Day 5 - Auntie Eunice's Wedding

I was so glad that I could hear the alarm and didn't oversleep. I hit the snooze button a couple of times though.

The next hour or so passed in a frenzy getting the kids ready, packed last minute clothes and whatever for the wedding as well as the balance of our trip. In the midst, I forgot the charger and my office hp and still forgot the sunhat. Lol. Never mind, so long as we have the passport, air tickets and money.

All ready for the big day.

Bfast was completed pathetically in the taxi. At least the taxi uncle was nice enough for us to eat in his car.

Rehearsal before the big task.

With the beautiful bride.

Finally the big role that was successfully completed. No, they didn't ruin the wedding. Hehe.

Lil Isaac got restless and insisted to leave the church bcos he saw a playground earlier and couldn't resist the temptation. While waking down the stairs, mummy also cannot resist and asked him to pose bcos he looked so handsome in his little suit.

It wasn't long before the other guests joined us at the reception. Lil Shauna asked me to braid her hair so that she could take picture with the bride. She was so cute, asking me where was the q. Too much theme park and q-ing to take pictures with the mascot.

With tired and restless kids, we decided to head back to the airport though we were early. It was a great choice. We realised that Lil Isaac had outgrown not only his suit, which was actually from his graduation concert last year but also his shoes and his little toes were hurting. We shopped and got new shoes and the kids spent the remaining time making friends at their favorite T2 playground.

Time passedo so quickly and soon we were in the plane and the next moment, hello Bangkok again. We tried to do some night market shopping but the kids were way too tired. It is the perfect setting for tantrums to try to drag tired kids for shopping and we didn't want that.

We had pizza takeaway for dinner. Though Mr Fever had left, Lil Isaac still had poor appetite and I was willing to feed him any food so long as it loads him with calories. He is so skinny after a week of fever. Sob.

Sleep was so easy. I was already asleep before my head landed on the pillow. Lol.

Mummy Lim

Bangkok Day 4 Part 2 - Caturday Cafe

Despite the lure of the aircon room and the bif comfy bed that was calling out to us, we made it out for the 2nd attraction of the day. Ok, the room and bed wasn't ours but it was seducing us the same. We didn't have a room for the night bcos we were flying back to attend Auntie E's church wedding.

Long story short, Auntie E wanted the kids to be flower girl and page boy and we were all excited about it. After we booked the air tickets and hotel, we realised that her wedding was right smacked in our holiday. I was quite sure I didn't know about her wedding date when I was making the booking or maybe my forgetful brain forgets everything - tell tale of old age. We were all upset yet refused to cut short our holiday and made the drastic decision to fly back for the wedding and then back to Bangkok to continue with the holiday. Yes, we are crazy. Yes, we took aeroplane like it was the MRT. The budget air tickets did hurt our pocket a little. 

Now, back to the 2nd attraction - Caturday Cafe. Nothing thrills kids more than animals and those were what we had. I Google and found a cat cafe near to our hotel. It was right next to the BTS station that was about 8 mins walk away. It was easy to find the cat cafe, located together with a cluster of restaurants. 

The kids were overjoyed. Look at what greeted us.

Picture time. Even the exteriors looked so good.  

We had to wash our hands prior to entry. Even the tap was so cute. How not to be excited?

There was no minimum order required. The adults had drinks while the kids chased after the cats. We bought snacks for the cats and I couldn't tell if the cats were more excited for the kids. 

It was Fionne's bday the next day and we ordered cake but nobody was interested and adults were "forced" to eat the beautiful cakes.

The kids happily took over as the official photographer and waited so patiently to take closeup pictures of the cats.

We headed back to the hotel for some dinner before a cab to the airport at about 8pm. It cost us THB 300 for a meter cab including toll. There was a bad jam, the taxi was crawling even on the expressway but we buffered enough time and made it in time. 

The kids fell asleep on the cab. We had an early and hot morning and a long day. Lil Isaac continued to nap while waiting for the plane.

And on the plane. We each had an "extra" seat and the kids slept more comfortably.

We touched down at 2ish in the morning and collapsed into bed upon reaching home. By the time I got ready to hit the pillow, the alarm said that I had 3 hours before it would go off. What? Unfriendly.. yawn.

Mummy Lin

Bangkok Day 4 Part 1 - Reclining Buddha

After alighting from the train, we basically followed the crowd and they exactly led us to the exit where all the cabs were waiting. The easiest way to the hotel, Center Point Pratunam hotel was definitely via cab. After some bargaining, it was THB 200 per cab.

It was way too early and the rooms were not ready. The itinerary of the day was to take the river express boat to some temples. We decided that since we were in Thailand, we should at least attempt some cultural stuff. We changed into temple appropriate attire and headed to the pier via BTS for the boat. The 1 day pass at THB 150 each, half price for kids. 

The view to the temple was nice.

It wasn't a long ride to the Temple of Reclining Buddha but it was a hot, hot, hot, hot day. We merely got off the boat and after a few minutes walk, we decided that we needed brunch at a coffee house along the way bcos it was the only air con restaurant. It didn't matter what cuisine or whether the food was tasty. We had more important agenda.

We reluctantly pressed on after brunch; we had come so far after all. The temple was magnificent. The Buddha structure was really huge!

We had to teach the kids how it is ok to go to the temple to admire the culture and architecture and to respect but not believe or partake in whatever rituals. We went around some more but decided to go bcos it was simply too hot. Even ice creams barely helped.

To fully utlise our day passes, we thought that we should go for some river cruise and decided to take the river boat all the way to the end. It was supposed to U-turn at the last stop. We made one discovery - the Chao Payra river is freaking long. It took us at least 40 mins to reach the final pier. We had to disembark and board the returning boat.

At the pier, we were surprised to see fish food for sales and we were wondering where were the fishes? We bought a big bag of bread and found that the river was filled with huge cat fish that surfaced the moment we started throwing the bread into the river. The picture didn't capture the cat fish. They were really huge!

Shortly, the interest moved from fish to pigeons. So many of them!

We took the river boat for another 30 mins before alighting at "I am not sure where" to get a cab back to hotel. It cost so nice to be back in comfort. I am city mouse. I like air con.

The rest of the afternoon was spent resting, walking some street market for snacks and shopping in their 7-11. Their 7-11s are really good with huge variety. The 7-11 was our best friend for the next days.

Mummy Lim

Chiang Mai Day 3 Part 2 - Sleeper Train

We considered taking flight from Chiang Mai. Domestic flight wouldn't cost too much but we dread the thought to have to travel to the airport and waste 2 hours waiting for the flight. Then we saw that there is a sleeper train that ply Chiang Mai and Bangkok. Coincidentally, ah yee took that when she visited Bangkok and Chiang Mai and she found the experience great; the sleeper train was comfortable. She bought 2nd class tickets and commented that they were good enough.

We decided on the sleeper train too. It cost about the same as flight tickets but we would save on time as well as one night hotel charges. It was so easy to buy tickets online. I found a blog dedicated to trains in many countries. It is so informative. Check this out.
http://www.seat61.com/Thailand.htm

Our tickets were booked through the recommended agent; the same one that ah yee used. We eventually decided on 1st class tickets given that it would be private cabins. We have too many kids to take risk. We arrived 30 mins before departure time to collect ticket at hotel opposite train station. It was so easy and smooth. We had a simple dinner before boarding the train. Lil Isaac didn't eat much and fell asleep. It had been a long day and Mr Fever though milder, was still very persistent.

I actually read bad reviews about dirty 1st class cabins filled with roaches and was initially worried. It turned out alright.. ok, acceptable if you don't look too hard or in details. The cabin comes with a simple basin.

Toilet is still on shared basis and it was very dirty and smelly. We refrained from drinking too much water bcos it was so bad. 

The kids were very excited as it was their 1st experiment and they kept running from our cabin to the other cabin, which was several cabins apart. I was worried and watched them whenever they got out of our cabin to make sure that they ended in the other one. They were also very noisy and I don't think the other passengers appreciated the noise. 

To cut the din, we sent everybody off to bed when bed set up at about 9pm. The bed setting was very interesting. The skilled attendant got the bed fixed in less than 5 mins. We had a thin mattress with clean cover, blanket as well as pillow with fresh cover. 

The kids were all ready to go to bed after a long day. The only down was that there was no shower facilities and we sweat like pigs in the day. We did wipe down though and I was very thankful for the strong aircon.

Ah yee already warned about the strong aircon especially on the upper deck. Lil Isaac and I shared one of the lower deck while Lil Shauna took the other lower deck. Daddy Lim took tye upper deck.  We were fully prepared with jackets and long pants and towels as extra blankets for the kids.

It was a rough night for me. To begin with, it was a small bed to share with boy who isn't that little anymore. There was plenty of movement and sound too and it did get very cold in the middle of the night. I didn't sleep well. Lil Isaac kept tossing and turning too. He felt very warm in the night and I gave him another dose of medicine. Fever day 4. Shoo!

The next morning at the 5.30am, the attendant woke us up and converted the beds back to seats. The kids were reluctant to wake up.

The conversion all done in 5 mins. Next, the bfast that we purchased was served. The train arrived slightly late at 6.30am. Sunrise greeted us when we disembarked.

Hello Bangkok!

Overall, it was a great experience. The kids found it interesting too. We would definitely try  sleeper train again.

Mummy Lim

Chiang Mai Day 3 Part 1 - Elephant Park, Karen Tribe and Poopoo Paper Park

On the 3rd day, we woke up at 7am and decided that we would get 7-11 bfast food. Their 7-11 is amazing well stock with a huge variety of instant food. 

We also had our bags packed the night before and got ready to check out at 8.15am for a full day tour. My SIL had booked a tour guide with a big air con van to bring us around the entire day. Finally traveling in comfort. Shiok ah! 

The 1st stop was the Elephant Park that was about 1 hour from the hotel. There are many different elephant parks in Chiang Mai and I was surprised to see how many elephants there were in this park. The moment we entered the park, we were captivated by the scene of elephants bathing in the river.

We were just in time for the Elephant show. The elephants were trained to do many trick.

At the end of the show, the elephants were also taught to ask for tips. We gave some but preferred to use the money to buy food for the elephant instead. The tips go directly to the trainer; if we spend money to buy food, at least the elephants benefitted directly. We were told that an elephant needed to eat one tenth of its body weight per day, which means 300kg of food per day for a full grown elephant!

The kids had a lot of fun feeding the elephants. This particular one even wrapped its trunk around Lil Shauna. I wondered if it is trained to do so but the little girl was so thrilled.

We also fed milk to a baby elephant. The milk was gone so quickly, even before I had the chance to take out my hp for pictures.

The tickets to the Elephant Park included the elephant ride. I didn't want to ride elephant; there are so many papers saying that elephants aren't meant to be riden but there was no way trying to convince kids bcos every other human in the park was riding the elephants. I made Daddy  Lim go with kids instead while Popo and I waited.

It was a very long wait. While we were waiting on the platform, the elephants that were waiting for passengers were resting their head on the platform and looking at us with puppy eyes, as if asking us to buy food for them. We had to oblige.

They were gone for a long, long time. I heard that the elephants brought them down the river and up the mountain and a long route.  Poor elephants must be really tired. It was a right choice to skip the riding. At least they didn't have to carry an extra person.

The ox-cart ride was also included. This time, I was made to ride with the kids. I dont know if riding the ox-cart was any less cruel. To me, it was basically a very bumpy ride.

We had a simple buffet lunch and proceeded to a long river rafting ride. This was powered by the river current and steered by humans. I could tell that it was hard work.

The river rafting was actually quite safe and enjoyable until we were invaded by butterflies! These butterflies were flying everywhere and in every direction! I lost it when one of them flew right smack into my forehead. See! I told you butterflies are dangerous! Lil Isaac tried his best to protect me but was often too slow for these scheming creatures. There were so many of them that even Daddy Lim offered to switch seat with the boy to protect me. My hero! The remaining ride was so treacherous. By the end of the ride, I was mentally and emotionally drained. I felt so violated by the butterflies. Haha.

We left the Elephant Park and headed to the Karen Tribe. It was another tourist trap but we were tourists. This is one of the oldest ladies and with the longest neck.

Many of the long neck ladies were sitting around their stall weaving. I wonder if they feel like they were in a zoo. We didn't stay very long with the Karen Tribe. It felt awkward to hawk at them or openly take pictures of them. The feeling was really strange. Most of them had smart phone and are like us enjoying technology while displaying their special attribute, which is a tradition that traces years back. It was just plain weird.

We had some time and went to the Elephant Poopoo Paper Park right beside.

This was originally in my itinerary but didn't had time to fit in. It was cheap at THB 100 per pax and we had a guide, who explained that elephants had short digestive tract that made them pooed a lot bcos they eat alot. Their poop is actually very clean and contains a lot of fiber bcos of their diet.

Their poo doesn't make good fertiliser but can be used to make paper bcos of its high fiber content. The park was very insightful and the kids had fun making paper out of elephant poop and even make art and craft to bring home using paper from elephant poop.

We headed to the train station thereafter to get ready for an overnight train ride to Bangkok. That was our 1st ever such experience.

Mummy Lim