A big day of being tourists! We left the hotel with a loose plan to visit the dib museum and then to play at some parks. We called a Grab which took forever to arrive.

Millie happily played with her new playmobil people. I don’t know if it’s her age or that we have completely stripped her of social interaction, but she is getting amazing at independent play.

We then sat in traffic for 45 minutes before arriving. It’s like the scene in Clueless where Cher’s dad says “everywhere in LA takes 20 minutes” except that it seems everywhere in Bangkok takes 45 minutes. The museum opened just a few weeks ago and is in a huge, beautifully designed building.

We went to the ticket desk to buy tickets, and they asked how old Millie was. We’re used to this since usually kids get in free. We said “five” and they said “she can’t come in, we don’t allow kids under 7.” Reader, I was so frustrated. We could have taken turns and hung out with her outside but I didn’t want to give them any of our money. It out me in such a sour mood that I know it would have tainted how I looked at the art. On their website they say they have this rule to “maintain the meditative surrounding”. Discrimination I tell ya! I got my frustration out by writing a Karenesque Google review.

We got in yet another 45 minutes taxi and rode back to the park. The highlight for me and Nick was seeing the giant water monitor lizards cruising down the river on our way in.

Millie make friends with sweet American and French girls at the playground. She got some playtime in and ran around a lot. We walked through the park and saw more lizards and a huge lizard sculpture.

By this point we didn’t have anything else planned for our day. Nick researched various Bangkok tourist attractions and we decided to go and visit the Jim Thompson house museum.

Jim Thompson was an American who settled in Thailand after WW2. He became a textiles trader and designer and brought global notoriety to Thai silks. He was also an architect who assembled his home out of many smaller historic Thai houses that he moved into this location.

We took another too-long Grab ride and arrived. Tours were mandatory so we went through with a guide and about 8 other guests. It was somewhat interesting and we got to see this rich old American’s collection of art. I wished it got more into his business or any potential underbelly stories. He ended up going missing with no clues, why?! Clearly this man had enemies.

There is a very intense “exit through the gift shop” at the end where you go through multiple levels of shops selling Jim Thompson branded silks and souvenirs. Nick made me laugh when he said “I feel like we just went to a Tupperware party but for silks instead of containers”. The whole thing felt like a gentle sell.

It was now about 4 and we weren’t sure what to do with the rest of our day. Millie played with her little people while we sat on a bench talking and researching.

I couldn’t bear to get in another taxi, especially at rush hour. We wanted to visit the Golden Mount, but it was 45 minutes away, as all things are. We decided to start walking along the canal with the hope that we could somehow get on a boat to bring us there.

It worked! We saw a water taxi and hopped on a very long, very fast, and very loud boat. It was 100x more pleasant than sitting in traffic.

We got off and walked about 5 minutes to Golden Mount. We raced up the steps to try to make it there before the sun went down.

Success! We got a 360 degree view of the city.

We walked through the temple and sat and listened to the monks chant. Then we walked all the way back down again.

Millie wrote her name on a leaf for the Bodhi tree.

We were hungry but still not ready to get back in another taxi to go anywhere. I did a quick google and found a restaurant nearby that was known for its pad Thai. Even though pad Thai isn’t my favorite Thai dish, it seemed fitting for our last meal in Thailand. There was a long line outside which was both annoying and reassuring.

This place seems to be the birthplace of Pad Thai. It has been open since 1939. When we got in, the walls were covered in articles about it and it had a big screen playing a loop of the many times it’s been featured on TV (including on American food shows). This is such a specific genre of restaurant, where it becomes well-known simply because it’s well-known.

We ordered two plates of their famous dish. It was wrapped in a thin omelet and had tiny shrimp in it. It was good but not significantly different or better than anything we can get at home. Millie ate a plate of tofu and some of the eggs, but for some reason didn’t like the noodles.

We ran into our guide from last night! She was with a Canadian couple who requested Pad Thai. It was fun to see a familiar face in such a big city.

Then we got another 45 minute taxi back to the hotel.