Duh.
BOY... am I glad we were here on a weekend. I mean, who wants to miss the largest market in Thailand? Um. Not me. Over 5,000 stalls to peruse? We better get going!
But let me start at the beginning. The beginning, in this case (and many others) is when we woke up and felt hungry.
Ever felt that way?
I know.
Anyway, we didn't want to overpay for a slice of toast at our guest house, so we ventured out hungry.
We arrived at the market and surprisingly didn't see a McDonald's or a Tim Horton's or a IHOP.
Funny, that.
In fact we saw no recognizable breakfast foods whatsoever.
So we did what an hungry American family wanting breakfast but wasn't feeling brave enough to order off of a menu that appeared to us to be dinner foods would do in a foreign land...
We ordered a fried egg and white rice and fed it to the kids.
We didn't even brave what was under here.
Which were basic condiments, I'm certain. We're awful, aren't we? We really should try more stuff, but we're just not very experienced when it comes to authentic Asian cuisine.
Sweet and sour chicken I know. And egg rolls. Fried rice. Fortune cookie (?). The end.
Sorry to all my Asian and Asian-American and Asian-(enter other country name here) readers. I know I am a disappointment.
Will you forgive me?
Thanks.
But you'll like this! At least my son is trying! He actually did hold the chopsticks perfectly (without any instruction) and get a big bite of rice into his mouth all by himself once. I. Was. Shocked. So were the people sitting around us.
N tried out the chopsticks too, in a more musical sense.
Wait! Here is food we recognized. Well, some if it anyway.
Yes, please!
Um, no thanks.
Yes to the yummy dried fruit!
And no thanks to the unidentifiable animal parts.
But you're kind to offer.
I think.
The place wasn't busy.
YET.
That is a HUUUUUUUUGE yet.
Didn't buy any fancy gold stuff.
Didn't buy this amazing pink hat that I love.
Didn't buy this bag-after-my-own-heart. (Maybe the biggest tote bag I have ever seen in my life. Quick! Someone erect a memorial with a plaque. I'd like to pay my respects.)
Didn't buy any funky lamps.
Did buy H one little pouch for his Micro-Machines.
Didn't buy weird tissue box cover. (No market is complete without one (or a thousand) weird tissue box covers).
And didn't buy six million, five hundred seventy-six thousand, one hundred and forty-five beautiful, unique, fashionable, and sometimes unidentifiable other items that we saw.
But it was tempting.
Then you'll never guess what happened.
Rain. Lots of it.
Floods were rising even inside the market!
No biggie.
At lunchtime H and his Daddy had great fun with H's two market purchases.
Matching "wobot-men".
They did a lot of crashing and fighting.
Later one lost his head. But don't say he lost his head. Say he lost his helmet. Got it? This is very important.
Beverage arrived. Fresh coconut with it's milk inside!
So fun! And I saw the locals drinking them too, so no, I didn't get sucked into some touristy trap drink.
In case you were wondering.
N was curious too. It wasn't her fav but she gave it a few goes.
Then lunch. Chicken fried rice with pineapple and cashews, in a pineapple.
Cool.
Pretty sure I could eat this every day of my life.
And spring rolls. Wonderful.
The best thing about lunch was the taste. The second best thing about lunch was the presentation. The third best thing about lunch was that you'd never guess that it's as cheap as it was.
I love Thailand.
Aaaaanyway. When Hudson frantically announced that he had to go potty and he and Mikey ran out scrounging for a few baht to pay the bathroom people N stayed busy making friends in the window.
"Aaaaaaaaaiiiii" She says. (Hi). Maybe a wave.
Then if you're lucky... a kiss too!
(She was a popular little girl)
By this time, the quiet calm morning was long forgotten.
The place was hoppin'.
And that is an extreme understatement.
It was at this point in the day that we had the discussion when it was decided that Mikey would take the kiddos back to the guest house for naps and I could stay and shop for another few hours.
I know, he's amazing.
So I put the fam in a taxi, I put the camera away, I secured my money far from any pick-pocketers' reach, threw on the backpack (What? No child strapped to my front or back? I felt amazing light and nimble) and got down to real business.
I think I walked in small, medium and large circles the whole time ("Wait, I'm certain I have seen that four foot tall golden Buddha before..." and "Oooooh, I still LOVE that dress the fifth time around!), I did some bargaining, ate me a strawberry waffle and then collapsed exhausted into a taxi before 5pm.
Whew!
But no time to rest. Got back. The kids are awake.
Gotta go! Gotta go!
But I'm tired.
Nope. Gotta go! Gotta go! Being in Thailand isn't an everyday thing. Don't sit around.
Gotta go! Gotta go!
If you say Gotta go! one more time, well I'm gonna...
Okay okay.
I won't.
Thanks, self.
No prob, self.
You know you're just making this miserably long post even more miserably longer, right?
Yeah I know.
Sorry about that.
Well, don't tell me, tell them!
Oh, right. Sorry folks.
Back at it.
Sky-Train!!!
Not cause we had to, but cause H wanted to. And we like to make him happy.
Train in the sky took us here. To a huge mall complex. Siam Paragon is the glitzy mall which is attached to...
...Siam Center is more our style.
We bought toothpaste and water.
Big spenders, I know.
And we may or may not have eaten these donuts. And they may or may not have been filled with peanut butter and rich chocolatey donut-filling-goo.
Then we played in the lobby of the aquarium cause the aquarium was closed.
Turns out kids love the lobby.
You could skip the aquarium if you want to. Just let 'em play in the lobby.
Consider that a free Thailand travel tip from moi.
You can thank me later.
Anyway. The TTPC (Thailand Travel Planning Committee) then worked on the next days adventures.
But you'll have to wait to read about/skim over/pretend to look at/ignore entirely Monday's adventures cause I'm just too stinkin' tired.
Gotta go! Gotta go!
Gotta go to sleep...
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