Siam Paragon, Sea Life Aquarium & Kidzania

Day 4 was our last full day in Bangkok before continuing onward with our travel adventures.  Probably one of the least fun aspects of Bangkok is how dirty it is.  Add heat into the mix and it just feels gross outside.  So we chose to spend this day exploring inside.  After breakfast at the MoMo cafe (and yes if you haven’t guessed it the super amazing buffet was included in our stay so that’s why we ate there every morning), we headed over to Siam Paragon, one of their large shopping malls and home of both the Sea Life aquarium and Kidzania which we wanted to visit for Little K’s sake.

We started off by going to the aquarium which Little K loved as we figured she would, but J and I also enjoyed it.   We were able to see a variety of fish, turtles, seahorses and of course Little K got some fun photo opps that she actually enjoyed.

Little K learned about the plight of the polar bears and was pretty scared walking through the sea tunnel with the shark swimming above us.  Lis – that shark photo is for you!

Finally, toward the end of our aquarium adventure, we got to see the keepers feeding penguins.

After the aquarium we got lunch at one of the restaurants inside the mall and I was excited to eat my favorite dish again (Spicy Thai Basil Chicken):

After lunch we explored the mall a bit more and found our favorite macaron shop (Laduree).  Little K and I enjoyed a few macarons from the classic chocolate to their special orange blossom.  Delicious! We popped in and out of a few stores as well.  Side note: It was so interesting to see the stereotype of #crazyrichasians in true form.  There were people walking around the malls with four or five bags of designer goods… I imagine that it was probably more than what my car cost me to buy brand new hanging from many people’s arms.  Anyway,  my mini-me not only shares my love of macarons, but also my love of shoes.  However, she and I have slightly different tastes when it comes to shoes. 🙂

After exploring the mall, we headed over to Kidzania which in concept is REALLY cool.  Little K had an okay time there, but really she would have had more fun if she were a year or two older.  The concept of Kidzania is that kids get to role play various occupational roles and get some real life experience.  You go to the bank to cash a check when you first get there and then you can spend and earn money at different places (e.g. you can earn money for putting out a fire as a firefighter, you can spend money at a department store or a salon/barbershop).  There are also some free play places for toddlers which is where Little K got the most enjoyment from.  Since parents aren’t allowed into the the little shops (they can observe from outside), Little K wasn’t feeling brave enough to go into any.  If only her travel buddy Brandon had been with her!! 🙂

Here are a few pics of the free play areas:

And here are a few few photos of the rest of the “town” with all the little shops/buildings:

By the time we wrapped up at Kidzania and walked back to the hotel, we were all pretty tired.  Since J had gotten a massage earlier in the trip, it was my turn so I headed to get my massage while J and Little K headed to the pool for a bit.  Then later that evening we started packing things up and headed to bed early in preparation for our travel to Bali the next day.

Chatachak Market & Celebrity Sitings

Our second full day in Bangkok happened to be a weekend day so we were just in time to go explore the Chatachak market, one of the most popular weekend markets in Thailand. The popular weekend market covers over 25 acres and has something like 15,000 different booths selling food, souvenirs, home decor, clothing, accessories, trinkets and more.

We got there pretty early which was great because some shops were just opening and it wasn’t quite so crowded.  I was able to score two gorgeous necklaces with different crystals for quite a deal.  We were told that you can get great deals at the beginning if you are the first person to come to someone’s shop/stall.  It’s said to be good luck, if the first patron makes a purchase.  I like to think my purchase brought the gentleman good luck for the rest of the day.  After walking a bit, we were getting tired (especially after all the walking the day before) so we took a break to get a foot massage.  Yep, Little K got one too! 

The ladies LOVED Little K and thought she was the cutest.  So much so that they kept bringing friends by to show them their first customer was pint-size.  As their first customers of the day and making a purchase, we were also able to bring them all good luck.  (Or so we hope!) It started to get really crowded at the market and it was REALLY hot so we decided to head back toward downtown.

We got lunch at a restaurant inside the Central World mall which is conveniently a few blocks down from our hotel and we got their via the BTS Skywalk… basically a sidewalk to get through a large portion of the city on foot, but above all the traffic.  You can also of course hitch a ride on the train from certain stations along the skywalk if needed to.  In true Little K fashion, she made a friend at lunch. 

After lunch, we needed a break from the heat and the crowds so we walked around Central World to check it out a bit more.  Not only did they have a wide variety of stores and restaurants, but they also had a really cool kids play area that Little K fell in love with.

After letting her play for a bit, we walked around a bit more where J decided to join in on some art for fun.  Little K asked me why all the statues were running naked.  I didn’t have a good answer. 

Finally as we were heading out of the mall, we spotted a celebrity.  We have no idea who he was, but the crowd around him was quite insane.

By then we were exhausted and headed back to the hotel to relax in the room.  Little K wanted to watch a show on the ipad so she did that while I read and J went to get his first Thai massage.  By dinner time we were still over the heat and the crowds so we ordered room service in for dinner and I was able to enjoy again my new favorite dish (spicy Thai Basil Chicken).  Little K only wanted milk and fruit.  As you wish.   J actually headed out to meet up with one of his grad school buddies from his former program who happens to live in Bangkok to grab drinks and dinner… a fellow Boothie as they say.  What a day!

Sydney

Day 4:  Was a lazy day and traveling day.  We packed up in the morning, grabbed our last breakfast in New Zealand and I splurged by getting a coke.  (And frankly it was the 5th day without caffeine water — they don’t have that here. 😉 )  Having traveled to various places (Mexico, central american countries, the caribbean, Europe, the middle east and now New Zealand) I’m somewhat saddened that the ONLY place that has coke containing high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is in the U.S.  Every other country I’ve been to where I’ve ordered a coke has “cane sugar” listed in the ingredients instead.  So is that Americans just don’t care enough to push for eliminating things like HFCS in food and drink?  Or is it that other countries’ governments care more about the health of their people?  Who knows?  I have my theories but I don’t want this to be a political blog so that can be a discussion for another day.  Nonetheless I enjoyed my coke with the satisfaction of knowing there wasn’t an organ damaging additive in my beverage. 🙂

After we finished up breakfast, we took a taxi to the airport.  We got there a bit early so we enjoyed some time visiting the Remarkable Sweet Shop, where we bumped into a girl working there who, of all places, was a student from one of the UW schools.  Small World.  We spent the remainder of the day traveling from Queenstown back to Auckland and then finally over to Sydney.

We got into Sydney around 7:30pm (which felt like 9:30pm Queenstown time) so we grabbed a taxi to head over to the hotel, and enjoyed a free glass of wine in the lounge before calling it an early night.

Day 5:  Taronga Zoo & Shopping

So day 5 of our spectacular vacation was day 1 in Sydney.  We hopped aboard the ferry at Circular Quay (pronounced “key”) to head over to the Taronga zoo bright and early for our behind the scenes tour.  J being the animal lover that he is arranged for the special behind the scenes tour that allowed us to see some of the Australian animals up close and personal and see how they’re fed and cared for.  One of our favorite animals was the koala bear.  They’re pretty solitary animals and they generally only have enough energy to stay awake for our about four hours during which the entire time is spent eating Eucalyptus leaves.  Then they spend the rest of the 20 or so hours sleeping and digesting the Eucalyptus.  The zookeeper who was giving us the tour informed us that they try to keep the animals in an environment as closest to their natural environment as possible.  Which also meant we weren’t going to be able to hold or touch the koalas.  It can cause their blood pressure to rise significantly and could even result in a heart attack.  😦

One of our other favorite experiences was meeting Earl, the wallaby.  You can see a photo of J below, petting him and feeding him a peanut or two.

We saw the Tasmanian devils, the animals that the beloved cartoon character “Taz” is inspired by.  We actually found out that tasmanian devils are now endangered due to a cancer that causes facial deformities and eventual death.  Cancer escapes no one – animal or human.  The good news is that the Australian government is involved with trying to diversify the tasmanian devil populations in Australia while they let the diseased breed in Tasmania die out (the cancer is due to the genetics of the devils in Tasmania (small country island = animal inbreeding = chromosomal abnormalities.) Oh genetics how I’m fascinated by you! Sometimes I still wonder if I should somehow do something in the future with genetics.

One of the best things about the Taronga zoo is that the animals are more accessible.  What I mean by that is they trust the zoo goers more than we would in the States and that allows you to get closer to the animals.  Below you can see a picture of the emu wandering about.  I actually have a video of us following him through the zoo for a bit too, as if he were our own personal tour guide.  These of course weren’t the only animals we got to see up close and personal.  We met some of the smallest gliders and got to hold them – they were called Feather Gliders I think?  They were about a fourth of the size of our pet sugar gliders.  We got to meet and play with a retired possum and oh so much more.  If you are ever in Sydney and have a chance, pay for the behind the scenes tour at the Taronga zoo.  Though it seemed a little pricey it was so worth it for us as animal lovers. We received a behind-the-scenes tour of how the animals are fed and cared for too. It was fascinating!

After our trip to the zoo, it was already the late afternoon.  We decided to check out the shopping in downtown Sydney.  Good idea and bad idea.  Good idea because there are TONS of great shops.  Bad idea for my bank account.  Luckily we limited ourselves.  😉  As we passed through the streets lined with some of my favorite shops, there were two girls singing and playing the guitar in the street and they were PHENOMENAL.  We didn’t have any cash to buy a cd but hopefully they’l be there is we pass by again today.

What’s next for us?  We plan to explore The Rocks and then head to a nice dinner and a show at the Sydney Opera House tonight.  More travel adventures to come!