Bangkok Day 7 - Kidzania and Home Sweet Home

Did I make it to the morning market? Of course I did, at 6am on the last day in Bangkok with my SIL. Many shops were not opened or opening when we arrived and we launched into operation A – don't think too hard, just buy.

We were in the market for about an hour and had a decent haul. I like shopping with like-minded people. We were like influencing each other to buy and I felt justified to spend money bcos my SIL was also shopping like there was no tomorrow. I like; she's perfectly living my principle. Lol.

Comparatively, I like shopping in Platinum Mall this trip. It is air-conditioned, more organized and the clothes appeared to be higher quality. What caused the difference? Must be the kids. Lol. The last trip, I was on my own, shopping in peace in the morning market but lugging 2 kids in Platinum mall and we barely made it through 2 levels. This time, Platinum mall was so enjoyable with Daddy Lim and Lil Shauna. I can't wait for the little girl to grow up and go shopping with me.

After the morning market, I even sheepishly asked to sneak a trip to Platinum mall again. The 2 skirts that I bought yesterday was so good and fitting. I just had to get more. Lil Shauna was my perfect shield and I persuaded her to go back to the mall with me on pretext of getting more T-shirts for her. It worked perfectly. I did buy 2 extra T-shirts for her but found the skirt shop and bought 5 more skirts for myself. Come on, they were dirt cheap, barely S$8a piece!

Our last attraction of our trip was Kidzania. We checked out and took a cab to Siam Paragon, which is super huge. The father and son playing afool. Aiyo.

Finally, Kidzania.

Fionne opted to go shopping with SIL instead. She is all grown up already. Only my brother and I tagged along with the kids. The rest R&R some corner. Shiok ah!

This was our 1st time to Kidzania. We had been to similar concept joints in Taiwan and Vietnam but never Kidzania. They operate about the same way and it wasn't hard to figure out. The 1st thing was to encash the 50 kidzo cheque given to every kid.

Then to be a vet looking after soft toy animals. Lol.

Green tea making; sorting the tea leaves.

Peanut snack making. I was slightly worried about Lil Isaac'started allergy. Nothing turn up. After sorting tea leaves, sort peanuts. Lol.

Police man. This particular job was interesting.  The kids went on patrol to look for a criminal via a given poster and was chasing the suspect around the park. The kids said that it was the best job.

Fireman - the must do job for every Kidzania and similar joint. They get to sit in a fire engine and put out a "fire".

The last stop was to the learn some magic and the kids each bought a magic trick. Final picture before we bid Kidzania goodbye.

We attempted to exchange gifts with the money earned but it wasn't enough to get something for each kid. Money is so difficult to earn. We ended up buying the money back instead.

The next hour past quickly, shuffling back to hotel and taxi to the airport. We had a simple dinner and the kids self entertained more. It was some song performance that even comes with an ending pose. Lol.

We boarded the plane and took off on time. All the kids concussed. We touched down at about 12.40am and as usual, a sleeping Lil Isaac. Gosh, I love this luggage, just the right size.

Even Lil Shauna was half awake and they continued sleeping in the cab and back home.

I slept at 3am after all the unpacking. It was a trip with very little sleep. Lol. However, it was a great family trip. We had a good combination of adults and kids activities, such that everybody had something that suits them. The kids had good companion and thoroughly enjoyed themselves. Most of their games though noisy were tame taht dont involved a lot of running and we need not fear losing any kid. Lil Shauna and Lil Isaac definitely had a lot more fun bcos of the 3Fs. I think they would miss the companion in our next solo trip. Yes, next one even though I don't know where yet. Lol. Lil Shauna and Felicia were particularly close this trip, doing everything together.

Let's start planning for the next trip. Yeah.

Mummy Lim

Bangkok Day 6 Part 2 - Shopping and Nanta

Having taken the nap, we were all fresh by the time we arrived back at the hotel. Leaving the 2 youngest to be hawked by the oldest, the rest of us headed to the Platinum mall across the street. We did not discriminate hor; they preferred to stay in the air con room to watch TV then tagged along with boring shopping. I couldn't stop grinning, my beloved shopping, you have waited too long for me and here I come. We all bought something and I of course had the biggest haul, I had to stick to my newly found Bangkok principle – when in doubt, just buy. Lol. The clothes were way too cheap. I rather buy and decide what to do with unsuitable clothing then to return to Singapore and regret and sulk.

When having a good time, time flies. Even Lil Shauna is starting to appreciate shopping on mummy’s sponsorship. We headed back to the hotel, had dinner before we headed to the Nanta show. Yes, Nanta show is in Bangkok. We missed it when we went to Seoul but caught it in Bangkok instead. Ironical isn’t it?

The last time we caught a Nanta show was 3 years back. Lil Shauna totally enjoyed it then while I had to exit the theatre midway with a crying boy. The boy was still feeling apprehensive despite plenty of encouragements from jiejie.

The show was so good. Lil Shauna enjoyed it thoroughly and could follow the storyline better now that she is older. She could still remember snippets of it from 3 years back. Lil Isaac started laughing midway too. I bet the best part for him is when the actors started throwing little balls to the audiences. He caught a few and we brought those back to the hotel.

We had some problem trying to get back to the hotel. The show was held in some remote place and we walked quite a while before we got cabs to get back to the night market near the hotel. Yes, more shopping but not extensive lah. It had been a long day. We went to bed but not after slight supper from our best friend’s place.

Our loot so far.. ok, these represented about 80% of our loot. Not bad huh.

Mummy Lim

Bangkok Day 6 Part 1 - Floating and Railway Market

By day 6, I was very shopping deprived. We were in the shopping paradise but I had yet the time to do shopping. It is not right and I must make it right. Despite only slept less than 4 hours the day before, I attempted to go to morning market. Who needs sleep when shopping is calling? Moreover, it was not normal shopping but shopping without a care and without 2 little monkies whining away. I just had to do it and had the alarm set at 5.15am. My attempt failed miserably; I didn't hear a single thing. Lol.

I jumped out of bed to bright sky. It was 6am. All hopes of the morning market melted bcos we were to meet the tour guide for a half day tour to the floating market and railway market at 7am. The markets were 1.5 hr drive away and we had to be early to avoid the crowd.

We had bfast from my best friend's place aka the 7-11. The kids barely eat; it was way too early. I should be laughing that there were even awake.

The van and guide were already waiting for us at the lobby and we set off for the long ride but in good spirit.

Nobody got killed despite the long ride. Most of the time, the kids self-entertained or stared into gadget. The guide attempted to tell us the history about Bangkok, the canels, the origin of the floating market and was constantly fighting to be louder than the kids. The kids were playing a noisy singing game that lasted a long time. But I had inner peace, so long as nobody fights or whines. Or maybe I got it easier bcos I was in the front row. Lol. Heng ah. I think the guide also gave up after a while. She was no match for the kids and no where near when it comes to stamina.

We finally arrived at floating market. The first thing was to hit the toilet, which wasnt that bad. We had seen worse. There were old school rides and the kids hopped on even if only a few minutes.

The 1st impression was good. Even Popo was excited bcos there were plenty of food. As we were really early, it wasnt crowded. Our tour at THB 700 for 10 came with the authentic manual boat steered and rowed manually. There were many other motorised boats but the guide said that authentic is the right way. The kids were all excited.

A little bit of history of what I could hear and remembered. Long, long time ago, over 200 canels were dug in Bangkok and people travelled around on boats and settlements sprung wherever such waterways were. This was until they realised the efficiency of motorcars. All the canels were filled to make roads except this one that was eventually turned into a floating market.

There were still people staying along the canel, however largely old folks.

There were so much yummy food from the boat vendors. We were told that the old aunties and uncles are the authentic ones with great food. Usually the younger vendors focused on souvenir with cut throat prices. I got very excited buying and eating food while on the boat. We had bbq chicken wings, bbq chicken, mango sticky rice, coconut ice cream, pad thai and alot more. They were seriously delicious. It was so interesting how the vendors would find their way to our boat when we indicated interest to buy.

Towards the end of our ride, the canels started to get crowded. It was indeed a great choice to start early. The weather was cool and breezy as well. The overall experience was great.

We considered concluded the floating market with more shopping; there were plenty of shops along the canel. Then the kids saw this vendor with this baby slow lorries and they went crazy bugging to hold and take picture with the animal. It cost THB 100 just to do so. I know that we were
Fueling illegal wildlife but it was way too cute!

We continued with Part 2 of the tour – railway market. It feels very much like Taiwan’s Shi Fen but more to the extreme. Vendors spread their products along the train track and shoppers walked on the track. It was crowded and I was more worried about losing a child or 2. At specific timings, the train would come and the vendors would clear whatever that would be knocked down by the train while leaving neatly stack products that could go UNDERNEATH the train.

The guide brought us to the end of the market, which is supposed to be a good spot to take in the sight. Just nice, a shaded tent to wait for the train.

Here comes the train. See how all the shelters were drawn.

The moment it moved past the stall, the vendors put back their product and the shelter and all these took place within seconds. The next moment, all traces of a live train moving past disappeared.

We went "wahhhhhh" at the sight but right after that, we dived for ice cream and ice coffee for survival before heading back to the hotel. Lol. The ride back was perfectly quiet. The kids had an early morning and we needed them to survive a late night. We played the “everybody keep quiet for 10 minutes” game. Of course it worked. After 10 mins of silence, almost everybody was in lala land.

Mummy Lim

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