Bangkok Day 3: The Aquarium, The Kids Perform On The Train, And We Arrive In Hua Hin

Day 3 (this trip has been going by entirely too quickly!) was mostly at the aquarium. The Bangkok Aquarium is known as one of the best aquariums in Asia, which we could totally understand. Pro tip: Siam Paragon Mall has a special discount card that gives you a 20% discount at the aquarium (and also a discount at Kidzania, but we decided not to go since it would be boring for the twins). This can be found at the information booth and you need to show your passport.

When we got on the train, it was so full that we almost had to push the kids on. The good news is that there was nowhere to fall because there was no room to move. So at least we had that. We only had to go 6 stops, so it was a pretty quick ride. After the first stop, Chloe suddenly started singing, fairly quietly, the song How Far I'll Go from Moana and the people around us laughed like crazy. She started singing louder, and more people laughed. Soon enough, the three of them were singing the song at the top of their lungs to the delight of 8 million passengers.

Had there been any room, I would have had the kids walk around with a hat. :-)

We got to the mall and went to the aquarium, passing about 8 more Japanese restaurants (and one McDonald's) - seriously, what is going on here? We wonder if this accounts for the rise in prices in this country.

While the price of transportation is still low, as are accommodations, the price of attractions are very high and completely equivalent to what we pay back home. Diapers are more expensive than what we pay at home on sales, but their diapers are really great, so at least that.

The aquarium was awesome, the kids were totally excited the whole time, running from one place to another. We even got to see a play with real mermaids! (Ha.) All in all, we were there about 2.5 hours, including a quick stop to eat. It's really nice, bu definitely not a half-day activity, at least not at these ages. We didn't have to pay for the twins, but it was still an expensive day out. Nevertheless, everyone had a great time.

By this time, everyone was exhausted. We went back to the apartment, and the kids took a nap. We decided to take it easy for the rest of the day and went to the pool on the roof of the building. OMG the building is so beautiful and the pool is gorgeous (there's also a kiddie pool) and the view is divine.

After getting back and showering everyone we had a light dinner, did the wash (so much better than carrying 2.5 weeks of clothing - and having to do 4 loads of laundry when we return), packed and went to bed.

The following morning, we were picked up at the building and made the 3-hour drive south to Hua Hin. We chose Hua Hin as a location for several reasons, the first being it's proximity to the Wildlife Friends Foundation Thailand where Rony and I volunteered back in 2010 (and he was also there 3 years earlier). Second, we are not island people, and we did not want to go up north with them this time. Third, Hua Hin is a gorgeous sea-side town that has plenty to see.

We prepared a lot of stuff for the kids to do in the car, but fortunately, after singing the entire Moana soundtrack a few times, the kids all fell asleep, and we actually woke them up in Hua Hin. Score. Let's hope it works this well on the way back. Rony was brilliant and had us picked up at 10 am, which means their nap time would fall on the drive, and it worked perfectly. I married well.

We arrived at our Airbnb in Hua Hin and OMG it is the most amazing place ever. The building is beautiful and the apartment is gorgeous, but the really wonderful part is their swimming pool for the kids, which has the water splashing for about 2 hours a day, but is open all day long.

Sophie went ballistic when she saw that she was going to be sleeping on a bunk bed (our Facebook friends have probably seen the video). We changed clothes and went right downstairs to the pool for about an hour.

After showering, we went to the Night Market where we met my camper from Texas! It was a very exciting reunion, seeing as we hadn't seen each other in around 17 years - the last time I saw her, she was 9 or 10 years old! We had dinner at the Hua Hin Seafood restaurant - the food was excellent! The staff, of course, was in love with the kids and brought out two rocking horses for the kids to ride. Rony was commended for having such great kids because they took turns riding them.

We drugged them.

Not really.

At this point, they were exhausted and we took a Tuk Tuk back to the condo. Seeing as it is a holiday here in Thailand now, the Songkran, there was a lot of traffic and a lot of people in town. We'd like to say the kids fell asleep straight away, but they were up until almost 11 pm at this point, since they were so wired, so we gave them away and continued on the trip alone.

Not really.

I'd like to say we turned in early ourselves, but considering they were only quiet at 11 pm, early wasn't an option. However, we knew we had a long day ahead with some great activities, so we went to bed fairly soon after that.

Bangkok Day 2 - Dinosaur Planet and Snow Town - Fun with Kids!

As I wrote in our previous post, the kids passed out around 6:15 pm and we followed suit around 7. As pretty much everything only opens at 10 am, we weren't in a hurry to get up and go out, so we had a slow breakfast and then headed out toward Dinosaur Planet, which was a 10-minute walk from our AirBNB apartment.

A quick word about the apartment: It is situated in a great location, walking distance to a lot of attractions (including the Sky Train) or just a couple of stops away. The building complex is very new and beautiful, the apartment was large enough for us, but it had no spoons and not enough forks. Turns out that the previous renter stole their silverware.

We headed out to Dinosaur Planet a bit later than we had intended because one of the kids had a 20-minute meltdown (feeling right at home in Thailand), and it was during this time that we learned that the word for twin in Thai is buffet (or something along those lines), which makes perfect sense because you have a choice and you want to eat them both up.

Dinosaur Planet, even though small, was really nice, we started out with this movie introducing the place and there were a few rooms where they explained the place and the history of the dinosaurs. At this time, we kept being rushed through the rooms and it felt a bit like our tour guide in Beijing who kept yelling at us to move and when to take pictures.

But I digress once again.

There were a few things to see and rides to go on, like a 3D ride that was actually quite cool and a bit frightening, though Sophie mostly laughed. The kids got to "ride" dinosaurs (which was for an extra fee) and they also dug for dinosaur bones. They kept not wanting to leave anywhere, but it was about 4000 degrees outside (Celcius, Fahrenheit, Kelvin, whatever you want) so we kept looking for air-conditioned areas. The park was fairly expensive considering its size, but the kids had tons of fun so it was worth it. We walked back to the apartment, though this was already nap time, and had lunch at another Japanese restaurant along the way.

This is a great time to mention that I (Talia) kept saying Japan instead of Thailand and Yen instead of Baht for 2 days straight (actually till the end of the trip). It was both funny and annoying, and the truth is that there is so much Japanese in the area now, at least where we were, that my mess-up it is clearly understood. To me at least. To Rony, too, because he married me and he has no choice. But at least he laughs so I have that going for me.

After Ethan napped and the girls did everything in their power to stay awake and make sure the entire building was awake as well, we took the Sky Train to Ekkamai mall, which was 2 stops away. This is where we learned that our decision to leave the stroller at home was wise - there are no escalators or elevators, so you must take the stairs. At some points, there are escalators up to the platforms, but not everywhere.

I have to mention this is only a problem for twin/double strollers. Had we only had one small child, we would have been able to easily fold the stroller and hold the kid in the other hand and this wouldn't be an issue. I don't regret taking the double stroller instead of 2 singles, though, as I think one is more comfortable.

We walked into the mall and it was all in Japanese. At this point, Rony turned around to me and said, OK, I get it.

I have been validated!!!

There were two separate places here that we had wanted to go to and we hadn't yet decided on one. That is, Rony hadn't decided on one, I couldn't really remember what the choices were. But as we were going up the escalator, I saw the sign for Snow Town and said this is the one. I had no idea what it was, but it looked like a cool place.

We paid way too much money and had to also purchase 2 pairs of socks (and we were off easy as we still had socks in the bag from the flight for 2 of the kids). We were given snow boots and we walked in.

We were thoroughly unimpressed. The first room was basically a coffee shop with a Christmas tree and stands that charged extra fees for all kinds of stuff. This was already the second time that day that we saw that you pay an entry fee somewhere and it doesn't include everything. We continued to walk through, already depressed about the fees we paid. We passed a gymboree that looked small yet cool, but wanted to see the snow parts before going to the gymboree.

Once the kids saw the snow they were shocked - they hadn't seen any before. We rented a sled (because yes, additional fees), but took just one and decided the kids would take turns. Rony showed Sophie what to do (being from Texas, I had never sled before myself), and then we took turns also taking the twins, holding them between our legs. Honestly? It was so much fun. After about 15 minutes, someone gave us another sled, the first gift of the day that was given to the kids.

We probably sled for about an hour and a half. We ended up making them leave so we can see more of what the complex had to offer. We went to the gymboree, and thought it is small, it was really nice. Fortunately, the exorbitant price we paid included all-you-can-drink coffee. Yey! It's the little things.

About 15 minutes in, I took a selfie covered in gymboree balls, and some other local mom saw what I did, laughed her butt off, and then came in and did the same - then she called over her friend and had her do the same.

Talia Klein Perez - setting mom trends since 2017.

Once again, we had to forcefully remove them so we could move on to another room after Chloe got a squeaky doll from an employee. The next room we went to was an arcade that the kids really enjoyed, and then we were kicked out because the place closed and we were the last people there and whoops we were there for over 2 hours even though we didn't think we would stay for even one. Had we not been kicked out, we would have absolutely stayed another hour or two - the kids would have totally sled some more. Ultimately, we had an amazing time and it was unquestionably worth the money we paid. Plus, it was an experience that was completely new to 4 out of 5 of us, which is priceless.

The way back was a bit difficult, we were having so much fun that we didn't see it was already 8 pm, well past the kids' bedtime, and by the time we got back it was after 9 pm and the kids were simultaneously exhausted and wired. It took forever to get them to bed, and us as well.

All in all, it was an amazing day, and it was hard to imagine that we could have another wonderful day like that, but we did, and we will let you know about that later on.

Those of you who are our Facebook friends can see the photos there. Since our kids are in them, we aren't really publishing them here on this public forum.

Bangkok - the flights and day one

Sawadeeka from Thailand!

The kids were, obviously, excited about the flights and the trip, even though they had no idea where we were going. The first flight went well, Aeroflot has totally awesome gifts for kids. Pro-tip: tell them your 2.8-year-old twins are 3. They can't give the gifts under the age of 3, and it's a shame because there is no real reason and the gifts are awesome.

As nicely as the flight went by, and as well-behaved (really) the kids were, it took me (Talia) the entire flight plus another hour on the next flight just to watch one movie.

Why?

Because - Mommy! - every time I - Mommy, I have to pee - wanted to  - Mommy! Water! - put my headphones - Mommy, where are my crayons? - on to watch - Mommy, I have to pee again - the movie I kept - Mommy, I want Daddy - being interrupted.

But I digress.

The headphones for the entertainment set are horrible, they are the type you put in your ears and we couldn't get the kids to use them because they were too big and uncomfortable. These are the type with a double-plug anyway so it isn't like bringing your own would be beneficial.

We rolled through Moscow Airpot, where apparently babies never ever have their diapers changed, thus leaving us to change the kids' diapers on a bench, and got on the next flight. After we boarded, I reminded Rony to say the twins are 3 when they come by with the gifts, which we did.

While it was uneventful as far as turbulence was concerned, the flight was pretty awful. We had purposefully taken a night flight and were just not permitted to sleep. The flight took off at 9:30 pm and landed at 10:30 am, so by all accounts, we should have been able to sleep.

But, no, and lack of sleep is a form of torture and babies know it and so does Aeroflot. UGH. 4 hours into the 8.5-hour-flight, people (including ours) fell asleep. Within half an hour, the cabin crew announced that everyone is required by law to fill out immigration forms for when we land - in freaking 4.5 hours! WTF? Was it really necessary to wake everyone up for this? So they hand out the forms, people start filling them in (not us because PFFT, no) and then they turn off the lights.

SRLSLY?

The announcement woke one of the twins, I think Chloe, and her crying woke Ethan, or it could have been the other way around, I have no idea because it was freakin' 2 am or 5 am or I don't know what time, but we should have been sleeping. We finally were given permission to go to sleep 4 hours into the flight.

For one and a half freakin' hours. No, that's fine, we don't need sleep. No worries. We will definitely not be taking Aeroflot again for an overnight flight. It was horrible. We had taken it specifically so everyone would sleep through the flight and no one did. The kids maybe slept 2 hours.

We landed in Thailand, the country that shall henceforth be called Land of the Chloe, and, by the time we got our luggage, the kids had been hugged, kissed and photographed by close to a dozen people. Everyone stops us everywhere we go, not unlike with Sophie when we were in South Korea and Japan. While they think all of the kids are cute, they are particularly enamoured by Chloe. Looks like she is the epitome of beauty here in Thailand.

We took a cab to our AirBNB apartment, which is perfectly located, put our stuff down and went on a search for food. Our host told us that we are very close to a mall so we went there. It's a gorgeous mall - and completely high-end: Gucci, Armani, Tiffany's - you know, our kind of shopping, especially since creating 3 humans in 2.5 years.

We went upstairs to the food court and ate a Japanese restaurant (ha) and, while Rony went to the grocery store, I got the kids ice cream. Then I get a text message from Rony (we both got data packages).

Rony: When you're done come to the grocery store
Me: OK
Rony: You have to come now
Me: Hold on, the kids are getting free stuff again

We came and, as omigosh there was the biggest Peppa Pig display I had ever seen.

Which isn't difficult seeing as it is the only display of Peppa Pig I had ever seen.

We let the kids pick some Peppa Pig cookies because we are on vacation and it isn't like we can be coerced to get it at home.

As it turns out, the store is a Japanese grocery store with a bunch of stuff that we used to eat in Japan and all kinds of things that Rony loves and it's entirely possible that we may have to leave one of the children here to accommodate everything Rony wants to buy when we get back.

When we were checking out, we suddenly heard the song Happy come on and then clapping. What? We walked outside and OMG, y'all, a flash mob of mall employees. I love Thailand.



We got back to our apartment, showered the kids and they went to bed.

At 6:00 pm. We barely kept them up past 5.

I quickly went to the 7-Eleven by the condo to get some stuff for breakfast and happened upon a parade! This week is the Thai festival Songkran, and this parade is one of the first parts of the celebration. I went to get milk and saw a parade. Score.

We also went to sleep around 7, after Googling "What to do in Bangkok at 6 am with children," because we needed a backup plan.

Turns out there isn't so much to do at 6 am in Bangkok with children, maybe a market. But that's OK because they ended up sleeping until after 7 am so score again.

In our next post, we will talk about day 2 in Bangkok, Dinosaur Planet and Snow Town.

Bangkok - Day trip to Ayutthaya (the former capital of Thailand)

As you may have read, yesterday we planned on taking it easy, seeing as we were still tired from the week of no sleep at the WFFT, but it didn't really work out the way we planned and we ended up being on our feet about 5 extra hours.

So today Rony wisely changed our plans and decided we should take a day trip to Ayutthaya instead since it involved a 1.5 hour train ride in each direction and would allow us to sight-see and rest simultaneously. Being the dutiful girlfriend that I am, I followed.

Also, I really can only find our hotel.

Ones of the rare whole Buddhas remaining in Ayutthaya ruins

Ayutthaya used to be the capital city of Thailand, and at one point was the largest city in the world when it boasted 1 million citizens. Most of the historical areas of the city are actually ruins, having been destroyed and left to burn back in 1767 by the Burmese army.

End of history lesson.

Let me start with this: Historic Ayutthaya is really nice. The town itself is kinda grungy, but that's OK.

Don't worry, they have 7-Elevens, so they're cool.

Anyway, most of what you'll see there is ruins, and it's a nice breath of fresh air (when you're not on the main road) - literally and a change from Bangkok.

Getting there is really easy. We took the Metro (MTR, not the Sky Train) to the end of the line, which is Hua Lamphong, and from there we took a Thai train. What I mean by Thai train is that everyone on it, except us and a few others, is Thai. It also means that the cost of the train's 1 hour and 45 min ride to Ayutthaya is - wait for it - $0.47. The touristy train comes less often and costs about 10 times as more, which still isn't a lot of money, but you can buy a lot in Thailand for that amount. And since we'll be backpacking for 4 months, we figure we should be as frugal as possible.

The train isn't air conditioned, but it's an open train, so there's lots of air, no bad smell, and people are walking up and down the aisles selling food and drinks all the time (and the locals buy it).

As everywhere else in Thailand, the people at the train station and everyone in Ayatthuya was incredibly friendly, none more than the very old and very drunk man on the train who "God bless you"'d us more than once and told me I was beautiful.

Now before you think the comment was because he was under the influence, please note that I was told 4 (four) times today that I am beautiful, none by people I know. Well, once I told Rony that, he said it too, of course, so that's 5, but the first 4 lead me to believe that either 1) Everyone in Thailand is drunk or 2) I am a goddess.

I'm going with #2.

We arrived in Ayatthuya, where the locals drive as marvelously as the people of Bangkok, and then took a 2-minute ferry to cross the river that cost a whopping 12 cents per person (per direction, 25 cents round trip, if you will) and then started walking.

So here's the thing. We didn't have a map and didnt' really know where we were going. But we never ended up in Harlem, Ayatthuya, so we were fine. As usual, everyone was very friendly, but most spoke even worse English than in Bangkok, so we took to asking the few tourists we could find where we could get a map.

The head of the sandstone Buddha image in Wat Mahathat

Eventually, after walking through another typical market, we arrived at our first location: Wat Mahathat. Like basically all of historic Ayatthuya, Wat Mahathat is mostly ruins of a Temple. The place was burned down, and even though much of it has survived, it is mostly black, and almost all of the Buddhas have had their heads chopped off. It's very sad, in our opinion, that someone would disrespect someone's beliefs that way, but most of the Buddhas are like that now there.

Once we finished walking around that area and the one by it, we sat down at the cutest coffee shop/guest house. Their mocha was great, and even though we didn't eat there, we loved that all of their food was offered in two different sized portions: Big and very big. The owner was incredible sweet and so very helpful. Since we didn't really know what we wanted to see (the change of plans was literally this morning), we asked her what the best places to go were, and she told us - and she was right.

One Love - the coffee shop/guesthouse/tuk tuk negotiator where we asked for directions

The best part was that she actually negotiated a tuk tuk price for us. Generally the rates there go for about 250-300 Baht ($7-9) per hour, but she got it down to 150 Baht ($4.70) for us by saying that we are her guests. The place is called Coffee One Love, and it's a bit more expensive than most places in Thailand that we've seen so far, but still very low budget, and we were so tired from updating the blog until 2 am, that we really needed the coffee pick-me-up (which was delicious).

The place we went next used to be a temple, also destroyed by the Burmese, named Wat Chaiwatthanaram. It was so far from everywhere else, that the only way to get there is by tuk tuk or cab. Another popular option is to rent a bike or a motorcycle, but we didn't want to die.

Wat Chaiwatthanaram

This temple is magnificent. At first we couldn't really understand why she recommended it, but when we saw the last side of the temple - wow. See for yourself in the Facebook pics, it's just gorgeous!

At this point, we had another hour that we could have been walking around for, but we were exhausted, so we went back to the guest house where we were picked up and walked the 30-minute walk back to the river and just waited for the train.

All in all, we had a really great time, and the (relative) rest today was really needed. Rony is lucky, he can sleep whenever he decides he wants to, but me? Not so much. So I'm updating the blog. It's only 12:20 am, though, but I will go to sleep soon becuase we have a long day tomorrow including temples in Bangkok and a flight to Chiang Mai.

Talk to y'all soon!

P.S. More pictures in our album on Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=567114&id=906005363&l=0f03363831 (We added today's pics to the Bangkok album)

Bangkok, Thailand: China Town, Siam Malls, Patagon, and Dean and Deluca's

So, as we started to say yesterday, we had a surprising first evening in Bangkok. Som, E.P.'s friend, asked us to meet her at the BTS sky train station Chong Nonsi. Our hotel is on Sukhumvit street and very close to the Sky Train, not to mention we have a complimentary Tuk Tuk from the hotel to the station, so it was very easy to get meet her.

Dean & Deluca Christmas tree

She invited us to the Christmas tree lighting ceremony at Bangkok's Dean & Deluca. Neither of us being from New York City, we had no idea what it was, but it sounded interesting. Som has all the pictures from last night, so one day we will get them and upload them, but for now our descriptions will have to do.

The Christmas tree is gigantic, there was Christmas music playing, and a live band was playing Christmas music, too. Santa Claus sang a lot and he had a great voice! I took a picture with him - my first! - and he gave me a lollipop. :-)

There was tons of great champagne and wine, and loads of small sandwiches of all kinds, and some incredible looking desserts, all on the house, of course. We met the manager of the place, John, who is a friend of Som's (since she eats there every day), and he invited us to lunch today, so these pictures below are from today.

While we were at the party, Som asked us if we knew what couch surfing was. We said of course - we will be couch surfing in Australia and Japan! And before we knew it, we were at our first couch surfing meet up that took place in a nice non-touristy area. It was so much fun - I can't imagine our first evening in Bangkok being any better.

Dean & Deluca desserts - yum

After updating our blog last night and uploading some pictures, we sank into a marvelous bed, infinitely more comfortable than at the volunteer center (but no complaints!). This was, of course, after enjoying our first hot shower in a week and staring at the marvel that is a flushable toilet (after not seeing one for a week as well).

This morning we got a bit of a late start, since we weren't able to get a train ticket to Chiang Mai and will be taking a flight with Air Asia instead, so we needed to extend our hotel stay here by another night. We went for brunch(ish) at Dean & Deluca and then set off.

Dean & Deluca line and menu

About D&D: The place is magnificent. We got salads first, mostly because we were craving fresh vegetables after over a week of stir-fry and fried foods. Here's a tip: Everything at D&D is so great, skip the salad. Babies eat more when they're 3 weeks old. The portion was tiny. But we also ordered a sandwich later which was delicious and definitely a normal (not huge) sized portion. We also had a couple of desserts, cause we had to, and they were also wonderful.

Rony eating an opera cake at Dean and Deluca

Talia eating a coconut cake at Dean and Deluca

Then we were off. We walked over to Silom, which was not far away, and then walked down. We originally intended on taking a boat up the river to the Wat Pho Temple, but we could only find one-hour (and more) tours that were incredibly expensive, so we forewent the boat ride and walked through China Town.

Walking through Silom was great, but China Town was such an awesome experience! First of all, I got the cutest traditional Chinese outfit for less than $7 for my 2.5 year-old niece to wear as a costume (or whenever if she likes it). But the colors and the smells and the sounds were so wonderful. Though we have to mention that the air pollution took its toll on us and we had to escape into a mall to be able to breath for a while.

China Town - so clean

One of the biggest things we noticed about Bangkok - not just China Town - is that it is absolutely impossible to find a trash can. The funny part about this is that it's a very clean city - we rarely saw trash on the streets, and definitely monumentally less than we should have had there been trash cans.

Yum!

The stands through China Town had basically everything you could possibly think of - and some you really couldn't - but it gave us a preview of what to expect when we're in China. Every few feet you could also buy all kinds of fruit, which is awesome, but the most common is the pineapple. The pineapple here, as we learned at the volunteer center WFFT, is incredibly aromatic and full of juice. This is great when a human eats it, less great when an elephant splats the juice on you.

But I digress.

We love that we have the option to buy something small to eat on the street when we need a bit of sugar instead of having to give in to the really fattening and expensive options elsewhere.



Sidenote: There's Dairy Queen in Bangkok! How random is that?

Back to us.

We enjoyed walking through China Town (and Silom) so much, that before we knew it, it was almost 4 pm, and the temple was closed - it closes at 3:30 pm. So we did what any self-respecting person would do.

We went shopping.

We didn't actually get anything at the shopping center we went into, but it was so much fun to browse. After we got enough "fresh" air at the shopping center, we decided to take a bus back to the Sky Train, seeing as, for some reason, the Metro and Sky Train doesn't reach China Town, and a two-hour walk back was not an option.


Luckily, we plan ahead and we already knew what bus routes would take us to the Sky Train.

Not.

We had no idea how to get there, other than by foot. Fortunately, the Thai are incredibly friendly and helpful, and once we found a random bus station, a lovely lady pointed us in the direction of the station that we needed. Once there, we asked another Thai man which line we would need and he let us know. Not only that, but when a different line came by, he walked up to us to let us know that line would take us there, too. Wonderful man.

We got on the bus, that had like, one other tourist on there (it's a regular Bangkok bus), and instead of paying when you get on the bus, there is a lady whose sole job is to walk up and down the bus to charge people for the ride. It was very interesting.

This wonderful job is what allows the bus drivers to start driving with the doors still open and people still stepping up on the bus. Also, here's a tip: Bangkok bus drivers (not just the one we were on, we observed this on at least 5 other buses) do not feel the need to actually stop at the designated station. Anything withing 50 meters is fair game. So if you see a bus coming up that is the one you want, just start running towards it. The only time we saw buses actually stop at our station was when there was traffic, and even then they pretty much glided past us.

While we're on the subject of Bangkok transportation, we suggest you never ever drive here (unless your eyes are closed), and if possible, you should keep your eyes closed for as much of the drive as possible. The drivers here are insane. We thought Israelis are bad drivers, but oh my goodness, we're pretty sure all Bangkok driving lessons are defensive driving. Everyone knows they can pass and push to get where they want and someone will eventually stop. You can see people on bikes randomly crossing through driving traffic. The driver we had yesterday who brought us into Bangkok is probably still laughing at the mini heart attack I had yesterday when we were cut off.

So we had our wonderful map and just kept looking to see where we were. Siam is one of the biggest stations and is also a connection station, so about 1/3 of the bus actually got off there. The nice ticket lady who had asked us where we were going earlier also told us that this is the stop we should get off at.

Having a peach tea for two... at Tea For Two

We fully intended on going back to the hotel at this point - it was about 5 or 5:30 pm - but we couldn't find the Sky Train entrance and found ourselves inside the Siam Discovery mall. Which was cool. And we walked around a bit, I bought a new pair of sneakers because the soles of the (old) ones I brought disconnected, and then we went into a few toy stores to find gifts for my niece and nephew. We ate at a really cute local restaurant/coffee shop named Tea for Two and it was really delicious, though their definition of "only a little spicy" leaves something to be desired.


All in all, we walked around the mall for about an hour and then proceeded to find out about the International Film Festival going on at the Siam Patagon just down the street.

But once we stepped into the building...

Oh
My
Goodness

Y'all just don't understand. There was everything you could ever think of, it was huge, there were tons of restaurants, and that was just the first floor. It was gigantic and spacey, and Som told us that the Krispy Kreme just opened and there was often a 2-hour line (for a donut!!), so we did what every self-respecting person would do.

We stood in a two-hour line for a donut.

Not.

We took a picture of all the idiots standing in a two-hour line for a donut.

We decided to go up tot he 6th floor to see if there were any movies that we wanted to see so we could walk around later, but we never made it. Each floor of the mall is more amazing than the one before it. We took a few pictures, but they will never fully portray how incredibly huge the place is and completely gorgeous.

All this is made of Lego! For real!

There was an incredible Harry Potter Lego display on the 1st floor (we were able to see it well on the 2nd floor) and after oohing and aahing for a few minutes we walked into the most amazing department store on the 3rd floor. Honestly, nothing else needs to exist outside of that store, other than food. I actually found Candyland for my niece and nephew - how exciting is that? And it was really inexpensive. While we were browsing the children's section for presents, they had this amazing American kids songs CD playing that I really wanted to buy for them, so we asked the manager what CD it was and he told us where to get it - which we did.

This store is huge!!

The funny sales people at the CD store

The sales people at the department store were great, but the guys at the DIY store, where we bought the CDs were so completely awesome and hilarious. While marveling at their selection of country CDs (for real - we kept hearing country music all around Bangkok! Totally odd), a salesperson walked up to us to see if he could help, so we asked him about the CD. When he saw our camera was out, he started posing as if he were in a photo shoot (it was closed). He then called his friend over and they both said they wanted us to take a picture of them - so we did. Then they told us they were cute in the picture. They totally were.

After letting us listen to a selection from the CD to make sure it's what we wanted, the guy asked me where I was from. I said, "Texas." Then he said, "How did you get here? On your horse?" I was laughing so hard, I couldn't even come up with a smart answer. Even buying a CD in Bangkok is an experience.

Finally, literally over an hour after we reached the mall, we made it up to the cinema area. Oh my goodness, you don't understand. That place is gigantic. We saw the list of international movies that are playing while we're here, but couldnt' really find any we wanted to see on dates that we could attend, but we did see that Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Part 1) is playing in the IMAX when we get back, so we got tickets. They're cheaper than the ones in Israel and it's IMAX. Totally cool. So we'll be going to that on our last night in Thailand.

All in all, it took us 2 hours to get to and through China Town, and about 5 hours to get back. You know, when we had no energy to walk anymore. :-)

See more of our pics from today and yesterday here:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=567114&id=906005363&l=0f03363831

Goodbye WFFT and Hello Bangkok

 Tommy the volunteer coordinator and Lucy the medical chief

A couple nights ago, we went out to dinner with Tommy, the volunteer coordinator who was actually a volunteer himself the first time that Rony was at the WFFT, and Lucy, the animal nurse who was also there before, and had the best time. They were tons of fun, we learned a lot about their lives and what it's like living so far away from everyone, and it's so awesome to see that they love those animals and the center so much, that it really doesn't phase them.

The highlight of the evening for me, I must say, was that I road on a motorbike for the first time in my life. It would have probably scared me more but 1) There weren't any other people on the the road and 2) I was in between Rony and Tommy (a Talia sandwich, if you will), and couldn't actually fall off.

Today was a bitter-sweet day. On the one hand, our traveling officially started and we are in Bangkok. On the other hand, we had to say goodbye to our friends, human and otherwise.

You wouldn't think that you can get attached to a bunch of random people (and animals) in one week, but indeed you can. Seeing as I (Talia) am overly sensitive, I already had tears in my eyes when I said goodbye to the elephants. I'm not sure I can correctly convey how connected you get to those animals, but you do.

June was like "whatever" when I said goodbye, Bua grabbed me a usual, and Pai Lin wrapped her trunk around my arm when I hugged her, and then pushed me away. She was all, "Fine, go!" And I'm like, "Are you a Polish elephant? Cause I was under the impression that you were an Asian elephant. Just sayin'."

We woke up "late" this morning, around 8 am (two hours later than usual, just to remind you) and cleaned the room, picked up our laundry, packed, and went around taking some last pictures. Then lunch time came, and it was time to say goodbye.

After a very teary goodbye (on my part), we set off for Bangkok. And next time we definitely should come back for a longer term.

As we arrived in Bangkok, we thought that we will finally have a quiet day/evening, but no such thing: Our friend, E.P., introduced us to a Thai friend of hers, Som, who had plans for us tonight and we barely had time to shower and book our flight to Chiang Mai before going out on a surprising evening.

But that's a whole other story that we'll tell you tomorrow :)

You can see the last photos from the center here:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=566721&id=906005363&l=82d6005d4a (direct link as usual). We are still adding more, so give it like half an hour before you click :-)

Talk to you soon!

Our Asian journey begins!

We're at the airport! You've gotta love free wi-fi at Israeli airport Ben Gurion. :-)

We wanted to let you know about our schedule for the trip. Tonight we are departing for Thailand. Here's our schedule:

Nov 2-21 - Thailand. We are spending the first week at a wildlife rescue place, volunteering. I (Talia) will be with the elephants (I'll finally be short and thin!) and Rony is hoping to be with the bears again like he was last time.

Nov 22-24 - Sydney, Australia

Nov 24-Dec 7 - New Caledonia, an incredible island close to Fiji, the one where Rony's friend lives

Dec 7-Jan 6 - Australia! And New Year's Eve in Sydney, of course :-)

Jan 6-10 - Hong Kong

Jan 10-15 - Beijing, China

Jan 15-18 - Shanghai, China

Jan 19-Feb 19 - Japan!!!

We need to go board the plane, so we can't write much. We aren't sure if we'll be updating this week since the Wildlife place doesn't have Internet. I shall let you know how I survived 1 week without Internet.

On my new blog HowISurvivedAWeekWithoutInternet.com.

Not really.

They're calling our names. We'll talk to y'all later :-)