18.01 Day 3 Bangkok

Day 3 - Thu 18th Jan - Bangkok

A few additions to the breakfast foraging across the road with coconut cream fried in batter cups (had promise but the middle was too soggy), meatballs on skewers (only I can eat the spice), mango from a new man (wrong sort, unsweetened). The pork skewers and sticky rice are still a success, plus my first hot coffee. A relaxed start in the room, Sienna blog writing, Seb doing Reading Eggs on the ipad (online spelling app) whilst we map out the day. Which begins with another Grab from the hostel to the Butterfly Garden and Insectarium a few kilometres north. 

The insects are definitely second billing behind the Butterflies and really barely qualify for being included in the name. A small building in side the large manicured Wachirabenchatat and Queen Sirikit Park with glass cabinets of butterflies leads you out into a huge aviary like construction filled with colourful plants from geraniums to orchids and a rainforest warmth and dampness in the air from the small waterfall. There are hundreds of butterflies of all varieties flitting from flower to flower. For a free entry government run (?) venue it’s an impressive set up. Sienna wanders around in amazement continually encouraging the multi-coloured butterflies to walk on to her hand. After one lap Seb is more concerned about the heat and his next snack and so retreats back into the aircon, whilst Sienna does a victory lap with the one butterfly that has finally settled on her finger.

Morning tea is consumed within the Garden before we emerge into the park and walk south 20 minutes past scuttling squirrels and cacophonous crows towards both the Children's Discovery Museum but also Chatuchak Weekend Market - allegedly home to over 10,000 stalls at the weekend. For someone who likes to review all options before making a decision or purchase it sounds hellish. And that's even before you add in the people and crowds. Thankfully, that's not our destination, but instead, the more-fun-than-it-sounds Children's Discovery Museum. 

Another government-run free entry venue promoting the benefits of looking after the environment and Thailand’s development success, there are two buildings either side of a large playground and small water play area. It’s not hard to tell which is the original building from 2001 and which is newer - we opt initially for the latter on expectation of better aircon, having already promised Seb he can come back to the playground he’d sprinted to on first sight, inevitably falling on the fist slope but bouncing up again. Aircon is indeed on full blast in this whiter than white three storey building. There are rooms on the environment in terms of power generation and recycling and rooms to just play with Lego. 

It's all hands on, and barring a couple of young school classes bussed in for the day we almost have the place to ourselves. The waterplay area is operational on an alternate hourly basis so as we’re in the Off hour we take the opportunity to exit and cross the road to the new and shiny building attached to the Chatuchak markets, in which there are a few stalls for those who want a more sanitised market experience and also some food options where we plump for more pork and rice options. 

Satiated on that and some chocolate milk from 7/11 we cross back into the museum, show our passports again, get our orange wristband again (which contains a chip to operate the entrance gate to prevent pesky kids from escaping without adults) and watch the kids slip and slide around the fountains pumping out of the ground. In the new building we sit in a small cinema for a 5 minute 4D movie on protecting the environment - all spoken in Thai - narrated by three cartoon characters consisting of a green elephant, a pencil and a rubber. Wearing our 3D glasses, the kids (and adults) squeal at the oncoming flying elephant and at popping the bubbles falling from the ceiling inside the cinema. 

With time running out before it closes at 4pm we read a little in the library, inside cut out segments within a giant foam caterpillar, then gawp and gaze at distorted reflections in a small room of bendy mirrors, and lastly, in what turns out to be Sienna’s favourite, build a small town on a green table top from wooden blocks including houses, trees, factories, schools, police station and roads. As we’re shuffled out by Security, Seb is already asking if we can come back tomorrow. 

Back at our base after a returning Grab, passing as we have several times now the King's Palace looking resplendent in white, in stark contrast to some of the shanty houses along the river just a few hundred metres away, the kids unwind with some ipad tv. But that's after spotting the pancake lady still in business and trotting back to her cart on the pavement near our hostel. The disappointment that she only has enough batter for one final crepe is offset for the kids by the fact that that one pancake is loaded with Nutella and marshmallows. 

Dinner is taken at a cafe also on our street where an omelette on rice, crispy pork with rice and pad thai with Pepsi comes to the princely sum of 175 baht ($8). We’d promised a dessert iced tea from Moma’s Tea House which earlier that day had supplied me with an excellent passionfruit green tea, but as its closing only has Thai milk tea left which is not a success. You can’t win them all.