Where Men With Little Boys Go

"There's where the men with little boys go!" Sennen said to me as we headed down the corridors of the Siam Paragon Mall. I was thrown by the comment for a moment until I saw the sign outside the mens' room that showed symbols for a tall male and a short male next to each other – and the same for the women's room. Nonetheless, I reflexively responded, "Sennen, never say that out loud." Which of course triggered, "Why, Daddy?" "Never mind." 

This was a classic Sennen moment on a classic Bangkok day. This trip we have made swift progress getting through our Bangkok checklist. Perhaps because the city isn't new to any of us except Bailey or because we just aren't that ambitious right now, Emily and I came up with a fairly short list of remaining things left that we want out of Bangkok: The Grand Palace, a movie in a top tier/first class movie theater, a sushi feast, a visit to the Siam Paragon dessert food court and a massage for each of us without kids around. We accomplished four of those today – and Emily got her part of the fifth one yesterday.

Despite how exhausted the kids and Bailey were at Wat Pho, Emily really wanted to go back to the neighboring and somewhat similar Grand Palace complex to feel complete with the Bangkok experience. With a better rested and adjusted group, we returned to the royal end of town and visited the palace. Before even entering, one of the most striking things about the palace was how empty it was. Normally lines to enter snake out of the compound and down the driveway. And once inside, throngs of tourists mill about what can easily be described as the most dazzling set of Buddhist temples, stupas and religious artifacts in Thailand, if not the world. Even the roofs sparkle. But today, they sparked for a lucky few – most of whom were Thais enjoying their own country, with the women often wearing traditional Thai silk skirt suits to respect the holy and venerated setting.

In what Emily described as "having Disneyland all to yourself", we easily explored the gold covered stupas, jewel studded wats and admired the workmanship that left no detail of any sculpture or building untouched. The sheer scale of bedazzlement is breathtaking. Although it was a hot day, there was enough shade and certainly enough room in the compound to not feel stifled and everyone truly enjoyed. Of course the most impressive sight is the Emerald Buddha, Thailand's most revered and holy. Buddha statue, which unlike the giant reclining Buddha at Wat Pho, is small and unassuming – except for his emerald head. This rare and precious figure is adorned in gold and silk and has his dressing changed three times a year by none other than the King of Thailand. We entered the temple, kneeled and sat, and took in the gold and jewel encrusted ornaments around the incredible small Buddha while surrounded primarily by Thais who had come to worship. As usual, Ailyn was the most connected to the scene and to our surprise, Bailey felt similarly. When Emily, Sennen and I were done, Bailey and Ailyn stayed a little longer.

As we exited the religious side of the palace compound, we passed along the no longer used residences and offices from which Thai kings and palace officials once ran Siam (the Thai monarch now resides at the nearby Chitralada Villa within Dusit Palace). It's easy to imagine the court of King Mongkut with his 82 children and 32 wives and concubines in the time and story of The King and I. The residence's style – a very European building structure with a very Thai set of roofs that match the adjacent temples speaks perfectly to the time in which the palace was built and its purposes – mainly to show the colonizing powers of Britain and France that Siam was not "backward", but civilized and sophisticated and thereby not to be forcibly taken and subjugated. The Grand Palace was built to impress European diplomats, commanders and leaders and played a key role in the careful balancing act that enabled Thailand to be one of only two Asian countries – the other being Japan – not to be colonized. 

After a quick tuk-tuk ride and a brief stop for Thai iced tea from a traditional stand, we went to the palace of modern day Thai capitalism – the Siam Paragon Mall, the absolutely most fantastic of Bangkok's amazing malls. The mission: get seats for the 3:30 showing of Spiderman: No Way Home in the Honda Ultimate Screen (aka First Class) theaters, enjoy lunch at Emily's favorite sushi restaurant on the 4th floor that serves foie gras sushi and finish the day with a visit to the dessert food court in the first basement level. I'm proud to report: mission accomplished.

What was impressive was how much we were able to spend in one afternoon. The sushi lunch was actually slightly less than the $50 per person theater seats (with a free Ailyn). Of course, the theater tickets included a choice of meal (you can get spaghetti carbonara) or snack item with a beverage of choice (I had a Starbucks green tea Frappuccino) in the pre-screening private lounge for only patrons of the three theaters that are part of the first-class experience. Once through with the pre-screening indulgence, one sits in large, cushy recliners that can almost lay flat with provided silk blankets and pillows. A tray table and call button for staff are of course standard issue. Seats are also in pairings of two with enclosed nooks for privacy and quiet. But the piece de resistance are the first-class restrooms which are really a series of personal restrooms complete with self-cleaning toilets and great smelling soap. These bathrooms are arguably the cleanest and nicest in Thailand and in and of themselves make the experience worthwhile. 

Because Spiderman is so intense, Emily offered to take Ailyn to a showing of Boss Baby 2. However, Ailyn did want to miss out on the luxury theater experience and insisted she would handle the scariness of the movie. Ailyn and I sat together. I reminded her several times that all of what she saw was just pretend and that I was there for her. Wrapped in her silk blanket and reclined all the way, Ailyn started by holding my hand as the movie got scary for her, held my entire arm and hugged it for safety. But she made it through without crying and we had a lot of nice cuddle time. In the end, she was very proud of herself and really enjoyed the luxury movie-going experience. Unsurprisingly, Sennen and Bailey found the whole experience fantastic.

After some post-movie shopping, we made our last stop at the Siam Paragon dessert food court where rows and rows of vendors offer an incredible variety of desserts from traditional Thai offerings like mango sticky rice to French pastry to imported Cheesecake Factory cheesecake to innovative creations not seen anywhere else such as green tea mousse filled donuts. One could easily return everyday for a month and try something new each time. Sennen wanted to get gourmet cookies from a place called Dirty Club which featured a cookie called Fat Boy At Heart which teased what might be found beneath the chocolate cookie's surface with a small pretzel, a piece of potato chip, half an Oreo and some M&M's. We bought one of each of their six varieties of cookies. Sadly, in the tasting later that night, Dirty Club received mixed reviews and the mochi filled cookies from a different vendor did even worse with Ailyn saying, "No mo-cheese!" It was clearly an interesting idea gone wrong. But that is sometimes how the cookie crumbles.

What worked well today was that we started with the hot, outdoor, historical, classically tourist things and then shifted to an afternoon of air-conditioned, yummy, relaxing, silk blanketed, nice bathroomed, somewhat local stuff. While it may not all be on the classic list of things for Bangkok-visiting tourists to do, it was on our list and we enjoyed working through it. For Emily and me, what makes a place is its everyday life and culture. Being part of how people live and the nuances of what they enjoy in their culture is the essence of what we seek from traveling. We want that for our children too. Sometimes absorbing the culture can be things as exotic as watching children swim in the khlongs of the Chao Praya and observing a giant golden sitting Buddha overlooking a neighborhood. But more often than not it can be things as mundane as going to the movies, taking public transportation, judging cookies and noticing the signs showing where men with little boys go to the bathroom.