Nate found a deal on a trip to Bangkok for spring break so we had a nice little getaway last week. Traveling is super difficult with little ones, so we try to keep it somewhat manageable by taking short, direct flights when possible (and no long car/taxi rides), only staying in one location during the trip, sticking closely to everyone's eating/sleeping schedules, and choosing child-friendly activities. Despite that, any change is hard on little ones and they're usually in a funk when we travel...and we're all exhausted when we get home. So why do we even do it, you're probably wondering. Well, we LOVE to see the world and think our family can learn so much from getting to experience new places and peoples. This is such an amazing opportunity and we have to take advantage of it!
So about Bangkok. We went out each morning, then back for mid-day naps and pool time each afternoon. The first morning we spent at the Dusit Zoo. It's nothing fancy, but the kids didn't care. They were able to get super close to some of the animals thanks to more relaxed safety standards.
Finley and the penguin had a little game going. He moved his hand around the glass while the penguin followed.
Both kids were simultaneously thrilled and terrified by feeding the camels. Finley's expressions were hilarious. Elise just kept saying, "Carry you! Carry you!"
I read that Bangkok is referred to as the Venice of the East...though that might be a stretch...
We took a lengthy longtail boat ride back toward our hotel from this dock and enjoyed the river views along the way.
Thankfully a man was kind enough to give up his seat because the kids were wiped from the heat.
There are just so many lovely temples. We didn't do as much temple visiting this trip since Nate and I already hit the big ones when we went to Bangkok five years ago, plus we didn't think the kids would tolerate a lot of temples.
The mangoes in Thailand are so good and so abundant. We had mangoes everyday we were there, plus our fair share of mango sticky rice!
One of the mornings we decided to check out an indoor playroom on the top floor of a Japanese mall. It was awesome! So much to climb, jump, run, build, and pretend.
This slide was so fast!
Ready to fight fires in the pretend play town.
The street food scene in Bangkok is just wild. There is so much street food everyday everywhere. Nate and I love Thai food, and I always leave Thailand saying, "But wait-- we can't leave yet! I haven't had enough Thai food!"
On our last day we did a little temple visiting.
The inside is pretty amazing!
Elise was sick, teething, going through a very clingy phase, so she spent almost all of the trip saying, "Mommy carry you!" But here's a rare shot of her running around on her own! We had to put our poor hot kids in pants because shoulders and knees have to be covered at temples.
A nearby shrine.
The ladies will dance while you pray. I guess it makes your prayers more powerful?
