Back in Bangkok

We flew back to Bangkok from Khao Lok (via Surithani) instead of taking the 12 hour train. Flights with Air Asia are so inexpensive that flying only cost $13 per person more than the train. This is also helped by the fact that we are travelling with carry-on luggage only, as Air Asia charges for every bag. 

Our 2 days were spent at The Marriott Courtyard hotel - a level of luxury we can't usually afford on our budget but were able to buy with points. (Side note - if you travel a lot, check out the Marriott Visa card as it is one of the only Canadian credit cards for which you don't get charged the 3% currency conversion fee).   It was a different experience staying right downtown in the tourist area compared to the neighbourhood we stayed in the previous visit, but we all enjoyed both locations a lot. We are a city family!

Over the previous two weeks, we had done a lot of swimming and Zac had developed quite a painful ear infection. We had heard that Bangkok hospitals are very good - definitely much better than Cambodia - so we thought we should take him to have it looked at. 

I'm so glad we did!  The hospital was excellent, probably better treatment than we would have got in Toronto. Very fast and the doctor showed us the inside of the infected ear with video technology. (Yuchi!). The good news is that he cleaned him up and gave us antibiotics and ear drops so all will be well. (4 days later - zac's ear seems all better). Of course the medical care came with a bill, which we are not used to in Canada, but it will be covered by our travel insurance. (We used Nomads in case you are wondering). 

Other than great medical care, our other discovery in Bangkok was great street food. We had been seeing delicious looking food on the streets but were a little hesitant to try it. We found a "food fair" type cafeteria with "The Best Street Food in Bangkok" (their claim). It was a bunch of locally owned stalls, but they were located inside, very clean with refrigeration. We felt like this was the "go ahead" we needed to try everything. And we did. Yum. 

Vibrant downtown Bangkok:

First Week Abroad - Bangkok

Our first week abroad in Bangkok is coming to a close. We stayed in an apartment in Thon Buri, which is 1 "sky train" stop from the river ferries. Danny did a great job finding this place on AirBNB. It took about 5 days to get over our jet lag so it was great to have our own place so we could have breakfast at 3:00 in the morning. Our apt also had a beautiful pool, ping pong table and work out room - all of which we used extensively. 

Most of our days started with a few hours in the pool and then a few hours seeing some sights and eating (yum!) before returning home. Our first outing was to the Aquarium - while it didn't compare to either Toronto or Vancouver's aquarium, but met our objective of keeping zac awake to overcome jet lag and to enjoy the A/C. 

We are now quite comfortable with getting around the city, using either the train or ferry. We figured out how to use the "local" ferry, which is cheaper and runs more frequently than the tourist ferry. This all seemed overwhelming at first but we quickly figured it out and now feel quite comfortable getting around Bangkok. Zac was initially stressed at the uncertainty of it all but after a few successes he is starting to relish the adventure (sometimes). 

While most tourists spend their time seeing many temples, we only went to see one - Wat Pho with an impressively huge reclining Buddha. However, after one day of temples I knew zac was done with that!  

We also went surfing at the Flow House (fun!), celebrated Chinese New Year in Chinatown, and enjoyed some local parks, especially watching the Thai men play this very cool game like volleyball but using only feet. 

Food was a highlight for Danny and I but is challenging with Zac as he is a pretty picky eater and is hesitant to try Thai food. Luckily he feels right at home eating Japanese and Chinese food which are widely available. Today we had our first big success as he tried, and liked, Pad Thai.  I am hoping this is a harbinger of things to come and he will be more open to trying new food (that or starve!). I've also learned how to order food so that it is not spicy (Mai phet na kha) so that increases zac's confidence level. 

I'm really enjoying learning to speak Thai and try to use a few new words every day. It is a beautiful language, and relatively simple grammatically, but tonal so hard to pronounce. In Bangkok there are a lot of signs in English, and many people speak some English, so a few Thai phrases go a long way!

Tomorrow we are heading to Khao Sok, a national park jungle, and staying at the guest house where Paul (Susan's son) met his wife Lek. While I'm looking forward to seeing some nature, I will miss Bangkok as we have really enjoyed our time here. 

However, we will be back in Bangkok in a couple weeks en route to our next stop.