Ho Chi Mama: Adventures of a VietMOM: Scrumptious Bangkok

Today was my turn. We turned away from the shopping malls, movie theaters and fast food restaurants and went for the true taste of Thailand. Brianna and Nolan grudgingly strapped on their walking legs, and we headed for the Grand Palace and its revered Emerald Buddha. We walked and walked and walked and sweated and sweated and sweated in the hot, hazy smog that is Bangkok.

When we arrived dripping at the palace, Brianna's already exhausted mood darkened when she was shuttled to the "scantily clad" line to borrow some appropriate palace visiting garb. Draped in a ground-dusting sarong and my rubber raincoat, she struggled to put on happy face as she shuffled through the heat from temple to temple. We admired the jewel encrusted buildings, visited the smooth, green Buddha and even enjoyed a lotus flower sprinkling before calling it a day at the royal residence of Thailand.

First stop - a visit to the alley where monks' bowls are hand crafted...

...and a visit with the local caged rodents was infinitely
more interesting.

Loving the "palace attire"

A blessing with the lotus flower was an
excuse to sprinkle water on our heads.

Next stop...Khao San Road. It was time to relive some backpacking memories and expose my children to the seedier side of Thailand. We took a detour en route to satisfy the shopping needs of an amulet-crazy six-year-old with a long browse on a side street filled with all things lucky. He came away with miniature bronze rabbits, cobras and tigers and a super-sized sabre tooth to wear around his neck. Brianna read patiently in the shade, grateful to be back to sporting a tank top and shorts in the heat.

Bronze Amulets

Sabre tooth shopping

Khao San Road was all that I remembered it to be...loud, chaotic, teeming with travelers and tasty. We lost ourselves in the market stalls, sampled scrumptious street food and put Nolan to work as our chief bargainer (the cute ones always get the best prices). Three hours later (still on the same street), we wondered where the time had gone. Hot, tired and a three mile walk from our hotel, I acquiesced easily to finding a taxi to take us back. Sadly rush hour in Bangkok doesn't lend itself to many taxi drivers who are willing to take you anywhere for the fare on the meter. After getting laughed at and waved away by three drivers, we woke up one more who groggily agreed to take us the distance. Grateful for an air-conditioned crawl through traffic (that took far longer than it would have taken to walk the distance), we munched on fresh pomelo in the back seat and weighed the merits of a "Thai" day versus an "American" day in Bangkok. Thai food wins in my book, but Brianna and Nolan still vote for fast food any day. Pagodas and palaces are out. Air conditioned book stores are in. The Khao San Road market, however, has converted these kids. Shopping is just more fun when you can actually afford to buy things and you enjoy the bargaining game. So it sounds like a toss up, and I'll take that.