Bangkok in a Day (ish)

We went to Bangkok, Thailand recently. 

Anthony had to go. I didn't, but chose to anyway. I had a good friend who delivered a baby in Bangkok and my youngest 3 children had never been. 3 days and 2 nights in that continual concrete maze of a city.

Really though, we got in late the first night and left suuuuper early the 3rd day, so in actuality, we really just spent one full day there.

We opted for hanging with our friends over going to many of the usual tourist places.  Sure, we gave up prime photo-ops- Bangkok may be made of dirty concrete, but the Grand Palace alone makes the value of your "Bangkok" photo album on facebook worth a few likes and even some comments.

Alas, catching up with favorite people won the day.  An indoor playground so we could chat without sweating, lunch with mango sticky rice, naps, a taxi ride, dinner, followed by a boat and then a sky train ride pretty well filled up our day.

Oh. I should 'splain.
Our friends also have 4 kids, aged 6 and under. (Crazy people Birds of a feather flock together!)
Here's 7 out of 8 of them on the sky train. 

Indeed I love my life and all that my kids are experiencing as TCK's.  They have become good little travelers. 

But, lets go behind-the-scenes just so you can hear some of the things that never make it into photos:

We have meltdowns. Isaiah will. not. stop. kicking. the. seat. in. front. of. him. on. any. given. airplane.  On this particular trip, when we got back to Malaysia and headed toward baggage claim, Birdie stopped. She literally refused to take another step. The backpack she loves with ALL of her pint-sized heart had done her in. It was too heavy. She had gotten up too early. Had to sit in her seat for too long.  So while Anthony's arms were full of Birdie and other bags, it left me to keep Isaac and Isaiah from wrestling each other as we walked out of the terminal.  It was hot, too. (the heat don't play and neither do I.)


So see? Normal kid stuff.  So maybe I just want to clarify with this way-too-long tangent that kids are kids while you travel, and they can still be considered "good travelers" even with the occasional whine or need to be carried.

And so it goes, the wanderlust comes over you and you take eight children on public transportation in a crowded city of like a gazillion people. It's hot too. (The heat index is directly related, yea, even joined at the hip to the crazy-index. If one goes up....)  Like I said, our kids are good travelers so no particularly strange stories happened or anything, just the general mayhem of corralling little bodies and wandering, pokey little legs, and locals who are culturally obliged to touch cute children on the face. It was fun AND it was tiring AND we're good with all that. 

The above photos of the pink car are the best proof I can offer that 13 people can fit into an average-sized sedan. (12 of us + taxi driver =13 for the math-impaired)

We highly recommend doing any kind of travel you can with your family. Young ones too!  I would say that carload is proof that we're not the only ones who think that way, either!

Now, onto a very important item to note if you find yourself in Thailand:

Schweppes Lime Soda.

Trust me on that. Trust me with a capital AWESOME, trust me. 

On our boat ride I felt Ivy's first tooth!

We ended our night by taking the obligatory tuk-tuk ride. The guy overcharged us because he "didn't have change." The photo of Isaiah (and the photobombs from Daddy, Ivy, and Birdie in the side view mirrors by happenstance) was worth the price.  

I'd do it again too! We got to hold that sweet tiny babe, to congratulate our friends in-person, and to watch heads turn as that many foreigners with that many children traipsed around Bangkok.  Sure a lot of hand-sanitizer is involved as they touch every inch of public transport.  But it's real talk when I say our friends made the mango and sticky rice sweeter, the lime soda tangy-er, and the sun less hot.

Actually not. No. The sun was still very very hot. But our fellow crazies made it a little more bearable.  And to have gotten to go and experience another place as a family is sweet sweet icing on the cake!