked pretty sad.

Got back to the hotel just in time for a quick swim before the pool closed. Rhys jumped in and said ‘nice’ – and I couldn’t agree more.

ATE:  Brunch at Pho Saigon. Gavin said full stop this is his favorite kind of noodle soup, he loves it and he wants Jason to make it at home. There you have it! Rhys and I had an omelet and a baguette. I’d say there was also some love happening for this dish because Rhys asked for us to order a second plate. :)

Snack at Phuong Nam. Café, bookstore and artisan gallery along the river (and very acceptable toilet facilities!) The boys had fresh lemonade (with lemongrass and ginger, wow), Jason and I had iced coffees, everyone had a chocolate cream puff. Rhys took a sip of my drink, got a big smile and said ‘coffee!’ The boy knows what he’s talking about. Really nice place to stop, I even had great success in the shop with a few handcrafted bamboo bowls and a vase.

Dinner at Hung Vuong Inn. Restaurant was packed when we arrived. We had crispy noodles with chicken and shrimp (amazing), pork spring rolls (double amazing), crispy pancake filled with shrimp, chicken and bean sprouts (a bit heavy but the flavors were right – prefer the version we used to get in London), sweet and sour chicken (not great), fries (not as French as we would have liked!) and banana-chocolate and honey-lemon crepes for dessert (ooh la la). Very decent meal. Mixed feelings as we left though – owner presented GnR with a roll of Oreo cookies to take home, meanwhile staff at the cash register hid some of the money Jason gave him and then tried to claim he’d underpaid.

SLEPT: Bedtime fable tonight talked about why the Vietnamese refer to themselves as ‘the dragon and fairy’s grandchildren’. I think bit of background might have been useful in order to understand this story – might have to look into this tomorrow!

Day 46: You’re Killing Me Here

*Warning this post is rated BFG (Bad For Grandparents). It contains scenes related to Near Death Experience(s) which may be unsuitable for mature audiences.

DID: Out at the crack of dawn headed for the airport. Thought we arrived with plenty of time to check in, get our shopping tax refund, buy stamps/send out postcards, and do a bit of duty-free shopping. That is until we reached immigration/passport control. We were put in the ‘express’ line for diplomats/disabled/etc. We were maybe 12^th or so in line, but 50 minutes had gone by before we were set free. Unbelievable. In the end we had to run to our gate without any tax refund and no shopping (but we did get the postcards off – only because that was outside immigration.) Maybe the slow immigration line is a government ploy to keep tourists from being able to submit their tax claims!!

Arrived in Hanoi with what we thought was a lengthy 4-hour layover until our flight for Hue. But again ‘the man’ had different ideas. Took an hour for us to get our visas. This was in small part due to the fact that the signage was terrible – we waited in a line for 15 minutes before realizing that it was the wrong one. No, no, the window/queue in front of you as you disembark the plane and enter the terminal is not the one to go to. You have to walk around to the other side of the building and drop off your paperwork first. Without any signs, flow of people, or immigration officers to direct you.

Anyway, visas in hand we made our way to domestic departures. This is when we learned that even if there is a sign, it might be misleading. Although we were at the area labeled check-in for domestic departures, this was not the place to check-in for our flight. Our desk was on a different floor in a different area of the terminal. Okay….

Off again, found the right desk but check-in was not open yet for our flight (at this point it was 2 hours 10 minutes until departure, check in opens at 2 hours prior). So we waited. And waited. Finally with about 1 hour 45 minutes to go, we asked and they sent us over to the ‘group check-ins’ desk. New problem – GnR were issued adult tickets instead of child tickets. Sent over to the ticket desk to resolve/receive a partial refund. Ticket desk could only sell us new tickets, not refund the old ones because we bought them online. Decided it wasn’t worth the $30/ticket savings without knowing for certain that we would be refunded by the online office, plus headache. Woman at the ticket desk was absolutely aghast that we would not try for the refund – to the point that she was making an argument that they would not let the kids on the plane with an adult ticket! Don’t get me wrong, I don’t like wasting $60 either but in this situation to me the choice was clear.

By the time we got through that, checked in (as 4 adults) and were free to go, we had just over an hour until departure. We did squeeze in a first pho at the airport restaurant but Jason had to slurp it down!

Enjoyed the approach into Hue airport – the scenery is spectacular. Lush jungle/rain forest, mountains, rivers, and the coastline in the distance. One of the prettiest natural settings for a city that we’ve seen. But then near Death Experience 1 happened as we touched down at Hue. Literally the worst landing I have ever encountered on a plane, and no apparent reason for it because the weather was clear, there was little wind, and the area of the airport is wide, flat and mountain/water body-free. A couple of very hard bounces, a few jerks left and right before we skidded and slammed to a halt. People were screaming.

From this point forward everything started to go smoothly. There’s something about Hue that is instantly agreeable with me.  The French influence is everywhere but they’ve made it their own. Very colorful, and love the conical hats. Cars are the minority on the road, it’s mostly motorbikes and bicycles.

Hotel has got the wow factor, seems like its in the middle of nowhere but just a 5-minute drive into the city center. Got changed right away into our bathing suits and headed for the pool. Near Death Experience 2 happened when Rhys decided to jump in a little sooner than the rest of us, just as I’d turned to get his arm floats. Luckily I heard the splash and was in to grab him within a second. Little pickle! In the future we will be putting the arm bands on him in the hotel room rather than waiting until we are poolside.

Headed into town for dinner and a walk along the river. Had planned to take the hotel shuttle back but were all too tired to wait for it.

Back at the hotel, Gavin surprised us with a letter and a drawing and love notes he’d made in the afternoon. I teared up (of course) and Jason gave him compliments for putting the light spectrum in the correct order for the rainbow.

Side note 1 – the Vietnamese seem to embrace the heat rather than huddle around fans/air-con. Hanoi airport was sticky, dinner restaurant had fans but they were all turned off. Lots of people eating outdoors, we haven’t seen that all summer.

Side note 2 – as we are entering the final phases of our trip, I asked Gavin today if there’s anything special we’ve been doing that we should continue once we get back home. His answer? We should not go to school or work. :)

ATE: Breakfast – pastries bought at Siam Paragon the night before. Pretty good.

Morning tea (as Gavin calls it) – meal on Thai Airways. Warm bread rolls with turkey, ham and butter, plus fruit plate. Not bad.

Lunch – Pho at Hanoi Airport for Jason. He was very happy with it, said it was different than any he’d had before. GnR tried (and liked) the noodles in the pho. I had a pork bun sandwich, it was flavorless.

Crunch and sip (more Gavin terms) – cornucopia of snack-y things collected in my bag since Chiang Mai. Peanuts, banana chips, Cheetos, ritz crackers, and roasted broad beans.

Dinner – Fabulous.  Restaurant empty when we arrived so we were a little scared but glad we stuck with it (it also filled up as we were there so maybe the French influence has touched eating hours). Meat rolls wrapped in mint leaves, spring rolls, garlic shrimp, shredded chicken, stir-fried morning glory. Jason said the morning glory was the best he’s ever eaten – now that’s saying something! The shrimp were bland but everything else was eaten to the last morsel.

Dessert – Room service ice cream. Won’t be doing that again. Messed up our order, second round arrived partially melted and the ice cream itself was pretty flavorless.

SLEPT – Pilgrimage Village Resort outside Hue. Booked on splendida.com and it is ‘splendida’ for sure! We’ve got a little bungalow looking over a lotus pond. The shower is set in an actual rock bed (mom- kind of like your shower except the rocks are loose) – so wonder how many times we’ll have to shoo Rhys away from throwing them in the tub and elsewhere! Lofty ceiling has a ceiling fan (in addition to aircon) – wonderful. We really need one (or two) of these over our dining room at home (sigh). Two pools to choose from plus a jacuzzi, tai chi in the mornings, a spa, and lots of grounds to wander. Internet connection in the room is very poor so looks like we’ll have to use the hotel’s computer lounge. Guess they really want you to get away from it all!

At turn down service they left a little bedtime story/Vietnamese fable on the bed. Tonight’s was a story about the origin of the mosquito – a love story gone sour.

Day 45: Knocked Out Last Day in Bangkok

DID: Really wanted to go to the tiger temple but didn’t fancy 6 hours in the car (200 km each way). So instead we settled for tigers as the Dusit Zoo. Zoo also conveniently located in the royal section of Bangkok, across from the King’s residence. And coincidentally, down the road from the restaurant we intended to go to Sunday night but never quite got there.

Hit the restaurant first, in spite of the taxi cab drivers protests that it was ‘too far, too far’. Guess this explains why previous attempts to get there failed. I can never understand why taxi drivers don’t want to take you across town, as long as you’re staying within densely populated areas. What’s the difference? But anyway, the ‘journey’ was all of 20 minutes, including traffic. Fare came to 85 baht (about $3) but driver would not give Jason change for his 100 baht note because we made him go “so far”.

Then to the zoo. Our guide book promised elephants, tigers, the largest collection of gibbons in Asia and peddle boats – and on these points it delivered. Gavin said it was the best zoo we’ve been to yet because he liked the amusement park rides, the playground and the (very extensive) snake house. Jason and I were not as impressed, mostly because of a failure to hide the back-of-house operations. But it was nice to be in a stroller-friendly and (mostly) vehicle-free environment.

Drove around the neighborhood as we made our way back to the skytrain. Really a lovely and leafy section of Bangkok – and a little bit weird because the Dusit Palace and other royal buildings look more Western than Thai. Lots of giant wildly beautiful bougainvillea to rival Ischia’s.

At this point we separated – Gavin and Jason headed off to a Thai boxing match while Rhys and I hit Siam Square one last time for some shopping. This time to the Siam Paragon Department Store. Can I just say again that if anyone wants to go shopping in Bangkok, I’m in? I’m convinced that if they don’t have it at Siam Paragon, it doesn’t exist. Gorgeous, gorgeous store. Didn’t come away with much to show for the 4 hours I spent there, but I did enjoy browsing.

Gavin and Jason had a great time at the boxing (ringside seats, no less!). Gavin reports that the ‘blue team won’ and he liked it very much. No blood, but they were very sweaty (but if they got too sweaty they would dry off with a towel). He wants to practice boxing when we get home.

Met back at the hotel for our last meal in Thailand. Off to Vietnam (Hue) tomorrow!)

ATE: Skipped breakfast, had a early lunch at Krua Apsorn (www.kruaapsorn.com). Glad we got there early because within 15 minutes the restaurant was completely packed. GnR had an omelet and rice. Jason started with a yellow fish curry with lotus and then had spicy fried crab with mango. I had coconut spicy soup with shrimp. Side of greens, no idea what the vegetable was but it was good (looked like the bottom of tiny flower buds.) All sublime and a just reward for our perseverance in getting there!

Dinner – planned to eat separately but we all ended up eating together back in the hotel room – Gavin and Jason with room service and Rhys and me with take away from the Siam Paragon food court. (I nearly was going to resign myself to room service as well – of the 75 million restaurants within the Siam Paragon complex, there seems to be only one that serves Thai noodles and it took me forever to find it). But at least it was good - Gavin and I unanimously agreed that the pad see ew from there was WAY better than the room service stuff, so we ate mine and ditched the other. Rhys had chicken fried rice (also very good), Jason had spicy coconut soup with chicken, and we all shared wontons stuffed with pork and spinach.

SLEPT: Final thoughts on Swissotel. Concierge is rubbish (but we have yet to find a hotel with a concierge who combines good English with good advice/knowledge of the city). I would probably chose to stay in Siam Square if I came again, and others interested in the famous temples might chose to stay nearer to the river. However, the neighborhood its in is probably the safest/cleanest/least congested neighborhood we saw. Added with the pool and workout facilities, it does provide a nice respite from the madness that is Bangkok. So I give it an ok.

Day 44: Chow Phraya

DID: Day spent on and around the river (the Chao Phraya but we think Chow Phraya is more apt for its aroma of lemongrass, curry and rice).

But first, got off on the wrong foot by listening to hotel concierge’s advice on where to take our laundry. Sent us again to that area with the tailors/tourists/women of questionable repute. Not much different in the light of day, except that in addition we got to see drug deals being made. Delightful. And the two laundries we tried were complete rip-offs, so we ended up just bringing our stuff back to the hotel. False start!

Taxi to the river. Another misstep, he took us to a private pier where they wanted to charge $60 to get to our destination. We bailed and walked 10 minutes to the public ferry, which costs 60 cents.

Ferry from Oriental Pier to Tha Tian. Ate lunch with a view of Wat Arun, then spent a long time walking around Wat Pho. Lots of gorgeous colorful architecture, an enormous Buddha (the Reclining Buddha, as big as an entire building), and plenty of statues of small animals for GnR to ride. Was so hot even Reclining Buddha had a sweaty back (or it could have been paint bubbles, but still!) Two highlights, one a group of 14-year olds doing research on Christmas interviewed me.  Lots of yes/no questions, like have you hung up socks on the chimney, would you like to be Santa Claus, have you ever sung a Christmas carol (fortunately they did not make me perform!) Other highlight, they are renovating on of the temple buildings, including installing a new tile roof. They set up a donation booth where you could buy, decorate and donate tiles to be placed on the roof. We donated two, with Gavin and Rhys handmade designs on the back.

After the Wat we’d intended to go to the Royal Grand Palace but missed opening hours (it closes at 3). As it turns out this might have been a good thing because I read later that we were all dressed inappropriately (you need long pants and long sleeves) and it is a very serious environment, not suitable for young children. I think we got about all the culture we could handle at the temple anyway.

So instead we hopped a boat back south and alighted at Tha Sathorn. From here we chartered a long boat (a very long canoe looking thing with a monster truck-sized engine on the back). GnR had seen these boats going up and down the river and were not going to be satisfied until we rode one!! Our 1-hour tour took us back up the river to Wat Pho, but then turned into a residential canal. Saw lots of homes, laundry, kids swimming, people fishing, loads of temples, etc. Wide range of wooden shacks (that may as well have been made from popsicle sticks and glue), to mega-mansions. Joined the river again a bit further north where we finally got a view of the Palace. Gorgeous!

After the boat we attempted to have a drink at the top of Bangkok (Sirocco Bar at the top of the Lebua Hotel) but were denied because we didn’t meet the dress code. Off to dinner but experience was not great thanks to poor advice from taxi driver (see Ate).

Squeezed in a bit more shopping after dinner, back at the Central Chidlom Department Store. Went intending just to check out their sports store but came away with a new work bag for Jason, a pair of trainers for Gavin to go with his sports uniform, plus a few necessities since we weren’t able to get laundry done.

Walk to hotel, shower, bed, crash.

ATE: Breakfast in the room, pastries we’d bought from Central Chidlom food market on Saturday night. Pretty good, especially considering they were day-old.

Lunch at The Deck in the Arun Residence (www.arunresidence.com). Called Thai fusion but really a collection of some western and some Thai dishes rather than hybrids. Starter of roasted spicy cashews, Gavin had scrambled eggs on a hashbrown, Jason had fried softshell crab, I had spicy grilled pork salad. Also fresh lemonade for Gavin and me, and Thai iced tea for Jason (Rhys was asleep through lunch). Gavin and Jason’s meals were excellent, mine was not worth the calories. Mine came out late, was not hot, and the pork was not a nice texture. I filled up on cashews and rice.

Side note: restaurant is part of a small, boutique B&B. Rooms are about $90/night including breakfast. Looks like a nice place to stay if you want to be in the midst of temples, plus a great view of the river.

Dinner at a local place near Ratcha Thewi skytrain station. We’d selected a restaurant from our Luxe guide, the doorman at Lebua told the taxi driver exactly how to get there, but en route we had troubles. First the driver claimed he didn’t know how to get there (we gave him the phone number but either there was no answer or he never actually made the call). Then I tried to just get out when I saw a couple of good looking restaurants out of the window, but the driver told us all the restaurants in the area weren’t clean and we would be sick. Of course not being sick is a priority so we stayed in the cab and pressed on. At this point we explained to him we just wanted a good, local noodle place. He assured us he had the perfect spot. But as we drove along, it became clear that we were being brought again to the dreaded Seafood Market! Once Jason realized this, he told the driver we did not want to eat any seafood. The driver changed course and dropped us off at a restaurant that actually looked like the right kind of place. Except there were no noodles on the menu. Plenty of other interesting things though, so I talked Gavin into chicken and rice and we were in business. Jason had holy basil chicken and stir-fried morning glory, I had spicy pork salad (still craving it since the bad one at lunch). And I’m still craving it now because I ate my 3-bite minimum (that’s our house rule) and that was more than enough. Jason, Gavin and Rhys all enjoyed their meals. Maybe there’s just something wrong with my tastebuds, but that’s 3 meals in a row that I haven’t enjoyed. Hrmph.

Day 43: Super Saturday

DID: Today we took the day off from touring and tried to have a day much like a summer day would be at home (minus the annoying chores!) Started off with a long swim, then lunch and a play in Lumpini Park. Later, a few errands – one to try to get the laptop keyboard fixed. Apparently a hinge is broken on the “1” key so the entire keyboard needs to be replaced – not very sustainable, Apple! Also bought GnR some new Thai pajamas, very cute and also a necessity because Rhys has grown out of his over the course of the trip. And one last errand, back to the tailor for Jason’s first fitting. Love the fabric he picked, looking great!

Regarding shopping in Bangkok, it is seriously unbelievable. Five days is not enough to cover Siam Square, let alone the whole city. Any time anyone needs a shopping partner here, let me know - I’m in! The only downside is that here I’m a size L, and there have been a few times they haven’t had items that fit. But for shoes, my US size 7’s are perfect!

Regarding travelling with kids here, a bit more complicated than elsewhere. It is not a stroller friendly city. Sidewalks are not continuous, curbs can be really high/hard to get up down. Worst part is that in order to cross major streets you have to take a pedestrian bridge - most of the time this involves walking up/down a very long flight of stairs. Eating with forks is more common so that’s made things easier, but they don’t typically have either high chairs or place settings for kids (although stacking two chairs is a good trick, as long as they’re stable!) And a lot of the food is really spicy so finding appropriate meals can be tricky. Not much green space for impromptu running around/play breaks. On the up side, most of the bathrooms we’ve come across have western-style toilets. But haven’t seen much in the way of baby change facilities.

ATE: Breakfast poolside, pastries from the hotel café.

Lunch – we went for street food after original choice turned out to be a Vietnamese restaurant. Chose an ‘old Thai style’ place located in a converted garage. Should have turned around when Gavin said he saw a mouse when we walked in. Restaurant was spotless though, and there wasn’t much else around so we decided to stick with it. Ordered a roast pork and rice dish, fried wontons and noodle soup with fish dumplings, along with strawberry, grape and bubble tea drinks from the café next door. Drinks were great, old style food is apparently bland with ingredients of poor quality.  Took the bevvies and left (but the meal including drinks cost 75 cents!!) Headed for some street vendors along a sidewalk next to a construction site across the street. Spicy vegetable fritters and fried chicken did the trick, and all for 50 cents. At these prices (and if not for all the shopping I’d be doing) Jason and I could retire now!  Nearest discernable address was the Ambassador’s Court, 76/1 Lang Suan St. C’Art Coffee (on same side of street as Ambassador’s Court, a few steps closer to Lumpini Park) is great for drinks, but avoid the restaurant next door!

Snack – Cookies and drinks at Panta in the Siam Discovery Centre. (www.pantathailand.net) Café is in a furniture/furnishings store, selling the sort of stuff that would be perfect for when I have a pool house/spa room/vacation home! 

Dinner – Thai restaurant in the Central Chidlom Department Store Food Hall. Jason had a noodle/beef soup, Gavin had pad see ew, Rhys had Thai tacos (pork, cabbage and cheese on top of chips), and I had…wait for it…green curry. Shocker, I know!! I tried Jason’s green curry on Friday night and it tasted very similar to the coconut soup I’ve been enjoying so much, so I decided to go for it. Wasn’t totally thrilled with it, I have to say, not sure I’ll order it again, but now I can say I’ve at least given it a good go. For sure Thai curry is a lot less challenging to my senses than an Indian curry!!

Day 42: That's What I'm Talking About!

DID: Today was perfection (in my book anyway.) Had three missions for the day: 1. go to the pool if sunny, 2. Jason to pick a tailor and get an order in, 3. buy a new memory card for the camera. All accomplished, and in the meantime discovered shopping and eating heaven in Siam Square.

Started with breakfast on our terrace followed by a couple hours at the pool, all in gorgeous sunshine. (Hot but not too hot, humid but not sticky). While I was at the pool with GnR, Jason went back to the area we’d been Thursday night to seek out a tailor.

Rhys tried to further his mission to put the ‘poo’ in ‘pool’, luckily I caught him in the act before any real mess was made. And now that we’ve been through this before, Gavin and I were cool and slick as we whisked Rhys off to the locker room. But of course there was one little hiccup. After everything was cleaned up (and Rhys poo-ed on the toilet – yay!!) my efforts to covertly dispose of a soiled towel went a bit awry. I waited for the pool attendant to turn his back and then tossed the towel into the bin for used towels. Except when I looked back later I saw that the dirty bin had actually been moved and the bin I’d thrown our towel into held the clean towels that he was folding and stacking for people to use!! Oops.

Pool time!

Jason ruled out the tailors he visited but still had one more to check out. He also returned bearing treats – goldfish crackers and Cheetos. We can’t even get those in Sydney, might have to stuff a few bags in the suitcase!

Set off in the direction of lunch and the last tailor on the list. This tailor had all the right stuff for Jason – order placed, done. The walk had us heading towards Siam Square, decided to continue along that path because we’d read that the MBK  (where we’d eaten Thursday night) was “the place” to buy cameras/accessories. Lots to look at along the way - ornate buildings, street vendors with gorgeous smelling food, tuk tuks and vespas whizzing around in very heavy traffic, even some kind of religious ceremony with traditional dancing, costumes and a whole lot of incense. As we approached the Siam metro station (or Skytrain, as they call it), started to see alleyways filled with market stalls and boutiques. We turned into Soi 4 and walked away with a handmade pair of dress shoes for Jason and a couple of tops for me. AND we came across our favorite dessert place from Chiang Mai – Mango Tango – at the end of Soi 5. Even better, it was across the road from a restaurant that looked like a great candidate for dinner.

Top tailor

150, 2-ply Japanese cotton, no less!

In prayer fashion

Soi 4 Shopping

Wove through the markets and finally made our way into MBK Centre. Sort of a cross between a regular mall and an indoor market. Sellers not aggressive like in China, nor would they negotiate very much, but the prices were very reasonable anyway. Camera world on the 5^th floor and Thai handicrafts on the 6^th. Ticked quite a few things off the list including a Thai flag sticker for Gavin’s suitcase, a few souvenirs (my favorite being a Christmas ornament that’s a small tuk tuk made from a coke can), and most importantly the SD cards for the camera. AND, it turns out the SD cards we bought in China are not worthless after all. The guy at the camera store told us they just are incompatible (and too fancy for!) our camera. So new lesson learned – read the package before you buy anything at the Pearl Market (or anywhere else). J

Wandered back towards Mango Tango and the restaurant for dinner, Jason found a pair of flip flops and we had to tear Rhys away from a pair of crocs shaped like tiger paws (they were only $3 and I would have bought them but I know the second he would start running he would fall over because of the funny shape). Shops were in shut down mode at 8.30 – I think our plan for here will be to eat  a late-ish lunch and hold off on dinner until 8.30 or 9 once everything is closed.

Much to Gavin’s dismay we took the Skytrain back to the hotel after dinner/dessert (traffic was still too bad to consider road transport). All day long he had been asking to take either a taxi or tuk tuk – he just did NOT want to walk. Maybe he’s coming down with something, he ended up sleeping in the stroller for two hours at least, maybe even three.

Collapsed in hotel room.

Perfect day, done.

ATE: Breakfast pastries and fresh squeezed watermelon juice from café in hotel lobby. Mine was a mango Danish that weighed at least a kilo. Boys all had chocolate croissants.

Snack 1: goldfish crackers and Cheetos from grocery store near hotel

Lunch: Pleonchit Restaurant in Wave Place (skytrain stop: Pleon Chit). We all tried something new! Gavin and Jason went with Set Meal B – fried chicken, fried sticky rice (sticky rice mixed with peas and corn, rolled and fried to look like a spring roll without the wrapper), and fried bananas with honey. I had Set Meal C – spicy grilled beef salad  (strips of beef wrapped in cabbage leaves with green beans, raw basil and chili sauce), papaya salad, sticky rice and fried bananas. But before they served us my meal, they’d served us someone else’s meal by mistake. (We didn’t realize it because it resembled the meal I was supposed to get.) So we ate that one too – grilled beef over vermicelli noodles in a spicy sauce and papaya salad. Jason said this meal was Vietnamese style – if true, it’s a promise of very good things to come!  All the meals came with fresh juice – Jason had lemongrass and Gavin and I had golden apple. Apple juice was different than what we’re used to – sweetened with cane sugar and cinnamon. Good stuff.

Pleonchit Restaurant

My 'bonus' meal

Fried Chicken

My 'real' meal (once I remembered to take the photo)

Fried bananas

Snack 2: Japanese soft serve ice cream for GnR, found at Sato Soft on Soi 4 in Siam Square.

Snack 3: Green tea with tapioca bubbles for Jason, although I think Rhys drank the majority of it. From Looan Herma on Soi 5 in Siam Square.

Dinner: Ban Khun Mae, across from Mango Tango/Soi 5 (Restaurant is on Soi 8). Starter of chicken satay (can’t believe it’s taken us this long to try it!) Jason had green curry with chicken, Gavin and Rhys ate pad see ew chicken, I had spicy grilled pork salad (dressing was fire water). Love, love, love this restaurant, except they really should do something about the eau de toilet at the entrance (smells in the dining room are nothing short of delightful).

Ban Khun Mae Restaurant

Chicken with peanut butter sauce (aka satay)

Green curry chicken

Pork salad

Pad see ew

Dessert: Where else but Mango Tango? Have to say I preferred the rice at the Chiang Mai branch, but the mango here was unreal. I’m suggesting to Jason that, along with a Japanese ramen restaurant (with vending machine ordering system of course!) he should bring Mango Tango to Sydney. It’s a winning combo, I know it!!! 

Mango Tango Sundae - 2 rice balls and a mango

SLEPT: Fine, but internet situation at the hotel stinks. They get away with saying ‘free wifi’ on their website by offering 1 free hour to guests per stay. Due to some technical difficulties with the connection in our room, Jason was able to talk them into giving us 1 free day, but looks like we’ll be paying after that. Boo.