Travelling with children: Red Garden food court in Georgetown, Penang, Malaysia

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Eating at the food court is so ridiculously easy and fun. The food court is exactly that, a court. All the food stalls are standing around in a square and all the tables are set in the middle. All the tables are numbered, so you find yourself a table first and take note of the number. You then walk around the food court deciding on what yummy food you want to eat.

When you order you tell the vendor your table number, and then they will bring you the food to your table. You also pay when you receive the food. The food prices range from MR5 to MR 20, with the majority priced about MR5-10.

As soon as you sit down a drink waiter will pop up and take your drink order. Juices and milk coffee was RM2-3 and a large beer was RM13.

Definitely try the fried oyster omelette! It's incredibly yummy and moreish. You can order it in different sizes depending on how many you are to share or how hungry you are, and you would want to upsize it. Really. Pure yummyness.

Travelling with children: Going to Sihanoukville

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Stopping for lunch on our way to Sihanoukville, Cambodia

On Friday we headed south to Sihanoukville and our rendezvous with hubby’s family. All of them. Well, almost all of them. His parents, four of his sisters, two brothers-in-law, two friends of the family, and six nieces and nephews had rented a minivan with a driver and taken the 10 hour drive down from Siem Reap to Sihanoukville to see the ocean for the first time. In Cambodia the number of seats in a car is no indication as to how many people can fit in it. On their way down, they picked us up outside Phnom Penh, two adults, one child, one baby, three HUGE suitcases, and a baby pram in a pram pack. It was a tight fit, but everyone was happy and excited.

The gals are ready for Phnom Penh

Hubby’s family come from a small village a bit outside Siem Reap, and most of them have never been outside Siem Reap before. Hubby’s mum visited the capital, Phnom Penh, for the first time for our engagement party. No one had ever been to the beach before let alone seen the ocean. Most Cambodians have never, and will never, go on a holiday. First, they rarely get any time off from work, and the cost of going on a vacation is just too high. One of hubby’s dreams, since he himself saw the ocean for the first time on a holiday with me when we first started dating, was to show his family Sihanoukville. We have talked about doing it for years, but seeing that we would have to shoulder the majority of the cost such as accommodation, transport, food, and suchlike for everyone, we had to save up the money for it first. But finally, the time had come. Everyone was excited about this trip and a mere bagatelle such as slightly cramped seating arrangement could not put a lid on the high spirits.

And if that wasn’t enough for excitement, it was also the first time hubby’s family would meet our new addition to the family. Little sister has always been a tad skeptical to be held by strangers, and has been known to tell off her grandparents when they fall out of favor with the little missus. And then there were this crowd where everyone wanted to see, touch, hold, and talk to the little missus. She tolerated stoically for a bit, but soon enough let everyone know that enough was enough already. Big brother took to the crowd like fish to water.

Travelling with children: Phnom Penh, Cambodia

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The view from our balcony at Aqua Boutique Guesthouse, Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Our main reason for this 9-week-long trip in Asia was to spend time with hubby’s family in Cambodia. The extra countries (Thailand, Malaysia, South-Korea) were just extras, added on by me when I got a bit too caught up in buying plane tickets, and a bit too immersed in my memories of when I used to backpack around Asia. Additionally, I have since before I reproduced, claimed that travelling can be done with children, and I am damned if I will be proved wrong. 

So after a week in Thailand we arrived in Cambodia where we spent two nights in Phnom Penh catching up with old friends. I lived in Phnom Penh for three years, that’s how I met the hubby, and some of my old friends are still around.

We stayed at a great little guesthouse called Aqua Boutique Guesthouse where we paid US$45 for an apartment for three included breakfast. Can’t fault that. The more we are travelling, the more we appreciate the ability to shut the door to the bedroom. For all of us to stay in a normal hotel room is doable, but slightly inconvenient. And it also means that the kiddies won’t go to bed before we do. Being able to put the kiddies to bed and then go and sit in another room was a luxury we hadn’t had since we left home. The breakfast at the hotel was the normal fare. Eggs – fried, scrambled, or omelet – a side of bacon and tomato, two toasts with butter and jam, juice or coffee, and a small plate of fresh fruit. The staff was very helpful and happy and the location is pretty smack bam in the middle of town.

The Siam Paragon in Bangkok

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So thenTook a tuk tuk to the Siam Paragon in Bangkok. Were thinking of visiting the Siam Ocean World, but decided not to when we realised the entrance ticket was 1100 bath per adult and 900 bath per child. Instead we went windows shopping admiring all the chanel and prada and whatnot and had some food at the food court. A bit later we met up with a friend of the hubby from back home and went for a lovely lunch at a Thai suki restaurant. Suki is a type of soup where you will get a burner and a pot of stock on the table, and then you can order different type of vegs and meats to put in according to your taste and preferences. We ended up bying a selection of seafood, some nice duck, and lots of different vegetables, mushrooms, and fungus.

Then we went for a walk around the Paragon and Siam Centre. There were lots of interesting displays in Siam Centre.

And of course the best toilet sign ever :-).

Travelling with children: Train trip from Aonang/Krabi via Suri Thani to Bangkok

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Waiting for the bus to Suri Thani

Later on Sunday we packed up all our stuff and headed towards Bangkok. We wanted to go by train, but the closest train station is Suri Thani which is about 2 hours by bus from Krabi. But, not to worry, all travel agencies will sell you a combined ticket.

We got picked up from our hotel at 4pm.We were the first to be picked up, so then followed a round trip through most of the beaches around Ao Nang to pick up more travellers before we arrived at the bus station at Krabi around 5pm. Here we got our train ticket and we were told to wait for the bus to depart to Suri Thani at 6pm.

The bus trip to Suri Thani was pretty uneventful although a bit bumpy, and at one point big brother fell of his seat due to the bumpy ride. But, no one got hurt and after a kiss and a cuddle all was good. Little sister slept through most of the bus ride, and woke up in an excellent mood when we arrived at the train station.

Having some grub at a street stall

We wanted to find a restaurant where we could eat and drink a few hours seeing that we arrived at the train station at 8pm and our train was scheduled to depart at 23.30pm, but that worked out more difficult than we expected. The only two restaurants close to the station was in the process of closing up, and besides that there were only a couple of street stalls and a coffee shop located on the second floor. Seeing that we are lugging 75 kg of baggage around (25 kg of presents and clothes to be given away and 15 kg worth of baby pram) we decided to stay on ground level and sat down at one of the street stalls. But, not a bad decision. Had a yummy meal of green curry, shrimp omelet, spring rolls, and an egg roti with chocolate sauce for dessert. And all this for the net sum of 350 bath including drinks (about US$12).

Watching over our pile of luggage

Eventually we made our way over to the station and set up shop at the far end. And started to wait or the train. And waited. And waited. The scheduled departure time came and went without any train showing up. At last, at 1 am the train finally turned up and we hauled all our luggage, one sleeping baby girl, and one very sleepy 4-year old onto the train. 

Waking up at the train

We had bought 1^st class tickets in a sleeper car with three beds. In Thailand there are two types of 1^st class tickets, either seats in an open carriage where the beds are behind curtains, or slightly more expensive, seats in a private compartment. We weren’t sure which one we had ended up purchasing as the travel agency guy didn’t seem to know nor care and only kept telling us “yes, 1^st class, yes, yes”. But to our delight we had ended up with private compartments. Normally I am quite happy with the open carriage, but with a baby and a 4-year old in tow it was lovely to not having to deal or interact with anyone else. Actually, we got two tiny compartments as each compartments only holds 2 beds (an upper and a lower) and we had bought three seats, but there were a door between the compartments which could be opened, and the fourth bed was empty (lucky us). For all this we had paid about 5200 bath including the bus from Krabi to Suri Thani (US$175). The 4-year old were thrilled with the upper bunk. It was his very first time sleeping in an upper bunk, and on a train to boot…

Yummy breakfast on the train all
wrapped in plastic

The next morning we were woken by some brisk knocking on our door at 9am. A man from the restaurant carriage was standing outside holding a menu with pictures, wanting to know if we would like breakfast. We ordered fried eggs and toast, and rice porridge. Both meals came with orange juice and coffee and set us back 100 bath for each.

Then we wheeled away a few hours admiring the scenery and waiting to arrive in Bangkok. When we arrived at 11.50am there were lots of men with trolleys waiting to help passengers with their luggage for the net sum of 60 bath. With the amount of luggage we had we couldn’t fit into a taxi, so to the 4-year old’s delight we ended up getting a tuk-tuk to the hotel.

Travelling with children: Chillin on the beach

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We didn't manage to get out of the room until almost 1 pm, at which time the temperature was soaring. But after having rubbed both kiddos down with sun screen lotion we packed our bag and headed towards the beach. 

We found a shady spot, and while the little missus had a nap under mommy's loving eyes, daddy and big brother went for a swim and to look for crabs in the sand and other interesting stuff.

When little sister woke up we bought some take-away from a local restaurant across the street.

Five thumbs up for the whole outing :-).

Travelling with children: Krabi Walking Street Market

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After having spent a few hours cooling down at the room, and little sister and mommy had a little sleep, we headed into Krabi town. Krabi Walking Street Market takes place every weekend and is particularly known for its range of food. Just up our alley :-D.

We hired a private tuk-tuk to take us there, wait for us, and then take us back. But we could have hitched a ride on the public tuk-tuks which runs on the road by the beach. They pretty much operate like a bus, and will pick up and drop off passengers on the way.

The market was everything we hoped for and more. There were food everywhere. We started out with bbq pork on skewers which were delicious. Then we came across chubby squid tentacles on skewers which we also had to try. We came across a stall which sold henna tattoos, and big brother ended up with a gecko on his forearm. Then there were more food. Big brother and mommy shared a waffle before we headed towards the middle of the market which were set up with a stage and lots of tables and chairs. While little sister got some yummy for her tummy, daddy went around looking for more morsels he wanted to try. So then there was deep fried shrimps, more squid skewers, some more pork skewers (but different from the first one), chicken skewers, and a spicy mango salad. And all this was washed down with a cold beer for daddy and watermelon shake for big brother and mommy.

At that time we were ready to head back, but even though we were about to burst we felt we couldn't leave without getting some snacks to take back to the room. Well, we might have gone a bit overboard. One whole salt baked fish, two chicken skewers, a bagful of crispy chicken drumsticks, and three roti filled with bananas and drenched in chocolate sauce came home with us for an evening feast.

Travelling with children: You do not have to fill every minute of the day!

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Lesson one: Do not feel bad if you end up spending most of the time in your room!

When our first born made his appearance we didn't change our way of living (or travelling) much. He was carried around wherever we went and seemed happy enough with sleeping wherever he happened to end up. We even dragged him on a 5 weeks trip to Asia when he was a mere 6 weeks. In hindsight I must admit that I wouldn't recommend that to anyone else. 

Anyway, travelling with one baby is a breeze. However, travelling with two is a completely different bag of fun. I soon had to realise that all my expectations of days in the sun filled with fun and soul developing activities had to go. Really really go. We would be lucky if we even made it out of our room for two meals a day. No, not that bad, but we would definitely spend more time in our ac-room than we had done on previous trips to hot and sunny places. 

After having walked from the hotel to the beach side in 34 degrees and glaring sun, stopped at a cafe for some much needed cold refreshments, spent the best part of an hour taking tuk-tuks to no place in particular because the 4-year old can not think of anything more fun and exhilarating than driving a tuk-tuk, we finally made it to the beach. At which point every body besides the 4-year old were hot and sweaty and ready for a cold shower. But we managed to spend a good half an hour during which the 4-year old dug for crabs, went for a swim, and in general had a ball, we ate pineapple and bbq chicken with sticky rice, made friends with a group of locals having a picnic near by, the 5-month had been admired by everyone around, and managed to pee all over the sarongs. So then we went back to the hotell after having spent a whopping 4 hours out and about. 

All in all a very good day. 

Travelling with children: Thai zombies got priority seating...

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These symbols were displayed on some of the chairs at Don Mueng airport. I thought the symbol on the far left meant a not-quite-dressed-zombie and got very excited thinking the Thais really got it on. Then my hubby ruined it for me by explaining that it more likely was meant to be a monk. Which makes sense but oh so disappointing...

Travelling with children

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We have packed up our 4-year old and our 5-month old and headed towards Asia where we will spend the next 9 weeks visiting 4 countries. We have just arrived at our first destination which is Aonang Beach in Thailand. We are basking in 35 degrees, quite the difference from the 15 below we left at home.

So far things have been pretty good. But unfortunately the 4-year old has been on the receiving end of a few too many shrill outbursts from both mummy and daddy. Now, getting told off for doing something probably comes with the territory when one is 4, but a tired and stressed mum after 27 hours of travelling of which only 1 was spent sleeping due to aforementioned 5-month old doesn't help either. 

Travel memories

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I was sitting on a cafe the other day, talking to a friend of mine about travelling. And we started to discuss the reasons why one decides to go travelling. One thing we both agreed on was if nothing else, you'd came back with some quite good stories. That made me remember some interesting stories of my own.

One happening I keep remembering happened in the summer of 97, when I was travelling in South-Korea. The summer of the Asian Financial Crisis, which meant that had I decided to wait until the summer of '98 I would have saved a lot of money due to the devaluated Asian currencies. But, I was 20 years old. Financial trends and monetary crisis weren't words I used a lot, to be honest I probably wouldn't have recognised them if they hit me smack in the face.

I was visiting one of the more famous temples in SK, wandering around and admiring the statues, and being very faxcinated and intrigued by all the bold little monks dashing around, when one of the rocked up to me and started talking. This was great, even though his knowledge of English was rather non-existent, which was less great. After a little while he asked me whether I would like to come back to the compound where the monks lived and have tea with him and some other monks. 'Great' I thought 'Kodak moment, a moment to relish and tell my grandchildren about'. I could almost picture myself, gathering all my grandchildren... ehr... Anyway, it WOULD make for a good story when I came home, and it WAS bloody interesting. Me, having tea with the local monks at one of SK's most famous temples… this was an once-in-a-lifetime offer.

It was great. Sitting on the floor with three monks, drinking green tea, and trying to communicate in writing… Which still puzzles me today. If I couldn’t speak Korean, why did they assume I could read it? Anyway, one of the monks gave me a note with a phone-number on, and with many hand gestures got to explain that I should call him.

This is one of the things I find odd and very funny. I have no idea how many small notes I have carried with me home from my travels, with a phone number on, given by a local who could barely say ‘numba one’ accompanied with the universal phone gesture. Of course, usually there’s a copious amount of the local spirit involved, which may take part of the blame, as after the 12th sangsom-coke, soju, or whatever the local brew is called, anything makes sense, and minor difficulties, such as an inability to speak each other’s language, turns irrelevant and unimportant. This is normally about the time when you new local best friend rock up some rather particular local beer snacks, and at the time you think it doesn’t really matter that the snack is either a part of an animal you have never heard of before or a tasty protein-snack with a few too many legs. Frankly, deep fried grasshopper is quite yummy, but I still wonder how drunk one has to be for one to pick up a grasshopper and think ‘yum, this one will probably go really good with beer’…

There isn’t always alcohol involved though. On the same travel as above, I once stumbled out of a bus in the middle of South Korea eagerly looking for a quite famous park which my travel guide swore should be a short five minutes’ walk from the bus stop. After one and a half hour of chasing pavements I still hadn’t found any park, but I did manage to locate a tourist information booth. Then I had to spend another half an hour trying to explain to the girl behind the counter what I was looking for. I finally realised that we weren’t even talking about the same thing. I wanted my park, she wanted my address… More hand gestures and rather goofy smiles. 20 minutes later I understood that she wanted my address so she could write to me, thus practicing her English (which was rather non-existent). At the time, it sounded like a great idea, so I wrote down my address and gave it to her. Later on though (after an hour in a cool room and some rest) I realised that having a pen-pal who knew hardly any English at all may not be the best of pen-pals. Luckily it seemed like she came to the same conclusion as I haven’t received any letters from her.