October 25 – December 24, 2018
Bangkok, Thailand
Finally we flew back to Bangkok, our favorite city. When we arrived the baby and I immediately got busy going to the playground at Benjasiri park and Lumphini park, attending playgroups organized by Bambi and at international preschools, and went to a Lego class on Saturday. We got into a weekly schedule and John grew fond of his teachers Miss Nina at Kids Kingdom and Miss Ivy at Kids Academy. John got a great haircut at Milk in Central World, it was short enough could see his ears!
We stayed the entire 2 months in a beautiful 1 bedroom apartment in Nana on Soi 11. The gym and pool were amazing, I even built up my mileage running on the treadmill so I could run 4 miles. It felt amazing and I would be beat red and sweating extensively! John kept up with jiujitsu training at a gym up the street. Although the street was busy and too touristy, we had some great street food and made friends with a group of women selling papaya salad, various fresh made stir fry, noodle soup, and pre-made curries and fried chicken. I loved the spicy stir fried basil with crispy pork and fried egg and the baby loved the fried chicken. We also had a small cart in an alley next to our apartment that cooked amazing Thai dishes. It was across from Grace Spa where there was always friendly women outside who we would talk to while we waited for food and they loved the baby. I cherished the tom yum and spicy clams with chili and basil.
Much of Bangkok has embraced Christmas and we watched parts of the city transform over November and December into a full blow Christmas wonderland, including playing Christmas music. The holiday was full on at the malls and international schools. At the playgroups we sang Christmas songs and created Christmas themed crafts.
A friend of mine came to Bangkok to visit her family and we met up one afternoon. We went to Line Village and took silly pictures, ate some yummy bread with sweet coconut custard from Mont, and shopped at MBK. The village was so cute and detailed, they even had 2 virtual reality games! It was so much fun to hang out with her!
One evening we splurged on dinner and went to a French restaurant called Cocotte. We had a huge tomahawk steak, truffle mashed potatoes and melted camembert cheese with truffles. It was delectable!
After 2 months, it felt like home. The baby knew so many BTS stops, malls, playgroups, parks, and schools he was making requests then protesting if we said no. It was fantastic to see him remember so many things and build relationships with friends and teachers. We were sad to leave but excited to continue to explore more of Asia.