We Heart Bangkok

Long overdue post detailing our by now infamous (at least among our circle of friends with young children but who have yet to dare scoot off on a holiday WITHOUT them) Bangkok trip.


4 days 3 nights in a swanky Marriott suite in the heart of Bangkok.

4 days 3 nights of non stop shopping and eating.

4 days 3 nights of doing absolutely whatever we want, whenever we want with no schedules to adhere to.

4 days 3 nights of absolute freedom from the incessant demands of 2 precocious kids.

What complete, unmitigated bliss...



And yet, the night before we were supposed to leave, i was having 2nd thoughts. (See post on breastfeeding Thane for the last time)



How were the kids going to cope without me?

Who will police them in drinking their daily copious amounts of water?

Who will make sure that every inch of every tooth is brushed every night?

Who will make sure that they dont stuff their faces with junk?

And who will be there for them if they miss us badly?



I know hubby was all ready to berate me for wasting his time and money should i pull out from our couple trip at the last minute, so i bit my tongue and quelled all my fears about leaving the kids behind.

I could hardly sleep that night, disturbed by nightmares about the kids injuring themselves/falling very sick/choking/getting lost/getting run over by traffic cos no one was watching them...yeah i was that paranoid.

You couldnt blame me right? This was the 1st time in almost 5 years that we have actually left their sides for more than a couple of hours!

Of course i was apprehensive!



To make matters worse, my baby started to develop a runny nose the very night before we were supposed to depart.

Talk about the kids always succeeding in sabotaging our plans huh...

Here he is, a little sick but still cheeky as usual

And so, the very next morning, we carted everyone off to my mother in law's house , 2 hours before we were even due to check in.

Hubby called for a cab to the airport and with nary a backward glance, plopped himself in the backseat.

Me, my heart broke when Terelle started crying. I wanted to cry myself and almost wanted to ask hubby not to go after all.

Callously, hubby dragged me into the cab (a move which i would thank him for later) and demanded that i get a grip and that they would be fine without us.

We did eventually make it up the plane, but not before me insisting to call home like twenty times (all in the space of 3 hours before takeoff)

As soon as we landed in Bangkok, the shopaholic in me could not resist the lure of the intoxicating city and my worries over the kids began to fade.

OK i was determined to make the most out of my 4 days of freedom!!

And so, all we really did was eat, shop, rest, swim, have massages, read, watch tv...in no particular order and then eat and shop some more. By the end of the trip we were thoroughly sick of shopping...and i NEVER get sick of shopping...ha...

Waiting for the train to take us to Chatuchak

Oh yes, we totally heart Bangkok!

Hubby totally satiated and outside the public toilets at the weekend market

He said that the toilets were so clean that they put to shame any one of our public toilets back home. Says so much about our society huh?

Shopping in the sweltering heat

The Bangkok traffic - i love the colorful taxis!

Carting home the spoils from the market

Having dinner at the Suna Lom Night Market

Our sumptious and authentic Thai food

Lunch at a hip joint in the heart of the city where we caught up with an old friend

Silly me was too fascinated with these noodles (aptly named Complicated Noodles) that i forgot to take pics of our little lunch party. Gah!!

And what's a trip to Bangkok without risking life and limb on a Tuk Tuk?

Look at our loot! 80% were stuff for the kids - shows how much we missed them! Haha!

The beautiful infinity pool surrounded by the tall buildings dotting the city

Lazing around by the pool

When the time came for us to leave, i was eager to return home, for the first time! Usually i will be very reluctant to end a holiday and will glumly drag myself back to the airport. This time, i was looking forward to seeing the kids cos we really missed them over the 4 days.

Thanks to pragmatic hubby who had the faith that the kids would be fine without us, who actually dragged me onto the plane and who limited my calls home to only twice a day (think without him, i would have called home every hour), i truly enjoyed our very first trip away from our 2 monkeys.

More to come? Hell, yeah!!

This time ill have utterly no qualms about leaving the kids behind!!

Thane talks

We are at the airport fetching hubby home from a work trip.

Thane is dressed in long sleeves and wearing his striped pants with a huge owl on his bum.

Passers by find him irresistibly cute and cannot resist but ruffle his hair and pinch his cheeks.

Helper comments," Wah baby, everybody likes you huh?"

Thane swiftly replies, "Because baby handsome."

* I have absoultely no idea who taught him that! *

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I have stopped breastfeeding him for close to a month now.

Just yesterday i offered him the breast for fun.

M: Baby wanna drink nen nen?

T: *looks at me incredulously* Dunwan!

M: Why? Why dont you want nen nen?

T: Because baby big boy already.

And no matter what i say and how i cajole him to drink nen nen, he keeps rejecting me with a cheeky smile on his face.

He really is a big boy through and through!

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Helper plonks him down on the playmat and goes to the kitchen.

Barely a minute later, we hear his plaintive wail.

" Aunt-eeeeeeee! Come here! Play with baby! Im SO BORED, baby ALL ALONE!"

This is said with the exact same intonation and in the exact same manner as Terelle, who laments this way ever so often, especially during the long holidays.

He is picking up EVERYTHING from Jie Jie, good and bad.

Weaning - the aftermath

Weaning Thane from breastfeeding was easier than i thought.

Now, whenever its nap or bedtime, all i have to do is to lie on the mattress next to his bed and do my own thing, while he wriggles and squirms round and round the bed, trying to find a sweet spot to lay his little head.
(You know, just like when a dog needs to poo, he goes round and round and round until he finds a nice spot and then he goes?)

After about 15min of burrowing around his bed, he finally falls asleep with nary a fuss.

Heaven!

But the catch is that i HAVE to be beside him. If suddenly during his squirming he happens to look up and im not there, he'll scream the house down till i come back and sit beside him.

It doesnt work if hubby is sitting there. It has to be me.

But im not complaining...its a far far cry from having to nurse him left, right, left, right.....on and on and on for at least 45min!

His appetite has increased much more too. Now he takes 3 bottles of milk a day, 300ml in the morning, 150ml in the afternoon and 120 ml at night, on top of 3 full meals.

No more eating like a mouse! Hallelujah!

However, even without breastfeeding, he's still quite the mama's boy.

Ever so often during the course of the day, he will come and lay his head on my chest and just lie there for a good 10min. He will want me to hug and cuddle and carry him like a baby, smiling contentedly when i do.

And when he's upset, all i have to do is pick him up, cradle him and soothe the raw nerves with some quiet words and he's fine and dandy again.

And i was so worried that only breastfeeding could calm him down!

So overall, i would rate this weaning episode a 10/10. And we got to go for a holiday on our own on top of that!

Happiness...