Family adventures in Bangkok

As the end of March rolled around I officially finished my term at school and began the process of moving out of Pattaya and packing my life into a 46 liter backpack. I plan on spending the next six weeks traveling throughout Asia and I got to start this adventure with a visit from some of my family members from Ohio! Last week was Spring Break for most public schools, so my dad, step-mom, Julie, and step-brother, Drew, hopped over to Thailand to spend their week of vacation learning the crazy ways of the Thais!
As most travelers will find, Bangkok is an easy hub for travel in Asia, as it's one of the larger cities and also has many budget flights coming and going each day. We used Bangkok as our homebase during their week long Thailand adventure and it's where we started and ended their vacation. Many flights coming and going from Asia land late into the evening and depart early in the morning. Theirs was no expection; they landed at Suvarnabhumi Airport around 11pm and departed a week later at 6am. I was able to take the BTS (Thai metro system) paired with the Airport Link to pick them up, costing me about 90 baht one way (just over $2). After traveling for over 24 hours I figured I'd give them the easy way into the city, so we all climbed into a taxi and took the hour long journey into the city for about $14.
We stayed at Anantara Hotel in an awesome family suite, which was complete with our own balcony overlooking the Bangkok skyline. The hotel also had a rooftop bar and restaurant which gave a 360 view of the city. It was definitely one of the nicest hotels I've ever stayed in, and definitely the largest room I've ever had, yet it only cost about $140 a night! Expensive for Thailand, but a splurge by American standards.

View from our hotel balcony 

Their first full day in Bangkok was a Sunday, which meant we had to head to the Chatuchak Weekend Market. Although some portions of this market are open during the weekdays, the weekend is the preferable time to go, offering some great selections of Thai souvenirs. The market is home to over 8,000 stalls and each time I visit I find another corner and section I've never seen before. I usually ending up buying more food than souvenirs, but it's a great place to buy bags, leather goods, clothing, art and jewelry. Wandering the market gave everyone a good opportunity to buy some souvenirs and get a basic understanding of the value of the Thai baht. We also used our time at the market to explore some traditional Thai dishes such as pad thai, papaya salad, tom yum soup, fresh fruit smoothies and a dessert of mango sticky rice. 
I wanted to give them some time to acclimate to Thai time, so we didn't have much planned for the first full day in Bangkok. The city heat can be a lot to take in at first, and it's easy to wear yourself out by spending too much time outside. After a few hours wandering the market we headed back to our hotel to take advantage of comfy couches, air conditioning and showers. Eventually we dragged ourselves out into the heat once again for dinner reservations along the Chao Phraya River which runs through the city of Bangkok. We ate at Sala Rim Naam which is a restaurant paired up with Mandarin Oriental Hotel. It was a fancier and more Western alternative to Thai street food, but still provided traditional Thai meals and drinks, all with a great view of the river!

Day two in Bangkok we set off to see the traditional sites of the capital city. After an awesome and huge breakfast at our hotel we grabbed a taxi to The Grand Palace. The Grand Palace is basically a   walled in city block that houses many influential buildings of Thailand. It is the previous home of the royal families of Thailand and is also where most governmental business takes place. The Grand Palace comes up as a must-see in Bangkok, but I personally wasn't too blown away by it. Although there are some stunning works of architecture within these walls, it's nothing too different from what's visible on the streets. On top of that it's way too hot with very little shade, and they allow an absurd amount of people inside at the same time. Although the streets can get a little hectic out in Bangkok this was definitely more than I bargained for and I spent more time trying to avoid bumping into others instead of enjoying the sites around me. Many visitors think The Grand Palace is an important stop in their Bangkok tour, but it's something I will happily skip in the future.

Reclining Buddha at Wat Pho

Next we walked next door to the much calmer Wat Pho which is home to the world's longest reclining Buddha. This is still a popular site in Bangkok and definitely worth seeing, and it's also a lot less crowded than the Grand Palace, making it easier to handle.
After exploring this area for a bit we hopped into a quick tuk tuk ride over to Khao San Road for some lunch. Khao San Road is most known by the backpacker crowd, especially those looking for a night out in Bangkok. It's filled with bars, restaurants and loud music and is a great place to hangout both day and night.

That evening we took a one hour flight to Chiang Mai to play with elephants! More info on that trip can be found here. 

To end the family vacation in Thailand we flew back down to Bangkok for one last evening in the city. We had originally planned to start the evening with drinks at SkyBar, but some open-sided Teva sandals didn't make the cut for dress code. We were allowed out onto the terrace for a few quick pictures and then we headed to a different location.

SkyBar view! 

Drew had it high on his list to ride a motorbike taxi, so we decided the six mile journey to our next location was the perfect time! I quickly flagged down a few motorbikes and we each piled on for the crazy ride through Bangkok.

Three people on a motorbike is the norm in Bangkok 

We ended our ride at Above Eleven which is a rooftop bar and restauarant in the center of Bangkok. We had delicious drinks and overpaid for fried rice, but got a great view while doing it, so all was well in the end. The next morning Julie and Drew had a 6am flight back to the states, and my dad, Emiliya and I hopped on a 6:45 flight to Hanoi, Vietnam! (That post will be coming soon) 

Having my family in Thailand for a week was so much fun, and it helped me realize everything I've learned throughout these last six months while living in Thailand. It was fun having them try all of the Thai dishes and seeing their content after a $6 massage.  I loved showing off this country to them and it made me even more excited for the arrival of my sister this weekend! 

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Logistical Info

- The BTS is easy and cheap transportation during the day, but it stops running by midnight each evening
- Although Bangkok requires taxi drivers to use the meter to determine the price, they're hard to find at either of the airports within Bangkok. Instead they often just give you a set price for driving into the city, usually starting somewhere between 400-500 baht ($12-15)
- Accomodating four people within one hotel room is hard to do in Thailand. At Anantara Hotel I was able to book a family suite which slept four, for about $140/night
- Chatuchak Weekend Market is open on weekends from 6am-6pm. It is located near Mo Chit, the most northern stop on the BTS.

- The Grand Palace is usually open from 9-3:30 and costs $14 to enter 

- Wat Pho is usually open until about 6:30pm and costs $3 to enter 

- dress code for SkyBar: women have to wear a skirt or dress without flip flops. Men must have their knees and shoulders covered and have closed shoes (tennis shoes appear okay)