I wake up early. It’s only 5.30am, but in Japan it’s already 7.30am, so my brain is fully awake. This is jetlag!
Téa wakes up too, and soon Maylin is in our bed as well. Joe grumpily moans something that sounds a lot like “why don’t you just go swimming instead”, so that’s exactly what we do. The words “swimming pool” actually work even better than the words “ice cream” on our little girls!
It’s a rooftop pool. Our hotel room is in building 1, and the pool is in building 2, and the connection point is floor 8. There’s a rooftop garden, a rooftop bbq and bar, and the pools, one shallow and one for swimming laps. Both are FREEZING. Sorry for yelling that, but they really are FREEZING.
For once, it’s mom who’s first in fully! I decided if I was up at 6am to go swimming, I was darn well actually going to go swimming! The girls soon join me, but it is so cold in the water, we don’t last more than 30 minutes. On our way back down to take hot showers, I catch an almost-sunrise between the buildings.
After defrosting in the shower, we head down to breakfast. Oh my, what a breakfast! We saw the following stations, and I’m sure we missed parts: Thai noodle cart, fried rice, fried noodles, congee, hot and sour soup, omelette station, hard, and soft boiled, and fried eggs, frittatas, cold cuts , cheese, cereal, muesli, yogurt, all the breads, muffins, croissants, Thai donuts, pancakes, (actual!) honeycomb, fresh juices and smoothies, fresh fruit galore, Indian uttapam, dosa, curry and chutney, coffee machines, a brewed pot of masala tea and another of hot milk.
After breakfast, we set out for the Chatuchak weekend market, reportedly 15,000 vendors and only appears on Saturdays and Sundays. It’s a 15 minute walk from our hotel to the subway.
Before you are allowed to get on a subway in Bangkok, you have to go through a durian detector!!! Seriously! This fruit is so stinky, it’s not allowed on the subway! I’ve never heard of anything like it, as the “airplane surströmming ban” is a can of fermented fish which can explode when exposed to different air pressure… Obviously not the same, even though both are smelly foods.
We arrive at the market, and we find the coolest t-shirt shop. The girls and I are admiring the fun designs, when Maylin says “mom, I think I have to throw up”. So off we go, on the hunt for a washroom. They are few and far between here, and when we find it, I send Maylin in while I stop to pay the fee. There is of course no toilet paper, just a garbage can full of paper and a note not to flush paper. You can imagine the smell. Maylin does not throw up, but complains about feeling sick and wants to go home. We decide that Joe and Téa should stay and explore, while I take Maylin home.
While Maylin and I head back into the hotel room to relax and cool down within safe and reliable access to a clean washroom, Joe and Téa are exploring the Chatuchak market. They snack, have lunch, buy Joe sandals at a stall that only takes cash so he has to borrow Téa’s toothfairy money, and head back towards the hotel around 2pm.
Maylin is feeling much better after some rest and air conditioning, so when Joe and Téa say they’re on the subway on their way home, we decide to meet them at the subway station. There’s a mall right there, so when we are reunited, we go around the corner and check out Terminal 21.
This place is HUGE. Each floor is dedicated to a different world city, and the decorations and elaborate washroom themes are impressive. Maylin and I haven’t lunched yet, so we head down to the basement for some food vendor action. I love Thai mall basements, and will vote for vendor stalls in place of traditional North American food courts any day.
We walk around the mall, taking it all in, hearing about Joe and Téa’s day at the market, and trying to plan out the rest of our Bangkok stay. Suddenly, we realize it’s about dinner time, and we head to one of the restaurants that looked really good.
Our hotel the Moevenpick has a tuk tuk running between the mall and our hotel every half hour. We happily jump in and have a very bouncy and quick journey home.
After a full day, we’re exhausted and happy, and look forward to a new day tomorrow!