BKK itinerary
 

Hi Everyone
We are heading to LOS for 4 weeks Mar/Apr. Staying at JW in BKK, Yaang Come in CM and Katathani in Phuket.
Could you give us some advice on our itinerary for BKK. We have a 3 yr old who will be travelling with us.

Sat: arr BKK late - taxi to JW
Sun: early skytrain to Chatuchak
lunch - Anna's cafe
Skytrain back to JW
explore Sukhumvit
Dinner - Riverside Dinner Cruise
Mon: Ratt for day tour of Grand Temple, Wat Pho & Wat Arun; Jim Thompson's,
lunch - Lord Jim's
afternoon - Thai Massage Sukhumvit 3?
Dinner - Rosabieng, Raan Dorm or Seafood Mket
Tues: skytrain to Siam and MBK
lunch MBK's food court
Afternoon - CWP or maybe Thaniya Plaza for silk
Dinner - Sirocco and maybe Calypso or Mambo Cabaret
Wed: dep CM
Is this pushing things a bit?
Cheers and thanks.

It is pushing things more than a little. First, I'd skip the weekend market. It is impossible unless you get there early in the morning and you will be very jet lagged. The heat and humidity will make it impossible.

Instead on Sunday do a klong tour that includes Wat Arun and either go to Jim Thompson of have a thai massage.

On Monday you can do the Grand Palace and Wat Pho in the morning. Have lunch at Lord Jim and then either do Jim Thompson or have a massage in the evening depending on what you did the previous day.

I meant do the massage or Jim Thompson in the afternoon (not evening).

Or you could do one of your malls in the afternoon and do do Jim Thompson and a mall on the last day. That way you have some indoor (air conditioned) activities every day.

Dee

This is a really ambitious schedule. I thought I could do a lot too my first three days and was completely humbled by the heat/humidity.

Gloria's ideas are good -- I second the massage as you're going to really need that. Our foot massage was really a full Thai style massage and the best we had in Thailand.

A few other notes: Sukhumvit is a very long street -- so exploring it is like heading out along 50 blocks or so. It sounds like you want to shop right away (understandable !!) But especially with a three year old with you, I would pick more targetted explorations. The market is huge -- the lanes are narrow. A lot of it is covered so the heat isn't quite as bad (I found being out in the sun at the Wats the most draining -- take hats !!) It's also very crowded and might be hard to negotiate with a child too. Everyone here raves about the night market -- perhaps you want to try that and eat there one night?

We used the sky train to get around and that works very well. (Though you'll probably couple that with the MRT for the NM).

Re: eating. I found I was not all that hungry (heat??) We had some strange lunches -- a place at the Siam Paragon mall on our way back from Chatuchak (the skytrain stops at Siam Sq). Did eat at the Jim Thompson house the day we went and that was very good but certainly not traditional. If your three year old is "over" Thai food early, this might be a good choice.

I'll just say for the record that I was very disappointed by the JT house. I think the problem was our guide -- the house and complex are very interesting and he has some amazing art in his collection. But you go through with a guide and ours was just a bit goofy -- kept telling jokes and it felt as if she was reading off a card.

I'd make a list of the most important things you want to do and build around that. We managed the Grand Palace, Em Buddha and Wat Pho before dissolving in fatigue -- it's a lot of walking. Absolutely beautiful -- walking into the palace/wat complex is like walking into a jewel box. At Wat Po, there were dance recitals by young girls going on -- very fascinating to watch but I think that was do to it being Children's Day that weekend.

Have fun !!

don't miss the jim thompson house, in my opinion it is the #2 site in bkk...the guide, no matter how goofy, can not spoil it for you....

i think on day one and two you will be overwhelmed at how tired you are and need adjustment...i would lay low...

bag the weekend market....with such a short time in bkk, there are tons of other things to do more worthwhile, like a klong tour as gloria suggests.....also a short walk along sukhumvit is all you need...it is not interesting...vendors are along the road from sois 4 to 12 on the other side of suk from the JW by late afternoon and evening...that will be enough for you....quite honestly a visit to the suan lum nite market, if still operating, would provide all you want and need for tourist shopping...you can use the stroller there and the market provides you one stop shopping for tons of stuff...the place is manageable...

heavy eating, like lord jim may be unmanageable....

with a baby i think you would find sirrocco not great....i would go for a quick drink at sky bar and then have dinner at nearby tongue thai....both better with baby... or visa versa

it is not easy and the baby will present lots of problems requiring you to go slower...for instance you will find it very difficult, if not impossible to use a stroller any place where there are vendors...too crowded, too narrow....

yes thank you I think you are all right.

Revised itinerary:
Sunday: Klong Tour that includes Wat Arun
afternoon - Thai Massage
dinner - Sukhumvit (Rosabieng or Raan Derm)
Monday: Grand Palace and Wat Pho in morn.
Jim Thompson's in pm (lunch at cafe)
Dinner - suan lum nite market
Tuesday: shopping at a few malls
Sirocco for dinner (my 40th - will arrange babysitter!)
What do you think?

oops. sorry missed Riverside Cruise. Is this a must see?

We first brought our daughter to Bangkok when she was 3. We had a great time, but had a much slower pace than you've set for yourself, even with the revisions.

We found that our daughter was good for one sightseeing excursion in a day, and wanted to have a lot of pool time. We figured it was her vacation, too, so we adjusted our time accordingly, and we still do holidays this way as it works for us...she's now 8.

That first trip we had 5 days and no jet lag as we live in Japan and the time difference is only 2 hours. We did the Grand Palace one day, Wat Arun and klong tour another, shopping another, Ayuthaya another day with a private driver, and a day for everyone to veg by the pool. I had a massage every afternoon. Our daughter did not nap anymore at that time, but did sleep early, so most nights we had dinner at the hotel around 6:30 and she was asleep by 8. We tended to go out in the morning, and be back by 1:00 or so, and we'd lunch by the pool.

We've been back to Bangkok 3 more times since that first trip, and as our daughter has gotten older, she's continued to enjoy travelling. This last trip last month, we finally got to the Jim Thompson House, and I would agree with the others that is a must see.

You are doing a klong tour, which I think is more interesting than the dinner cruises on the river. We've often thought about the dinner cruises, but I think the river is more interesting in the daytime when you can see and there is a lot of action.

We stayed at Yaang Come Village last month and liked it a lot.

Thanks KimJapan
I agree. We took our daughter to Bali last yr and it was slow pace indeed. Most of the time we did shopping etc in the morning, were back at the hotel by 1 or 2pm and had dinner close by or at the hotel.
I admit this will be a challenge. The rest of this trip is not so pushed as we are staying in CM and Phuket for longer period of time. We are looking forward to Yaang Come but might split our Phuket stay into two hotels (16 nights in Phuket might be too long at KT)
Do you know if babysitters are safe at the hotels?

We used a babysitter at Laem Set Inn in Koh Samui...the same one every evening for a group of kids and the parents would dine together. She was terrific and we were all very comfortable with the arrangements there. Laem Set was special though, and it was sold a couple of years ago and we haven't been back. We haven't used babysitters elsewhere in Thailand, but I'd guess one booked through the hotel would be OK. You might want to get a sitter for a time when you will be around and see how they get along, then book the same one for your night out.

We used a sitter last year in Bali...we were in Bali last year too! Our "sitter" was actually a group of students from the tourism program at the high school and they were teriffic. They all wrote and drew in Teaghan's notebook, and now she has a lovely souvenir of her time with them.

I think if I wanted a special night out, I would get a sitter but I'd be more inclined to get one when i was at a small hotel rather than a big one, but that's just me...I'm really more comfortable when I know all the staff and they all know us.

I love the river and love eating on the river but would not suggest a cruise. Instead pick a restaurant on the river for one of your dinners.