We are in a taxi, driving from Bangkok’s airport to our hotel, after a long and tiring 29 hour journey from Quebec City, Canada. Clinton’s sitting in front with the driver, and I’m siting at the back with my precious little girl on me (there’s no car seat for her). I’m holding her tightly, since I know it’s dangerous if we get in an accident (as if it would change something!).
We are very tired, it’s very hot, but we are happy we finally arrived. Emma-Kate is watching Paw Patrol on my iPhone. She is such a good girl, behaving and happy, that I allow her to relax in front of my tiny cell phone screen.
After a while, she gives me back my phone and just cuddle closer to me. I think she is about to fall asleep in my arms. I always like to cuddle with her, so this is a precious moment for me. Clinton looks back at her, and notice she doesn’t look good. I look at her more closely, and she has tiny drops of sweat on her upper lip. We ask her if she feels good, and she nods. I ask her again if her chest feels weird, and she said no. One minute pass, and we finally know what’s going on with her: she throws up her entire last meals, all over her, all over me and all over the back seat.
Yep! Welcome to Bangkok, Thailand!
Even if I am exhausted, I stay calm and reassure her. She never threw up like that before. It is disgusting! But we should arrive 5 minutes later at our hotel, the Miramar Hotel Bangkok, which I think is good news. We will arrive too early to check in, but we will at least clean up a little bit.
I am so disappointed at the Miramar Hotel Bangkok front desk clerk. He saw us coming, dripping in ‘you know what’. We couldn’t check in yet because it was too early. I understand he couldn’t do anything about that. In fact, I didn’t expect much from him, but I would have liked that he would at least point us to a bathroom where we could clean up and change clothes. And he could have offered to have our clothes washed, since the hotel has a laundry service. No. Nothing. For a 4 star hotel, I was very disappointed. His coldness in face of our misfortune troubled me a little bit.
We have been to Thailand before, and even in Bangkok, people are very nice, friendly, smiling and particularly nice to kids. But not this hotel clerk. He didn’t seem to care at all about us or Emma-Kate’s health.
We left our bags there and went for a walk in the city. Since we already visited Bangkok in 2010, we weren’t in a rush to visit all of the main attractions. But Bangkok has so much to offer! We still wanted to stroll around town and visit what we thought shouldn’t be missed, given our situation. And Emma-Kate didn’t get sick again. It only happened once! Good news 😉
Wat Pho
Wat Pho is a gorgeous temple where it is nice to just walk around and admire the vistas. You will find here the largest reclining Buddha (15m tall and 46m long), all covered in gold. Just so you know, it is extremely rude to turn your back to a Buddha, according to Buddhists. So we behaved!
The serenity of the place and the calming smell of the incense makes it a famous meditating place.
We visited Wat Pho on our first day in Bangkok. After taking hundreds of pictures and eating a delicious meal, we went back to our ‘friendly’ hotel (not!) and went to bed early. Very early!
Wat Arun
Since Wat Arun was being renovated at that moment, there wasn’t too many tourists around. And that’s fine with me! After a very short ferry ride across the very busy and brownish Chao Phraya River on an old boat, we arrived directly at Wat Arun, also known as the Temple of the Dawn. It has been called this way because the first light at dawn reflects off the surface of the temple with pearly iridescence. As a Buddhist Temple, we have to dress modestly to visit (shoulders covered and short or skirts to the knees).
Chinatown
On the second day of our Bangkok stay, after admiring Wat Arun, we did a little bit of shopping in Chinatown. Bangkok’s Chinatown is the most beautiful Chinatown we have seen yet (better than the one is San Francisco). It is loud, it is very crowded and it is fascinating!
Thai Food
After visiting 26 countries, Thai food is my favorite food in the world! Greek food comes next, and I have to say the competition is pretty close!
The different flavors, the freshness of the ingredients, the spices and hot peppers, and the smile that comes with the service is unmatched. It is delicious!
Thai People
Thai people are almost all very nice and very friendly. They are more than happy to help (and sometimes expect a little payment in return!). They smile a lot! It struck us last time we were here. We were just back from Vietnam, and the attitude difference between the people was astonishing. Not that Vietnamese aren’t nice. They are very helpful too. But they just don’t smile as spontaneously.
And Thai people like kids! They all smiled and waved at Emma-Kate! She is a star here! I can’t wait to see how she will react to Canadian’s feedback when we will come back home!!
In Bangkok, the pace of life is hectic. People are driving fast and they seem to be in a hurry to get places. On the other hand, we noticed that the streets are clean (at least downtown).
Families With Young Kids and Disabled Travelers
We decided to travel with our jogging stroller. It is big, yes, but its large wheels make it easy to walk on uneven pavement. Even if it is a large stroller, we managed to walk through huge crowds and tiny passageways (like in Bangkok’s Chinatown). I cannot imagine a family trip without a stroller. It’s easy for Emma-Kate to nap and it gives her her own private space when she gets tired and fuzzy. So if you want to bring your stroller to Bangkok, just be sure the stroller’s suspension is sufficient!
Even if we managed to walk around pushing a large stroller, I cannot imagine someone in a wheelchair doing the same thing, unless someone is ready to help them, push them and lift them to get to high sidewalks. Hiring a tour guide with a vehicle is a much better option. And since much of Bangkok’s main attractions and most famous hotels provide accessible access, it is totally possible for anyone to visit Bangkok.
Next destination: Phnom Penh, Cambodia!
