Our short visit to Bangkok was motivated by the direct flight to Africa to begin the next half of our adventure in the continent of Africa. Following another efficient airport process, we soon found ourselves at the Marriott Marquis Queens Park where Ayaan reveled in the hotel’s grandeur and VIP service, that had him wishing we could stay longer. We were escorted to the lounge where Ariana made a Korean friend while Gaurav and I imbibed glasses of sparkling wine and hors d’oeuvres. We surprised Ariana by having the hotel organize a chocolate cake, balloons, small presents and painted “Happy Birthday” greetings on the mirror. She was thrilled! The room overlooked a magnificent pool, a park with dancing water fountains and the Bangkok skyline further in the distance. Ayaan named it the best hotel of the trip so far.

We headed out to Asiatique that evening where we enjoyed the large Ferris wheel, and the haunted mansion ride (the kids decided to go together and at one point, I heard screams of “mommy” from Ayaan because he was so scared!). The kids also enjoyed a VR roller coaster simulation following which we grabbed a tuk tuk to Yaowarat Road, Bangkok’s Chinatown. Our first stop was a restaurant that had made optimal use of its limited space with a ladder to access the upper tier tables. We of course opted for that and ordered a new year’s dim sum platter which was absolutely sumptuous! In particular the char siu pork bao was the best I’ve ever had. Next, we tried street food including chicken sate, coconut pancakes and ducked into another restraint for xio long bao and noodle soap. At this point, we were in food coma and retreated back to the hotel.

The next morning, after a somewhat lazy start, Ariana realized we had forgotten their malaria pills at the hotel in Laos. Panic ensued since we were headed to Kenya that evening. The amazing hotel concierge helped us locate a travel clinic that had the pills we needed and we spent the better part of the morning in Bangkok traffic to get them. We had barely enough time to to make it to our cooking class where we made a 4-course meal – Tom kha soup, green chicken curry, shrimp pad Thai and of course the infamous mango sticky rice. After filling our bellies, we headed back to the hotel where we played golf and football simulation games and ended our time in Bangkok with luxurious foot massages, the best in the world!