Shopping at Chatuchak

Sunday morning Laura and I got up early and caught a van to Bangkok. There is a famous market that is mainly only open on Saturdays and Sundays called Chatuchak Market. During the week it’s apparently pretty dead. 

Have to show you a picture of the squat pots that most of the Thai people use for toilets. You put your feet on the ridges on the sides and squat. =) You bring your own tissue (if you don't want to use the spray nozzle that's usually provided) and then flush the pot with the water in the tank. Very interesting. It didn’t seem to faze the kids at all.

This one is not level with the floor. It seemed that most of them were on a platform and more level with the floor.
 

Jon and I are big Amazing  Race fans and it was so cool to walk through the market and recognize it from the show. This place is beyond description. It’s acres (35 to be exact) of wooden buildings with metal roofs all strung together so they make one mass of confusion. I wasn’t sure where I was or what direction I was going in the whole time we were there. But it was so much fun. The heat was pretty intense, the smell was not the most pleasant and the mass of people could be overwhelming.
I loved it, Jon would have hated it.

Laura and I were drinking water by the bottles full and sweating buckets. I know this sounds horrible, but I was having so much fun that it was only a minor inconvenience. I was too busy looking to get very many pictures. And honestly there were so many people that it was difficult to maneuver. I was constantly being bumped and pushed. I couldn't remember the name so googled the info when I got ready to post this. It said that over 200,000 people visit each day. Yikes! No wonder I felt crowded.

 In addition to the water we got fresh squeezed orange juice. It was really good.

We stopped for a quick lunch at an outdoor restaurant. The noodle dish was sooo good. And then I had the mango and sticky rice. Wow! Now I know what the food in heaven is going to taste like. That is some of the best food I’ve ever eaten. I like mangoes, but somehow when added to this rice it makes it 10x better.

After we had exhausted ourselves and probably our wallets we went to join the men and kids at Laura’s parent’s house. They have a pool at their condo. Everyone one else had come up on a later van and were swimming when we got there.
 
Dominic swam so much he was extremely wrinkled.

I think I wore Laura out. =)

We ate supper at a Mediterranean restaurant.
 
The food was really good. My crazy family ate cheesy bread, but I had a chicken something (Greek version of egg rolls) with some egg yolk and garlic sauce and something green and super hot. It was a different hot than I’ve ever tasted, but super good.
It was also my first diet Coke (well close - Coke light) since leaving. =)
 

We then caught another van for an hour drive to the floating market.
Dominic played on Jon's ipod and the girls watched a movie.
 
 It was the kids bedtime when we got here and Caitlin was already asleep.

An interesting hotel! =) We paid the extra money ($3) to have air conditioning in our room. Money well spent in my opinion.
They brought in another mattress for the kids and pushed the two twin beds together to make our bed.
 

The bathroom was interesting. If you took a shower the toilet got wet. So the toilet paper and towels were kept outside of the room.
 
The door was only a hair taller than our heads.



There was a bowl over the faucet. I couldn't figure out why so I took it off. Still not sure why, but when I went in later the sink and counter were crawling with ants. I put the bowl back over the faucet and didn't see another ant. The geckos were everywhere though. They are the cutest little guys and run all over Thailand, inside and out.

I’m now typing this at 5am in the morning. Dominic had a coughing fit at 4am and couldn’t stop coughing and crying. So I got up and put a movie on for the kids. I’m now typing and Jon is trying to catch a few more minutes of sleep. Traveling with kids is a completely different experience. Jon and I traveled in Europe quite a bit before they were born and it just isn’t the same now that we have two squirmy things to take into consideration. ;)