Bangkok

So, part two of our trip to Thailand was about five days in Bangkok. Everyone raves about Bangkok, and we've never really understood what the big deal is. Granted, our first time through we were completely jetlagged and grumpy and not at all excited about exploring. This time, we came with a considerably better mindset and enjoyed ourselves far more. The Thais really are friendly, wonderful people (just like Cambodians, I might add), the food is terrific, you can find any sort of food, clothing, or other item for purchase, and they have great entertainment options. But despite these attractions, it still can't hold a candle to Phnom Penh in our minds. Give us our small city with its short commutes, big housing, and small and friendly expat community over the polluted, clogged, busy, and mall-laden Bangkok anyday!

Chez Doyle
Over the weekend, we stayed with our friends Andrea and Chris Doyle and their son Max. Andrea was in Khmer language training with Nathan and me, but she uses her Khmer skills in Bangkok doing Cambodian immigrant visa applications. (Cambodians have to travel to Bangkok to apply for immigrant visas...don't ask why.) While Chris and Andrea love Bangkok, we're all disappointed that we're not in the same city since we really hit it off during training. But we had a nice time catching up over the weekend. And Ellie and Ben really loved being in a bigger space with some toys. Max, who is 1 1/2, loved having some other kids around to play with.


Grand Palace
The must-see tourist attraction in Bangkok is the Grand Palace, a complex of buildings including the ornate former royal palace, Wat Phra Kaew (Temple of the Emerald Buddha), and other elaborately constructed and decorated buildings.

The sites were really impressive, but the experience was somewhat lessened by the heat, throngs of people, and rather impatient children. Touring the Grand Palace was the only adult-oriented thing we were going to do all day, and I desperately wanted to get the audio guide so I could really learn about what we were seeing, but with two kids in tow I knew that I'd never be able to listen to enough of it to make it worthwhile. Good news is while we may not make it back to Chiang Mai, Bangkok is such a hub for everything here that we'll almost certainly spend more time there at another point.


Dusit Park
This lovely, manicured park seemed practically abandoned when compared to our experience at the Grand Palace the day before. I got to take a tour of the Teak Mansion while Nathan fed the kids a snack, and we all wandered around the grounds. One hidden gem was the exhibit of the King's photography. He is really quite talented, and seeing pictures of his young family from the 1960s was like seeing the Thai version of the Kennedys. We ended our time at Dusit Park by walking through the beautiful former Parliament hall, pictured below.


Travellin' in Style
As we schlepped around Bangkok in the tropical heat (note to readers: March is not the best time of year to visit Thailand) our kids remained cool and aloof. Ben relaxed under his sun shade while Mommy and Daddy hoisted his stroller up and down stairs, through turnstiles, up and down impossibly tall and narrow sidewalks...and that was in the parks! Trying to use the Sky Train and a stroller to get around town proved to be impossible, and we resorted to cheap but very long (due to bad traffic) taxi rides.

Ellie, meanwhile, was Joe Cool in her hat and shades "you don't know me" look...


Lumpini Park
Our last stop was Lumpini Park, the "Central Park" of Bangkok. (This, by the way, is one of those terribly overused travelogue cliches for any large park in the middle of a big city, just as any big city with culture and good food becomes "The Paris of.." and any metropolis with a canal system is "The Venice of...". Forgive me.) Lumpini offers a pretty lake, some paved walking trails with occassional shade, and a nice (but hot!) playground funded in part by the Rotary Club of Brooklyn Park, MN. Thanks, Rotarians! I think this was the first time Ben got to play on a real, US-style playground, and he had a blast.