Bangkok in 12 hours.

36 Hours New York Times articles inspired many of our travels in Europe and now in Asia. We love them and they have yet to lead us astray. Fun activities, local art, restaurants, etc. are packed into 36 hours which is awesome. In Bangkok we unintentionally packed what felt like 36 hours into 12 … with two little ones.

We were a bit ambitious from the start... we packed light – a diaper bag, 3 small backpacks and a yo-yo stroller (if you travel at all with young kids, you need one of these). We headed on the train Friday afternoon from Hong Kong Station to the airport. After hearing the traffic can be nuts in Bangkok, we didn’t want to risk getting stuck for hours in a taxi with two cranky little ones. And we also loathe lugging the car seats around... solution? Public transport and becoming pack mules! Our flight was delayed a bit so landing at 5:30, we didn’t make it to the hotel until 7:30 after cramming ourselves onto a full train. When we arrived, instead of trying the cool, local restaurant I’d found or making it up to the rooftop bar for a cocktail, we hit up the hotel lounge for free food for the kids and Ross and I ordered in some of the best pad thai we’ve ever had. Win. Win. Oh and Finley skinny dipped in the rooftop pool. Perfect Bangkok night.

Thanks to Ross living on the road, Marriott treats him pretty well; this time, we were lucky enough to get a larger room and had somewhere to relax together after the kids went to sleep (somewhere other than the bathroom… which we have totally done). Like we have a habit of doing, we stayed up an hour too late drinking and talking and were totally dragging the next day. I forgot to mention Ross had landed after a red eye from Sydney THAT MORNING… so in true Ross and Katie fashion we decided why not just head to Bangkok later that afternoon? After breakfast, coffee and a shower Saturday morning, I think we finally agreed it was a good call.

First stop temples! In Bangkok, you are spoiled for choice – since we only had a day, we went with a couple hard hitters by checking Wat Arun and Wat Pho. Wat Arun is one of the most iconic and gorgeous with painted tiles, statues and steep stairs. Wat Pho has the largest reclining gold Buddha in the world and it didn’t disappoint. Finley had fun dropping the coins in buckets (need to learn more about Buddhism) on her way out and carrying her shoes in a plastic bag (etiquette to remove shoes and they provided a bag to put them in). She felt like the biggest girl and it was awesome to see the sights through her eyes.

Next stop lunch at a local street vendor – complete with a bottle of Chang Beer. Since we got through things faster than expected, we decided to tie in Chinatown which supposedly has the best Chinese (not too excited about considering where we live) and Thai (very excited about). Our favorite was banana and egg roti which was a essentially a Thai crepe with condensed milk, egg and banana. WOW. We did discover that food markets, food tours, really anything to do with food is tough on little Ry because he wants to eat EVERYTHING. Finley loves grilled meats and ice cream.

Next stop was Lumphini Park and a token playground. We love checking out parks during our travels because it gives us a feel for what it’d be like if we lived in those cities.  I’m realizing something I miss in Hong Kong is accessible green space. There is so much natural beauty in HK but it’s a little tougher to access where we live.

Final stop of the day and so worth getting back on the train to Sukhumvit was Artbox Thailand. Totally up our alley – an outdoor market with cool lights, food vendors, beer, artisans and local music. A perfect, relaxing way to end a busy, Bangkok day.

The kiddos were absolute champs. Both napped either on one of us or in the stroller, tried all the food, saw all the sites and were happy 98% of the time. I forgot, we did make a short detour to get Riley some extra diapers… I guess what goes in must come out and I underestimated just how much would be going in. #rileydoesntmissameal