Bangkok with children – part 3

While Thewet is probably the most kid-friendly part of Bangkok, and Banglampu has the best family-friendly budget accommodation, we also had fun staying off Sukumvit Road and exploring the downtown attractions with Tash on our last visit to Bangkok in January 2009.

We stayed at the Federal Hotel in Sukumvit Soi 11, which has been around forever – or at least since the 1960s – where Roo and I had stayed long before Tash came along. It’s nothing fancy, but it’s good value and in a great location. The pool is pleasant, though you’ll want to turn a blind eye to the pink-skinned men breakfasting poolside  on Singha beer from about 10am.

Staying near Sukumvit and surrounds puts you near the Skytrain and Subway, both of which are great for getting around, although be warned that the many stairs make it a hard slog for little legs and pace yourself accordingly.

The Siam Skytrain station is the jumping off point for Siam Square, home of our favourite ‘old school’ coffee shop, the New Light; and the Siam Paragon shopping complex, which houses Siam Ocean World in its basement, the largest aquarium in the southern hemisphere. Ocean World is not cheap but, as described here, it’s an entertaining way to spend an afternoon with kids; the food court on the ground floor is good value, too. And there’s usually something kid-friendly going on around Siam Square: in our case it was a Snow White-themed Christmas display (best not to think too hard about it).

Both the Skytrain and Subway will take you to nearby Lumpini Park, which is about as kid-friendly as it gets in downtown Bangkok. The park has several kids play areas side-by-side: as the equipment is modernised, it seems that rather than replace what went before it, a new play area opens up. The park is Bangkok’s largest and a great place for picnics, Tai Chi, outdoor gym, and that rarest of commodities in the Thai capital, peace and quiet – if you’re not accompanied by a small child, that is.

We hired a pedal boat shaped like a duck to cruise around the lake for 30 minutes or so. The pedalling was bloody hard work but worth it as the lake is brimming with wildlife. We saw fish, turtles, eels and monitor lizards so large we almost mistook them for crocodiles.

The best food find of our time in this part of Bangkok was the Rosabieng bar and restaurant at 3, Sukumvit Soi 11, just down from where we were staying. Rosabieng is the Thai word for the dining car on a train, and there’s one in the restaurant’s leafy garden, as well as a working model train in the air-conditioned interior. The Thai food is sensational, with an exciting selection of dishes. I could have eaten there every night. Tash was made to feel very welcome – she even managed to crash the birthday party of a group from the wonderful Mrs Balbir’s Indian restaurant one of the nights we were there.

Sukumvit also has the advantage of bookshops and department stores where you can stock up on toys for the plane, train and/or beach. Asia Books has a good selection of English language kids books and colouring books; there’s one at Siam Paragon, another at 221 Sukumvit Rd, just past Soi 15.

Bangkok with children – Part 2

Responding to a recent inquiry about kid-friendly places to stay in Bangkok made me realise I didn’t have a post on this site about Banglampu. This part of ‘old Bangkok’ on the arc of the Chao Phraya River is well known as a backpacker desination–Khao San Road is situated there–but it’s also a good budget option for families.

We stayed a couple of times at the New Siam II Guest House, located in Trok Rong Mai lane off Phra Artit Road. The rooms were simple but comfortable and good value, considering there’s also a pool with jacuzzi and a good open-air restaurant on the ground floor. Slightly more upmarket is the New Siam Riverside, five minutes walk down the lane and across Phra Artit Road, which as its name suggests overlooks the Chao Phraya. Regardless of where you stay, the buffet breakfast on the terrace at the New Siam Riverside is recommended, the passing river traffic guaranteed to keep the whole family entertained.

Heading down Trok Rong Mai lane away from the river takes you a leafy street that backs on to the grounds of Wat Chana Songkhram. We had breakfast here one morning and watched squirrels tight-rope walking along the powerlines above our heads. The temple grounds are a good place for a morning stroll.

A promenade runs along the river parallel to Phra Artit Road from the Pinklao Bridge. Follow it north past the Phra Artit ferry stop (Thai Phra Artit) to Santichaiprakan Park. This pretty, leafy park is built around the Phra Sumen Fort, part of what were once the fortifications of the old city, and also contains one of Bangkok’s last remaining lamphu trees from which the area takes its name. We were too busy soaking up the atmosphere to take photos when we visited, but there’s a nice one here. It’s a great space for running around or sitting in the shade.

Banglampu’s downside (for some) is that it’s a long way from the Skytrain or subway. But it’s easy and enjoyable to get around by ferry. It’s only a few ferry stops from Banglampu to Thewet, for example, where the kids can join in a fish-feeding frenzy at the pier, followed by a visit nearby Dusit Zoo–see here for more details.

For family friendly eating in the area, the restaurant at the New Siam II is a pretty good option, with decent Thai and Western options and a fish tank containing weird shrimp-like creatures.

But my personal favourite is The Old Phra Artit Pier, an ambient wooden place right on the river with hot Thai food, cool music and cold beer on tap. The staff were great with Tash and they even sold Nancy Chandler colouring books at the bar. The only drawback is you have watch that the kids don’t run out of the restaurant and along the old pier into the river.

You can see how that might happen in this photo of Tash at the Old Phra Artit Pier with our friends Shal and Randy, taken in April 2008: in the distance behind them you can see all the way across the river to the lights on the other side.

Stay tuned for a post on staying with kids around Sukumvit…

Crocodile shows

Today we went to a crocodile show at the Melbourne Zoo called Crocodilia. Almost five months ago to the day, we went to a crocodile show at the Phuket Zoo in Thailand. Can you spot the differences?

I know, I know, it’s easy to see: at the Melbourne Zoo, the keeper is handling a juvenile American Alligator, whilst in Phuket, the keeper is handling a full-grown Asian crocodile.

Seriously though, there were also differences in what we learned at the respective shows.

At Melbourne Zoo, we learned that crocodilia have evolved with five key characteristics that have enabled them to survive for more than 2 million years: the ability to be submerged but breathe above the water; the capacity to draw energy from the sun through their backs; a rudder-like tail that propels them through the water; estivation, or the ability to hibernate during hot, dry times of food scarcity and re-emerge once the rains come; and being communicate with their young, even whilst the babies are still inside the eggs. A mother crocodile may use her teeth to help a baby having trouble breaking out of its egg.

In the first photo, Tash can be seen far right standing next to the zookeeper and holding a megaphone to ‘demonstrate’ a baby crocodile communicating with her mother. And because she was part of the show, she got to pat the American Alligator afterwards [photo 3].

At Phuket Zoo, we learned sometimes a crocodile will simply not be roused, no matter how many times it is poked, prodded and dragged by the tail [photo 4] — and even when someone lies on top of it [photo 3].

The Crocodilia show is part of Melbourne Zoo’s school holiday program and is on at 11am and 1pm in the marquee next to the Carousel park.

The Crocodile Show at Phuket Zoo is a feature attraction and can be seen at various times throughout the day.

Phuket

Last stop on our Asian adventure of 2008-09 was Phuket, Thailand’s most populous island and amongst its most popular with foreign tourists. I didn’t really warm to Phuket, and in a bizarre way I was grateful for that: it made it easier in the end to go home.

That said, it wasn’t all bad. We stayed at Kata Lucky Villa, which I’d happily recommend (the photos on the website don’t do it justice), and Kata beach was nicer than I’d expected. The sand was clean and soft, the water calm and clear, and the banana lounges only two-deep. We spent most mornings there, surrounded by Russians and Northern Europeans who, as Roo pointed out, must think it’s Paradise. There’s also a decent place to eat at the southern end of the beach called Kata Seafood, right next door to a bar built beneath a sacred tree.

We visited old Phuket town a couple of times. Established by Chinese traders and tin miners, and there are some well preserved shophouses and other buildings from the 1900s up to the 1960s, especially on and around Thalang Road. We had a great curry lunch at Aroon Restaurant at 124 Thalang Rd; and the shophouse at the China Inn Cafe (also selling textiles and antiques) at 20 Thalang Rd was particularly beautifully restored. We also visited the Phuket Provincial Hall, the setting for the US Embassy in the film The Killing Fields. There’s a terrific walking tour guide available here.

Phuket’s other prime attraction (at least in my opinion) is its drag shows, the most famous and polished of which is Simon Cabaret. The intrigue starts with a line on the brochure, “She is more of a man than you will ever be and even more of a woman”, and I’m willing to bet there are audience members who leave without realising all the performers began life as men.

Simon Cabaret is energetic and great fun, with over-the-top sets ranging from Ancient Egypt to Imperial China, Brazilian Carnivale to a faux rainforest. Numbers are sung in Chinese, Japanese and English — Dreamgirls providing rich material — though surprisingly little in Thai, apart from a traditional Issarn song that starts out as a slapstick by a large, mannish, middle-aged kratoey but ends as a rather poignant performance of ‘I Will Survive’. That performer danced among the audience and planted a sparkly kiss on Roo’s cheek, and for once Tash was not the main attraction in our family.

For her part, Tash was rivetted by the show and all the ‘princesses’. “That was really fun!” she said, as we piled into the minibus to go back to our hotel.

Tickets were 750 baht including door-to-door transport and we felt we got our money’s worth. The showgirls are happy to pose for photos outside after the show, but be aware you have to pay a 100 baht tip per performer in the photo. The most popular performers pull the lesser stars in so they can get tips, too, and it’s wise to be gracious about this. They’re only looking out for each other.

On our last night in Phuket, we watched a captivating sunset over the sea — a novelty for us who live on the southeast coast of Australia — then chanced upon the swanky Kata Beach Resort and Spa offering a buffet dinner in a garden overlooking the beach. This in itself was lovely, especially with Tash on her best behaviour. But we really hit the jackpot when the keyboard player/songstress duo pumping out the slow rock classics gave way to a group of performers I could only describe as ‘Simon Caberet rejects’.

The open-air show was cheesy beyond belief, with performers out of step and wardrobe malfunctions all over the place. But we all loved it! Tash alternated between emulating the dance moves of the ‘fairies’ — there was an excess of feathered wings, headdresses and tail pieces — and sitting at the foot of the stage, absolutely captivated.

It was the perfect last night.

Tash got to choose the destination for our last morning in Phuket, and we spent it at Phuket Zoo. It was pretty ordinary as far as zoos go, but four months later Tash still remembers the dodgy show we saw there and the man putting his head in the crocodile’s mouth.

I wonder how much else she remembers.

We flew home from Phuket via Sydney to Melbourne, arriving home just in time for a heatwave, followed a week or so later by terrible bushfires. Both Roo and I started new jobs within weeks, fortunate to find work and to find employers flexible enough to let us work four days per week, giving us both a day each at home with Tash.

It was never going to be easy settling back in at home. Our year in Cambodia saw the work/life balance tipped very much in favour of life. Back in Melbourne, the scales seem tipped to the other extreme.

But we are trying to keep alive the spirit of The Great Balancing Act by making the most of our days off with Tash and doing our best to get out on the weekends, too.

And so we’ll keep this blog going, with a shift in emphasis from Asia to Australia.

At least for now…

Krabi Town

With Krabi province offering such gorgeous beach destinations, some might not see a reason to venture into Krabi town except in transit to the coast. But there are at least five good reasons to make the trip.

1 Night Market – Top of the list is Krabi’s riverside food market, an area beside the port that fills up with rot ken – vendor carts – in the evenings, selling delicious local food. Atmospheric, highly affordable and packed with locals, the night market alone is worth the trip into Krabi town. In addition to all the vendor carts, there’s a fold-away restaurant, Nong Eang, where you can sit down to fish fried in garlic and pepper or duck soup with noodles, and cold Singha beer. Tash tucked into the local biryani. There’s also carts selling Issarn favourites such as som tam – spicy green papaya salad – dried beef and sticky rice, sweet roti or ‘Thai pancakes’ and every imaginable snack on a stick. There’s a toilet block (squat-style) costing 2 baht to use. The night market is on Thanon Khong Kha, a 5-7 minute walk towards the river from the main songtheaw stop on Thanon Maharat.

2. Neanderthal statues holding up traffic lights – What genius came up with the concept of cavemen carrying traffic lights? Krabi province is the sight of some ancient human remains, but putting that minor point of interest together with traffic control takes special talent. According to one website, “Traffic lights have never been fun, and they rarely qualify as points of interest. Krabi Town saw that as an opportunity.” I can’t believe we didn’t get a photo of them, but there’s one here on the aforementioned website. The traffic lights are on Thanon Maharat at the intersection with Thanon Sukhon.

3. Fortune telling machine, Vogue building – Vogue on Thanon Maharat is Krabi town’s only department store (not counting Tesco Lotus en route to the airport), a quaint collection of clothes and accessories stalls. But the real attraction is on the landing between the first and second floors: an old-fashioned, coin-operated fortune telling machine. Five baht will set the Wheel of Fortune turning; inside a rotund Buddha raises a branch above his head and brings it down on a numbered groove on the wheel. Your fortune is on the corresponding slip of paper in the numbered pigeon-holes in the base of the machine. You’ll need someone who reads Thai (or Chinese) to translate for you. If your fortune isn’t so lucky, roll the slip of paper into a strip and tie it around a tree to alleviate the bad luck. (I was advised to do this, though it didn’t prevent the accidents I’d been warned about: beware of the slipperiness of the freshly mopped tiled footpaths in Krabi town!).

4. Day/night market – on Thanon Sukhon, the main day/night market is a great place to shop for fresh food and to eat lunch or dinner. Try the fantastic geng pum pla, a spicy fish soup typical of the south, made with pumpkin, potato, pear-shaped eggplants and dried fish. The phad khi mao, a stir-fried dish of bamboo shoots and fish balls with chilli is mouth-numbingly good. The most authentic and exotic food in Krabi.

5. Toy shops, Thanon Maharat – one for the parents of infants and toddlers. Krabi’s main street hosts several toy shops with all the things you need to buy ten minutes of reading time. The large newsagency in the same strip has a fabulous selection of colouring-in books, too, some in English, most in Thai–not that it matters, if you’re just buying them for the pictures!

Islands of Krabi province – Part 2

There’s an unofficial hierarchy when it comes to island hopping tours in Krabi. First you do the ‘4 Islands’, followed by the Phi Phi Islands. Then if you still have time, throw in the Hong Islands or ‘5 Islands’ tour. I wonder if there’s a subtext in the tourist information: stay long enough and get rewarded with what is possibly the loveliest of all the island tours.

We returned to Barracuda Tours to cruise the ‘5 Islands’ by longtail boat. First stop, Koh Deng, is a rocky red outcrop where Roo snorkelled and Tash fed green, black and white striped fish from the prow of the boat, sitting with our otherwise purely decorative guide Em.

Next up was Pakbia Island where we had a swim and collected huge shells to decorate the sandcastle built by Canadian twins Roya and Yasmin, whom Tash had befriended on the boat. The twins’ parents Christina and Nadim were taking the girls on a year-long world tour. Watching them made me realise how much easier it is travelling: a) with two children; b) with eight-year-olds. I can’t remember the last time I got to read on the beach!

We stopped for lunch on Lading Island at a small idyllic bay called Paradise Beach where five Thai police were stationed to protect the resident swallows’ nests (a kilo of which fetches 100,000 baht on the export market). These were the most laid-back Thai cops I’ve ever met, which is not surprising as this must be the cushiest police posting in all of Thailand. There was just enough infrastructure on the island – rough-hewn wooden tables, benches and a huge swing – to indulge in the three most important traditional pastimes: eating, sleeping and sanuk (having fun).

Then it was on to the main attraction, Hong Island. Hong meaning ‘room’ in Thai refers to the lagoon in the middle of the island, accessible only at high tide through a narrow chasm. Inside the hong, surrounded on all sides by limestone cliffs, it felt like being let in on a wonderful secret.

To one side of the same island was an exquisite beach: soft white sand, aqua water (‘aqua’ in Thai is si far talay, literally ‘sea-blue colour’), limestone outcrops and tropical fish to gaze upon – with or without a snorkelling mask. Tash found a ‘baby pool’ in a cleft among the rocks and Roo and I took turns at swimming with her and with the fish.

Apparently there is an walk that shows how far a boat was tossed inland by the December 2004 tsunami, but we were too enchanted by the beach to drag ourselves off to see it. And true to form, we were having too much fun to take photos – although there is a good one of the beach at Hong Island on Christina and Nadim’s travel blog.

Tash slept wrapped in a towel on my lap during the ride back to Ao Nang. It’s hard to know at times if she really enjoys what we plan for her, or whether she feels obliged to enjoy it because of our enthusiasm. So it was a great moment, as we got off the boat, to have her come out unprompted with, ‘That was fun!’

[As I write this, almost three months to the day since we took the 5 Islands Tour of Krabi, a State of Emergency has been declared in Thailand and parts of Bangkok are on fire. Krabi is a long way from Bangkok, but concerned travellers can check the Paknam Web Thailand Forum Q&A site for updated information on the security situation].

Islands of Krabi province – Part 1

‘Island hop til you drop.’ Normally a tourism website slogan like this would leave me cold. But in Krabi province, I felt compelled to answer the call. We did three island-hopping tours in the space of a week, visiting around 13 islands. And I’d do it all again tomorrow!

First up was the ‘4 Islands Tour’ by longtail boat, starting at Phra Nang (‘Princess’) Beach near Railay — strictly speaking not an island, though it feels like one as it’s only accessible by boat: limestone cliffs bar access from the mainland. Princess Beach is an exquisite crescent of gold sand and aqua water overlooking a bay studded with limestone islands. We fell in love with the place and subsequently made it our regular morning swimming beach, travelling there each day by longtail boat from a ‘taxi stand’ at Ao Nang.

At Princess Cave (Tham Pranang) at the end of the beach, locals pay homage to the spirit of an Indian princess believed to have perished there in a shipwreck in the 3rd Century BC. Fishermen pray for a good catch, while women pray for a good catch of another kind, leaving offerings of flowers, food and phalluses to the princess spirit; the cave is full of graphically carved wooden penises, some almost as tall as me.

Next stop after Phranang Beach was Poda Island — more gold sand, aqua water — where schools of green, black and white striped Admiral fish swarm in the shallows to eat bananas offered by tourists. Then we cruised around Chicken Island — named for a rock formation which does look remarkably like a chicken — and snorkelled in deep water off the boat. Despite having Tash on my back (both of us in life jackets), I managed to see some Moorish Idols, parrot fish and purple-lipped clams, while Roo saw an octopus.

Last stop on the 4 Islands Tour was Tup Island where a sandbank appears at low tide, connecting it to Chicken Island and another rocky outcrop. When we arrived, people were wading knee deep between the islands, but by the time we left, the sandy bridge was fully exposed and we could walk from one island to the other. Tash and Roo made sandcastles while I went for a solo snorkel, the highlight of which was spotting three families of False Clown Fish living in wavering pink anemones.

Our second tour was to the Phi Phi Islands, this time by speed boat. It was enough to convince us to take a longtail boat next time around. The ride might have been less wild and bumpy if bare-chested young Thai men weren’t at the helm — everyone on board was soaked by the spray — though in their defence, the sea was choppy. Get fitted with a life jacket before embarking and take towels for protection if you choose to go by speedboat.

First stop on the Phi Phi Islands tour was Bamboo Island for rock-pooling, then a long trip to Phi Phi Ley, a rugged, uninhabited island of limestone cliffs. We toured Pi Leh Lagoon, a secluded bay enclosed by sheer rockface, then stopped at Lohsamah Bay for snorkelling. Tash freaked out in the choppy water so we contented ourselves with feeding bread to the fish from the boat while Roo snorkelled.

Then it was on to Maya Bay, insanely popular because the 1999 film of Alex Garland’s novel The Beach was filmed there. It is a lovely beach — white sand, aqua water, limestone cliffs on three sides — but it loses some of its ambience when there are 24 speedboats and 10 longtail boats moored in its relatively small bay — and that’s in a low year!

Lunch was at Ton Sai Beach on Phi Phi Don, the main tourist island. The Lonely Planet describes Koh Phi Phi’s beauty as a curse and I could see what they mean. The beach was built up, wall to wall, with bars and restaurants all advertising parties at night — you could imagine the din as they all competed for customers. Koh Phi Phi’s beaches were flattened by the December 2006 tsunami. Sadly, rather than take the opportunity to question the scale and impact of unbridled development, the place was simply re-built as it was before. Some say it’s even more ‘developed’. Pity, really, because the beach is lovely.

Last stop on the Phi Phi Islands tour was Monkey Bay, my favourite of the day’s destinations. A crescent of white sand so soft my feet sank into it like sponge. A bay of turquoise water fringed with a coral garden alive with colourful fish. Kid-friendly pools and shady trees. So picture perfect, I enjoyed it too much to take any photos.

Nopparat Thara, Krabi Province

I’ve been meaning to write a post or three about our beach holiday in Krabi Province in southern Thailand. I was having way too much fun to blog about it at the time — which speaks volumes — and settling back home in Australia and starting a new job has left me with little time or energy for blogging. But at home on a (welcome) rainy day on (unwelcome) sick leave, I’ve been sorting through hundreds of holiday photos and reminiscing…

Andrew and I couldn’t believe that in all the time we’d spent in Thailand, we’d never been to Krabi province before. But over 10 days in early January, we realised what we’d been missing. My journal entry at the end of our first day at Nopparat Thara Beach begins, ‘Today has been close to a Perfect Day’ and ends ‘…this is just the holiday destination we needed.’

Nopparat Thara is about a 45 minute drive from Krabi Airport, west of Krabi township. Through the helpful website www.yourkrabi.com, we’d booked a bungalow at the family-friendly Sabai Resort and arranged for a transfer from the airport. The Lonely Planet guide Thailand’s Islands & Beaches is a bit disparaging about Nopparat Thara Beach, but it was ideal for our ragtag little family.

Nopparat Thara is a stretch of shell-studded sand with calm, clear water overlooking limestone islands — some close enough to walk to at low tide, others beckoning from the distance. The beach is ideal for small children to swim and build sand castles and popular with Thai families who swim fully clothed to avoid their skin going darker, and gather on the weekends for picnics in the stretch of green that runs alongside the shore.

Women spread out plastic mats, unload rice cookers, home-cooked curries, som tam (spicy green papaya salad), hard boiled quail eggs, pots of tea. They hang caged birds from the trees overhead and wrap newborn babies in towels to protect them from the ‘cold’. Children cajole their parents into buying pinwheels, inflatable toys and fluoro-coloured fairyfloss. Men sit around drinking cheap whisky mixed with lemonade.

Vendors walk around with baskets over their shoulders selling snacks on sticks or fresh fruit. And out of towners like us simply order a feast from one of the nearby restaurants to sai thoong (literally ‘put in a bag’) and eat on the grass. We bought fried chicken and a whole fried mackerel, som tam, and sticky rice for about AUD$10 (270 baht). The meal included the loan of water glasses, a tray and an ice bucket, and we ate in the shade in view of the beach and islands.

For desert there were pancakes/roti sold from vendor carts and topped with unimaginably sweet stuff — think jam and condensed milk and sugar — and long thin icy-poles on bamboo sticks. A woman in a sequined hijab gave Tash a red icy-pole and made her day.

A great place in Nopparat Thara in the evening is at the other, eastern end of the beach, a seafood restaurant on the sand called the Wang Sai — recommended by Tina, Chai and Apple, the friendly and helpful staff at the Sabai Resort. Although the Wang Sai appears to be entirely staffed with drama queens, the Thai food is good and the views of the sunset sublime.

On our first night in Nopparat Thara, we celebrated Andrew’s birthday with dinner at the Wang Sai. At one point during the meal, a man appeared on the beach below our table selling large paper lanterns — the kind they send up into the sky at the Loy Kratong/Yi Peng festival in Chiang Mai to take away bad karma. I bought one for Roo and the three of us walked down on to the sand to set it off.

It was a beautiful sight, watching the red and white rice paper lantern inflate as the man lit a flame beneath it. We helped with the launch and the lantern rose rise like a star and floated through the sky. We watched until it disappeared behind the headland. Magic!

Bangkok with mother and child

This time last week, I was anxiously watching developments in the border dispute between Thailand and Cambodia for the most selfish of reasons: Tash and I were due to fly to Bangkok to meet up with my mum. If hostilities worsened, worst-case scenario, our flight would be cancelled. Or we’d make it to Bangkok and get stranded (I packed extra underwear just in case).

In the end, the Thais and Cambodians kindly desisted in declaring war against each other and Tash and I were able to make the journey.

It was actually the second time Mum and I had been in Bangkok together. Twenty-three years ago, we stopped off our way home from Europe and stayed with our friends the Paola family. Prior to that, I’d spent eight months living in Europe and left convinced I was a European trapped in the body of an Australian. But then we hit Bangkok and I was blown away. It was my first experience of Asia — the one that started it all — and like any first love, the city will always hold a special place in my heart.

I wanted to take Mum — whom Tash calls Gugga — around Bangkok and show her why I love this magical city. But she doesn’t cope well with the heat, plus we had an active nearly three-year-old in tow. What to do?

We opted for a visit to The Jim Thompson House. In 23 years of visiting Bangkok, and 18 months living there in 1997-98, I’d never previously made it to this exquisite museum. Beautiful, traditional wooden Thai houses filled with treasures in a lush tropical garden. Dining room with garden views from every window. Sarn prapum (spirit house) in the northeast corner, the one point where the house doesn’t cast a shadow. The tour was a bit much for Tash but the garden kept her entertained, especially the pond containing a freshwater stingray one metre in diameter, and a couple of Jurassic-looking alligator fish.

Next stop via the Skytrain was the Siam Paragon Centre for lunch in the Food Court, where tables surround tanks full of tropical fish. Great for preoccupying kids of Tash’s age, and the food’s not bad either. I couldn’t help smiling as Tash tucked into the mee noodles and won ton soup I fed her with chopsticks while the nearest Thai kid hoed into his French fries.

Siam Ocean World was a tip-off from our friend Kath and turned out to be the perfect place to take a bored nearly three-year-old and a heat sensitive mother. I’m not sure how ecologically sound the place is — surely there’s unintended irony in lamenting the impact of global warming on coral reefs from an airconditioned aquarium in the basement of a six-story shopping mall in downtown Bangkok — but we had a ball.

We thought Tash would be most impressed with the sharks, which are pretty damn impressive: you walk through a tunnel in the shark tank, so the sharks, stingrays and other fish swim around and over you. But her favourites were the Moray Eels (like Flotsam and Jetsam, familiars of the sea witch Ursula in ‘The Little Mermaid’) — particularly watching the little blue ‘cleaner fish’ dive into the eels’ mouths only to re-emerge unscathed minutes later.

My favourite: the tiny sea angels. Mum’s favourite: any fish wearing purple — and there were many.

Tash also greatly enjoyed the kitsch floorshow out front featuring maraca shaking mermaids in sequins dancing with stuffed versions of the star attractions: sharks, water rats (or where they otters?), penguins, and any creature featured in the movie ‘Finding Nemo’.

Another highlight of the trip was the Elvis impersonator at the Tivoli Coffee Lounge in the lobby of the Asia Hotel where we were staying. I can’t help falling in love with a showman who welcomed being upstaged by a singing, dancing nearly three-year-old.

But by far the best thing about last weekend in Bangkok was hanging out with my mother and child.