We are immensely grateful that we were able to visit Thailand during the time period that we did. When I was a little girl, there was a man who traveled all over Asia who visited our elementary school and gave a presentation of Thailand and since then I have wanted to visit. I remember thinking that the ornate buildings looked so beautiful and he described Thailand as having some of the most beautiful women he had ever seen. Sean's dad served his mission in Thailand, one part was Chiang Mai. We knew we needed to make it a priority to visit before we move back to the US and I'm so glad that we did. It was a dream come to be able to visit and a huge bonus to visit during Loy Krathong and Yi Peng.
From Okinawa we took a Peach Airlines Flight to Bangkok that left at 9:30pm and landed at 12:30 am Thailand time. Customs at the Bangkok airport had a huge line. They did have a line for individuals with babies, disabilities, and elderly and pregnant women. We stood in that line for about 30 minutes. It was pretty miserable with our sleepy children, and probably the least favorite part of the entire trip. Our hotel advertised free airport pickup, but made the process quite difficult, they wouldn't arrange for us to be picked up over email and told us to call them once we arrived at the airport. We couldn't get the pay phones to work, in short, we ended up getting a taxi there.
We stayed at Suvarnabhumi Suite Hotel, and though I was rather disappointed with their customer service, my kid's reactions upon getting out of the taxi were priceless. We love superheroes in our house, at 2 am Koa was pointing at these superheroes screaming "SPIDEY!!!" Our room had a massive bed that fit all of us. We enjoyed a free breakfast in the morning. Our original plan was to get a shuttle back to the airport, leave our luggage in a locker and then use the subway to get into Bangkok. Our plans changed when we met our driver at the hotel. They had drivers in their lobby offering services for the day. Using his services seemed much more favorable than navigating the subway system from the airport into town with our children. He took us to the grand palace and then arranged for Sean to see a tailor. I am so glad we used a driver. Bangkok is massive and overwhelming, we would have became lost, used the money to pay taxi drivers probably about the same amount and been much more stressed out. He also took us to lunch at a restaurant that had my favorite dish from the whole trip there on the river. Our flight left for Chiang Mai later that night. We enjoyed our first day in Bangkok.
Koa is just so excited to see Spiderman around the corner.
"SPIDEY!!!"
The sculptures here were really fascinating! My kids loved them!
Food and views at Khinlom Chomsaphan resturant- This had a mango sauce
Thai Coconut Soup and Shrimp Rolls
We ordered this pineapple rice for the kids but they didn't like it. It had a mild yellow curry on it and was probably my favorite dish from the whole trip. I really enjoyed the food here.
The Grand Palace and Temple of the Emerald Buddha
Some other tourists gave my children these flower necklaces and asked to take pictures of them. I don't think I saw any other family here that day with small children.
This place was so ornate and beautiful!
Koa is over the heat. Poor kid. We read that you couldn't show your knees, for men it was ok to wear shorts but we weren't aware until we arrived so we put our kids in pants. They were so warm!
The Emerald Buddah was inside here, we were not allowed to take photographs.
These murals are so beautiful and our photographs do not do them justice!
Following our visit, Sean went to be fitted for a custom-made suit. Our driver also drove us around and we saw one of their Universities on the drive. It looked like a temple itself and was so beautiful. The flight from Bangkok to Chiang Mai was quite inexpensive, around $30 dollars a ticket and Koa was free because he sat on my lap. We went through Thai Smiles and we were impressed with their customer service, nice flight, and affordable prices.
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