Stories from Bangkok with a Baby

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My husband, Alex and I were avid travelers prior to having a baby so we decided it would be a great idea to take a portion of our paternity leave to go on a big trip.  So, when our son , Fox, was 7 months old, we packed up and flew to Bangkok with a baby. Our entire trip would last 41 days traveling over Thailand, Cambodia and Hong Kong.

The first leg of our trip was Bangkok.  We planned for 5 nights in Bangkok, as we didn’t want to be rushing around with an infant.  We had never gone international with a baby, and didn’t know what to expect.  We had also never been to Bangkok.  In hindsight, 3 days would have been plenty of time.  By the 4th and 5th days, we were getting a little bored.  I would still recommend booking more time in a destination if you are unfamiliar with traveling with a baby, especially if you will be at the mercy of trains, bus schedules and flight times.  I would much rather spend an extra day or two somewhere and see everything I wanted to, than to miss some sights because we had poor time management.

After a 12 and half hour flight to Taipei, we had a 1 and half hour layover to stretch and prepare for our final flight to Bangkok.  We finally landed in Bangkok after another 3 hour and 40 min flight.  Our 7 month old was amazing on the flights.  As mentioned in my previous article, I love red eye flights.  I think they are great with a baby.  Our first flight departed at 1:45am, and spent all night heading to Taipei.  By the time we landed in Taipei, Fox had slept almost the entire 12 and a half hour flight.  A quick layover to give Fox and us a chance to stretch and eat, followed by another quick flight and we would finally land at our destination.

Day 1 – Travel Day, Dinner and Bed

We checked into our hotel, the Marriott Marquis in downtown Bangkok.  Our hotel was booked using our credit card points.  If you plan on traveling, get a travel credit card!  You can earn trips for free, just by spending money you would be spending anyway.  It was a very nice hotel, but was a little business oriented.  This hotel did not come with any breakfast or other meals included, so we did have to find our own, but being in a good location, there were lots of places nearby, and we had no problem finding meals.

Our first day in Bangkok was the tail end of our travel day, so by the time we checked in and cleaned up a little, it was already early afternoon.  Fox was pretty exhausted by this point, so we decided to take it easy.  We put Fox in his Babybjorn Carrier (BABYBJORN Carrier) and set out on the town.  Fox instantly fell asleep in the humid air.  We stopped for a cold beer on a patio of a local bar to cool down and people watch.  We left the bar in search of a place to have dinner. 

After a few google searches, we found a Michelin plated restaurant with openings, so we decided to try it out. The food was good, but not amazing. We spent about $50.00USD for all of us. The food overall was better throughout the rest of Thailand.  Something to be aware of when traveling with young ones to Thailand is they don’t often use highchairs in restaurants and most hotels. Consider bringing a travel highchair with you. You can read more about that here. After dinner we just decided to head back to the hotel room and call it a day.  Fox could have a bath and wind down for bed.  Our hotel room had two double beds in it.  Our at home sleep arrangements are very different from our hotel and traveling sleep arrangements.  At home, Fox has his own bed in his own room, a crib at that age.  When we are on holidays, Fox co sleeps with us.  You can read more about that here.  Fox and I slept in one bed, and Alex in the other.  

Day 2 – Ayutthaya, Train Ride and Chicken Soup

Upon waking up in the morning, we were all really well rested after not sleeping in a bed for more than 36 hours.  For our first full day in Bangkok, we actually decided to leave Bangkok and take a train to Ayutthaya.  Alex was very excited about this day trip, for reasons explained soon.  We packed our bags for a day trip, asked our hotel to order us a taxi to the train station, and set out.  Fox was still breastfed the majority of his meals at this age, which was handy as we didn’t need to pack heavy for the day.  A few bottles of water for us, sunscreen, a package of wipes, 4 or 5 diapers and an extra romper was all we needed.  Most of which fit into my small over the shoulder bag.  The rest, Alex carried in his backpack that mostly contained our camera equipment, which we always travel with a lot of.  

When at the train station, we decided to book First class tickets, as we were traveling with a baby, and figured it would be cleaner and more comfortable for us.  First class tickets would have been 1000 baht(฿), which is the equivalent of about $30USD per person (Fox was free).  The train ride was about an hour and half long, each way.  Upon asking for first class tickets, we were promptly laughed at, and told there were no first class seats available on our chosen train time.  How about second class?  Again laughed at, no.  Only third class available.  Instead of waiting for a later train, to be able to take first class, we decided to try out third.  Third class cost us ฿50 per person, which is approximately $1.60USD per person.  What could go wrong for that price?  

Nothing went wrong!  It was a great train ride.  The people were so friendly, and Fox even made a friend.  A little boy, maybe 5 years old, offered Fox a toy to play with and the boy’s mother asked if she could hold Fox.  I hesitantly agreed and I passed my first born baby to a complete stranger on a train in a foreign country I had only been in for less than 24 hours.  We had read lots of articles prior to coming to Thailand about the locals being very baby friendly.  We read that they would often ask you to stop and play with your baby, or ask to hold them, and waitresses would even hold them while you ate.  As our story continues, you will notice that we allow more and more locals to hold Fox, and even relish in the small moments of freedom, especially at restaurants.  Fox was occupied for around 30 of our 120 minutes on the train, until I had to ask for him back so as to feed him prior to arriving at our destination.

Once we arrived in Ayutthaya we were instantly swarmed by tourist companies all looking for our business.  We promptly pushed through them all and crossed the street to get away and decide how to proceed.  Our plan was to hire a tuk tuk driver to take us to the temples, but we were overwhelmed by tourist companies.  Once across the street, we walked for a short time, until we found a very nice tuk tuk driver who asked if we needed help.  We asked him if he could take us to the temples and we negotiated a price at around ฿150 ($4.80USD).  We didn’t want to hire a driver by the hour, as we weren’t sure how the day would go with a 7 month old, and wanted some freedom to just sit around in the grass and enjoy the sun, or even take a longer lunch. 

There were two main attractions we wanted to see while in this area.  The Wat Mahathat’s Buddha Head in a Banyan Tree being one.  If you’ve been researching trips to Thailand, then chances are you’ve seen images of this mysterious Buddha head.  And number two, the reason my husband was so excited about coming all the way out to Ayutthaya, the Wat Lokkayasutharam, otherwise known as the Reclining Buddha.  For those of you who are Street Fighter fans, you may recognize the scene from the game. 

We had a great walk around the ruins for a few hours.  The Buddha head did not disappoint.  It was a neat thing to see how the tree had grown right up around the head.  Fox did great in his carrier.  When we had a chance we would stop in a shaded area and let him out to crawl around in the grass while we rehydrated. 

As nice as the temples were to walk around, our most memorable part of the day was lunch.  Across the street from one of the temples, Wat Ratchet Burana, was a little roadside restaurant called Ayutthaya Noodle. On google maps it is called “Chicken Noodle.” This little restaurant only sells noodle soup, wither chicken, or vegan. There were 3 or 4 tables set up on an outdoor patio with an awning to keep us out of the sun.  A few fans were blowing to try and cool us down.  The sign showed a bowl of chicken soup, and beer.  We were skeptical of ordering hot soup in the current heat and humidity, but it turned into the best chicken soup I had ever had in my life!  We devoured our soup, and we each had a cold beer.  Total cost for lunch was a whopping $7.00USD.

Now full from lunch, we waved down our tuk tuk driver, who happened to stay parked in the parking lot awaiting our return.  We had initially told him not to wait as we didn’t know how long we would spend, but he insisted.  Each time he drove us to our next chosen destination, we negotiated how much. In total for a few hours of having your own personal tuk tuk driver, we paid at most $20USD. Our next destination was the “Street Fighter” Buddha.  There wasn’t much around this Buddha to see, other than the Buddha itself, but still worth making a trip out to, if you’re in Ayutthaya anyway.  My husband of course made me re-create a Street Fighter scene.

By this time we were all pretty tired, so we made our way back to the train station where we took the train back to Bangkok.  Fox loved the train.  He really enjoyed looking out the window as we rode through the countryside.  Once back in Bangkok we rested and refreshed, and once we were rested enough we set out to find dinner locally.  The food in Bangkok itself wasn’t amazing.  It was good, but we definitely had better food throughout the rest of the country.

Day 3 – The Grand Palace and Massages

On our third day we planned to head into town to see The Grand Palace.  We had our hotel call a taxi for us, and advise them where we wanted to go, so as to not have any issues with translation.  When we arrived at the Palace, we realized we had made an error.  I was wearing pants, as many places of worship require you to.  After traveling in Europe where women were not allowed in the churches with their legs or arms showing, I had come prepared.  We had completely missed the fact that Alex did not bring pants.  Lucky for us, they do sell pants as many tourists make this mistake.  The pants were more expensive than you would find in a market, but still reasonably priced at around $10USD for one pair.

To get into the Grand Palace itself, tickets were ฿500 ($16USD) each, Fox was free.  The price was very reasonable, and the Palace is a must see if you’re in Bangkok.  It is one of the most famous Palaces in Thailand built in the 1700’s.  We spent a couple of hours slowly walking around, then departed in search of some lunch.

In the afternoon, we found a small massage parlour a short walk from our hotel.  There are many massage parlours through the streets of Bangkok, so it can be hard to finally choose one, if you’re interested in a Thai massage.  As it was so close to our hotel, we took turns.  I stayed at the hotel with Fox, while Alex got his massage, and then we swapped.  I would definitely recommend trying it out.  The prices are so cheap, we started to go everyday.  A 1 hour massage starts at around ฿200 ($6.00USD) and up tp ฿500 ($16.00USD).  For the next couple of days in Bangkok, we would each take turns and walk the short block for a Thai massage.  If you have the ability to swap shifts with the kids, take advantage.  Even if you just opt for a foot massage.

Later in the evening we decided to try out a local Night Market. We took a taxi over to the Patpong Night Bazaar. It was exactly what I expected from a Night Market. Geared towards tourists with lots of tacky items with ‘Bangkok’ plastered all over them. Lots of fake watches and hand bags, as well as many propositions to watch Ping Pong Shows despite carrying around a baby. The market did have some good food stalls, and was free to enter, so not a waste of time, however we did not purchase anything other than food.

Day 4 – Khlong Toei Market, Lumphini Park and Muay Thai

While in Bangkok, we wanted to try out a fresh food market.  We had read about the Khlong Toei Market as it is Bangkok’s largest fresh food market, and we thought it would be a great place to try some food, and maybe pick up some fresh fruit to bring back to our hotel.  The market was about a 25 minute walk from our hotel.   Once at the market, as we had no firm plans to be anywhere that day, we determined it would be a good idea to walk around the entire market first, and then decide what to buy on the second time around once we had seen everything.  

Upon entering the market we were greeted with huge stands full of fruit.  Everything looked amazing, we almost abandoned our plan and bought all the fruit we could carry.  As we started to walk further into the market, the rainbows of fruit quickly turned into stalls of carcasses and cages full of live animals to be bought and slaughtered on the spot.  The clean concrete floor turned into streams of red blood and the smell I will never forget.  My choice of footwear, flip flops, was quickly regretted as with every step I took, the bloody water shot up the back of my legs.  The floor was also so slick, I had to tread carefully with Fox strapped to my chest in his carrier.  We headed for the exit as quickly as was safe to do so, and we did not buy anything from that market.  If you are holding back vomit at the very thought, I would steer clear of that market.  If you want to pick up some fresh fruit, the first of the market did seem rather clean and the fruit is kept in a different part of the market, away from the animals.  We had completely lost our appetite though.

After the horrors of the market, we wanted some fresh air so we walked to Lumphini Park.  The park is a great little oasis in the middle of a big city.  The park was very busy, but not crowded.  While researching Thailand, we did read about the Monitor Lizards that roamed this city park.  Even after reading about them, and expecting to see them, I was still startled when I actually saw one.  They are quite large, at around 4 to 6 feet in length.   They didn’t bother us at all, but it’s hard to be weary once you’ve seen one chow down on a massive catfish carcass.

After a rest and shower back at our hotel room, we set out for some Muay Thai.  Muay Thai is like Thai kickboxing.  We had read that it was child friendly, but we weren’t sure how tourist friendly it was going to be.  It was about a 15 minute drive from our hotel to the Rajadamnern Stadium.  There are 3 different classes of seats at the stadium.  Third class, second class and first class is split into 2 groups.  While researching prior to coming to Thailand, we saw that a lot of times tourists with kids, could purchase third class tickets and they would be upgraded for free to first class.  We were hoping this would be the case.  Third class tickets were ฿1,000 ($32.00USD) where as first class were ฿2,000 ($64.00USD) per person.  We weren’t sure what to expect, or how long we would stay with a 7 month old, so we weren’t up for paying double the price for first class tickets.  We tried our luck with the free upgrade, but we struck out.  They tried to up sell us, and really didn’t want to sell us third class, even tried to scare us by saying it was too dangerous for a baby.  They reluctantly sold us our third class tickets and we were escorted upstairs to the seating area and ushered into a section which was so busy, it was standing room only. 

There were people yelling and screaming, and waving money.  I felt like I was in the pit on the trading floor of the stock exchange.  We hovered near the back for a short time before a very nice patron showed us the way to a much quieter section where we could sit and enjoy the matches.  The stadium is a large circle, and if you walk the outer hallway, there are many entrances to seat sections.  One half of the third class seating is where the ‘betters’ sit.  People are yelling screaming placing bets on the match, this is where the staff led us, possibly in hopes we would return to purchase a change of seats.  Once we were showed that we could continue down the hall to a quieter section, we had a much better time.  Our seating was great, and actually better suited to our needs with a baby.  There were very few people, and it was a bleacher style seat, instead of a small chair, so we had lots of space to stretch out and put our bags down.  You could even stand and walk around if you wished to.  All in all, we really enjoyed the Muay Thai, even with the little bit of anxiety it originally caused.

Day 5 – Golden Buddha and Rot Fai Night Market

Our last day in Bangkok we planned a few things.  We still had to go see the Golden Buddha, and there was a very highly rated night market we wanted to check out, the Rot Fai Night Market.  On the way to the Golden Buddha, we wandered through the streets and small open air shops looking at clothes and trinkets.  It started to rain at this point, and although we got very wet, it was a warm rain and not too unpleasant.  The cost to see the Golden Buddha is a whopping ฿40 ($1.00USD) per person.  If you want to go into the museum, it’s a little bit more.  The Golden Buddha was fascinating, and the story behind it is interesting.  It was a good sized statue weighing 5.5 tonnes.  Worth the visit and the price for sure.

After we left the temple, the rain had stopped and we found a little roadside stand selling Pad Thai, which we loved.  The Price seemed right at only ฿50 ($1.60USD).  The pad thai was excellent. At this point we were all in need of a nap after our walk through the rain.  We headed back to our hotel to rest.  Alex and I each had a massage, as mentioned previously, and Fox had a nap outside of his carrier for a change.

For dinner after we were all rested and cleaned up, we went to the Rot Fai Night Market in search of trinkets and food.  When we arrived at the market, we were blown away.  It was an amazing looking space, huge and very clean.  We spent a few hours there wandering among the stalls.  The great thing about this market is that it’s not a typical market with vendors all selling you the same cheaply made goods with ‘Bangkok’ stamped all over them.  This market was a mix between a flea market, a gift shop, a craft fair and a food court.  It had so many neat items. The handmade goods were awesome, I bought a few things for Fox and for our nieces and nephews at home.  Despite Bangkok being our first stop in Thailand, we bought a few gifts from this market, as I wasn’t sure that we would see more items like these, and we didn’t.  We sat down for a bit to eat in the food area.  Plenty of tables were set up for everyone to get a spot.  As it was stalls, we were able to get a little taste from a few different vendors.  All in all, the market was a 10 out of 10.  There was an admission price, but it was only a couple of dollars per person, Fox was free of course.  

Day 6 – Airport for Flight to Surat Thani

The day came to leave Bangkok.  Our next stop was Khao Sok National Park.  After checking out of our Bangkok hotel, we went to the airport for our quick 1 hour flight to Surat Thani where we would rent a car and drive into Khao Sok National Park.  Stay tuned for that post, coming soon.

Extra Info

Transportation

While in Bangkok we utilized the ride hailing platform known as ‘Grab’. Grab is the Southeast Asian version of Uber. It works the same way, you can enter your destination and pay for you trip right through the app. This was very helpful with the language barrier. There were times we flagged down a taxi, but were unable to vocalize where we wanted to go and most didn’t want to spend the time to understand where we wanted to go. The ones that could speak English, just tried to gouge us on cost of the trip. It ended up being so much easier and more reliable to order through the app and just wait a few minutes for our ride to arrive. Often times it wouldn’t take any more than 5 minutes.

Buying Baby Items

Great diapers can be bought in Thailand. When flying, just pack enough to last you for your travel day and 2 extra days. Otherwise you will be wasting valuable bag space on diapers. You will be able to go to any store and purchase packs of diapers throughout your stay in Thailand. There were name brands like Huggies, and there were brands specific to the area. They did take some getting used to, as they are a pull up style diaper, even the smaller sizes my 7 month old needed. It was a little annoying at first, but after a while I was used to it, and they were actually easier in some circumstances to put on, especially when you had no room to lie your baby down. Wipes are also sold everywhere. I stuck to the Huggies brand, as babies tend to have sensitive skin, and a drastic change in wipes can cause a rash. If a rash does occur, and like me you forgot to bring diaper cream, lots of varieties can be purchased at the local drug stores. Baby food can also be purchased almost anywhere, and they have many different options.

Dressing Baby

As mentioned, my son was 7 months old when we arrive in Thailand. We knew it was going to be hot and humid. I chose to bring single layer outfits for the entire trip to avoid excess fabric that wasn’t needed. I didn’t bring any onesie style shirts, and no shorts or pants for use in Thailand. Instead, I bought a whole bunch of rompers with short sleeves, or no sleeves and shorts. These rompers for his age are so convenient for diaper changes with snaps along the bottom. Most have buttons along the front as well for easy on and off. We did arrange to do laundry at a number of different places while traveling around Thailand, so he didn’t need an outfit or two for everyday we were gone. I brought around

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