After a hiatus of more than 1 year, I'm back on my annual shopping pilgrimage to Bangkok. This time round, it is neither with girlfriends nor alone, but with The Husband & The Caterpillar. :)
The trio who stormed through Bangkok!The Husband and I had initially planned to go to Hong Kong. However, we were dissuaded after hearing a friend's narration of how her colleague brought his baby on a 5-hour trip to Perth. The baby cried non-stop the moment the airplane took off. He brawled and howled. And when he finally quietened down when the plane was about to land, there was a standing ovation in the entire plane. Gosh! I'm not sure if I can bear such embarassment! :P So, The Husband & I decided that a 2-hour flight to Bangkok should be bearable for us, just in case Anya should pull off the same stunt... ...
The Planning & Preparation:
Pre-trip planning was not so bad since we are relatively familiar with the place, so I did not have to do much research on itinerary. All I did was to gather all the addresses of the specific restaurants that we wanted to visit, did a bit of reading on points to note when bringing infant on a flight, pick the hotel (the usual Amari Watergate), decide on the length of stay, while the husband did the booking (for flight, airport transfer & hotel) via a tour agency. In anyway, we wanted this trip to be a relaxing one where we'll spend half the time in the hotel so that the little one will not be over-stimulated.
The packing, however, was another story! To cut it short, let's just say that I felt as though I squeezed half of Anya's room into her suitcase. Oh, but for the benefit of other mummies who wanna bring your kiddo overseas, just a few tips here:
- I was 'kiasu' that Anya will not sleep well / get bed bugs when sleeping in the hotel's cot, so i brought along one of her waterproof bedsheet (for that bit of familiar smell & touch) & her lullaby projector.
- We brought along a swimsuit, a neck float & her floating duckies so that she can have fun in the pool / bath tub.
- For ease of moving around, we ditched our usual Kate Spade diaper bag which is carried on the shoulder and brought along a haversack instead.
- We brought both the BabyBjorn straddle as well as the stroller. We used the straddle most of the time as Bangkok's pavements are general filled with potholes while places like Platinum Shopping Mall & Chatuchak Market aren't exactly stroller-friendly. The stroller came in useful when we were in the airport and upscale shopping malls where there is ample walking space, and also during breakfasts in the hotel & dinners in restaurants so that we can free our hands and dig in!
- DVDs! To while away the time in the hotel when she naps.
How she fared:
She did quite well for the plane rides. We tried the feeding-at-takeoff method during our departure flight and she fell asleep at the bottle. The only slight fussing was when the plane was preparing to land on our departure flight.
She started fussing when we were about to land in BangkokOn our ride back to Singapore, we did not even time her feed to coincide with the takeoff. Instead, she fell asleep in my arms, contentedly sucking on her dummy. When the air crew announced that we about going to land, we knew better this time and tried to distract her by playing with her & giving her her dummy.
The first time we tried putting her down for a nap in the cot provided for by the hotel, she seemed to sense the difference and would not stop fidgeting. By nightfall, she finally gave in to sleepiness though it is apparent that she stirred more than usual throughout the night. On the second day onwards, she had adjusted well to the cot, thankfully!
Daddy multi-tasking - feeding & watching DVDs
And then Mommy took over to burp the sleepyheadBath times had to be the most enjoyable of all for her during this trip (thus, worthy of many pictures!). The rubber ducklings and neck float served their purpose well! I would run the water in the bath tub with her usual bath oil till two-third full. Either one of us would accompany her in the tub and there she had such fun floating & kicking around!
Duckies waiting for the little Missy to join them in the tub
Our water baby!
Covering her modesty with *ahem* the duckies
More fun in the tub than the pool!
Anya & the capsized ducklingsWe also tried bringing her to the pool once. Unfortunately, the icy cold water in the wading pool proved to be unsuitable for babies as Anya yelped the moment the soles of her feet touched the water! After a few tries with the same response, we wrapped her in her towel and adjourned back into the hotel room where she had much more fun with her rubber duckies!
Look Ma, I'm doing my stretching before going into the pool!
Now, what is Daddy doing?We limited the length of time for each outing to no more than 2 consecutive feeds outside. On the second & third day, it was always going out at noon time, back in the hotel by late afternoon. Put her down for a nap. Go out for a dinner in the evening and back before her last feed. For the fourth day, we arranged to meet a friend who is working in Bangkok for an early dinner. So during daytime, the husband stayed in with Anya in the hotel while i ventured out to Platinum to do some shopping. We brought her out only in the late afternoon and was back by 9pm. This way, disruption to her naps was minimized and she could be at her best moods most of the time when we were out.
Feeding her in a quaint cafe in Chatuchak Weekend Market
(left) Baby's, (centre) Mommy's, (right) Daddy's
Looking so adorable in the new hat that we bought from Chatuchak Market
At Siam ParagonAll in all, we thought she was such a darling throughout the trip. Most of the time, she was contented to be straddled onto us. A few occasions when we were dining, she got impatient being left in the stroller and started crying. Even so, she usually quieten down once we picked her up. It was only once when we were in a full house seafood restaurant that she screamed and cried - attracting the attention of all the other patrons on the same floor. And that was because we were so engrossed in our food that we forgot that it was time to feed her! Heh! *sheepish smile*
Falling asleep while we were waiting for our dinner to arrive
Sitting in the stroller while Daddy & Mommy dig in!Instead, we have received so many favors and smiles - all thanks to her!
Our room was upgraded from a deluxe room to a suite that has an adjoining TV area. We were quite thankful for this as we could watch DVDs in the TV cum study room without waking her up from her sleep in her cot in the adjoining bedroom.
Posing with her toysOne occasion, we bought a slice of chocolate cake from the hotel's bakery. The staff there found her so cute that they gave us another complimentary slice of cheesecake.
In Suvarnabhumi Airport on our way back, there was a check-in counter dedicated to those with infants & young children as well as the wheelchair-bound (Hmm... Maybe Changi Airport can take a leaf out of their Bangkok counterpart?). Also, a customs officer specially opened up a counter at the immigration area for the three of us when she heard Anya's cries amidst the snakes of queues.
Wherever we went, be it the wholesale shopping centres, malls, restaurants, random staff & patrons (usually women, as you might have guessed) would come up to her to play with her, stroke her thunder thighs or talk to us. The shyer ones would just smile from a distant. As The Husband observed, he had never felt like a ladies' man until the Bangkok trip as he was the one straddling her most of the time and women kept going up to him. Haha!
The trip has served as a great opportunity for some father-daughter bonding while I did some hardcore shopping (Heehee!). There were also plenty of couple time for the husband and I whenever the little one went down for her naps, and we got to enjoy some good food as well! Last but not least, there are also some wonderful memories from this trip that I can narrate to the little one about when she grows older. :)
Another decent family portrait (again, the furkid is missing).
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