Because Bryan’s cousin was getting married in the Philippines in February, we took this as an opportunity to hit up 1 extra country while we were in Asia. Bryan and I had both been to Bangkok, Thailand before, but never together, and it’s been a place I had been wanting to go back to. As an added bonus, our good friend, Joey, from Australia was also traveling to Bangkok, Thailand, so we arranged to stay in the same hotel and spend most of the days there together.
What did we do?
Dates: 1/28/24 – 2/11/24
Duration: 5 days in Bangkok, Thailand and 9 days in the Philippines
Bangkok, Thailand
Our schedule – day by day replay
| Day 1 | arrive to Bangkok and check-in to hotel grab dinner |
| Day 2 | Central Mall – hang out and eat lunch Khao San road |
| Day 3 | Floating Market (2 hour drive away) swim at hotel pool dinner with friend’s family at Kin Lom Chom Saphan (dinner and a view) |
| Day 4 | Sampheng Market at Chinatown oyster omlette in Chinatown Wat Pho temple with lying Buddha mall and foot massages and Korean fried chicken Oppadaek other mall night market Rama 9 |
| Day 5 | roasted pork at Kuay Jab Mr Joe park Terminal 21 mall lunch at Cabbages and Condoms hangout at hotel with 2 friends |
Philippines
Our schedule – day by day replay
| Day 6 | Fly from Bangkok to Manilla Party at Uncle Ephrain’s house dinner at Japanese restaurant with family Bryan ran the Manilla marathon |
| Day 7 | Church Lunch at Fresh buffet in Solaire Cafe in Imus with 2 friends |
| Day 8 | Villa Escadero |
| Day 9 | Lunch at The Alley with Uncle Ewel |
| Day 10 | Coffee at BGC Caravan in Black Lunch with Jay and Krystal and family Explore BGC Visit Manilla Atlassian office Hang out with Oliver |
| Day 11 | Lunch at Jade Garden with Ninang Emma and family Visit Dreamplay |
| Day 12 | Go to hotel in Silang Dinner at Ba Wai’s Kitchen |
| Day 13 | Lunch and Vietnamese coffee at Ba Wai’s Kitchen MM and Kenneth’s Wedding |
| Day 14 | Fly back to the US |
What would I recommend?
- What to do in Bangkok, Thailand with toddlers?
- Villa Escudero | Filipino Food and Waterfalls For Families
What did I learn?
- It’s nice to travel with other adults that like kids. We traveled with our friend, Joey, and his girlfriend, Kathy, and they entertained Serena and held her hand and bought her a panda backpack and toy elephant.
- Next time, it’d be good to look up a few words or phrases in Thai like “Where is…” and “How much…” because I felt like past our hotel, it was sometimes hard to communicate.
- From Joey’s rigorous searches for elephant pants, I learned that Chinatown sells very cheap elephant pants for 80 baht compared to 120 baht at other places
- In my trips to Thailand, Philippines, and Vietnam, they all used Grab, which is a rideshare service similar to Uber or Lyft. When I was in the Philippines trying to add my credit card, I had to call Chase Bank to unblock it for it to work. This makes it super convenient because you don’t have to make sure you have enough cash on hand, and on top of that, I’m pretty slow at counting foreign currency. I also like that the rates on this app are consistent. In Thailand, I took many taxi rides and most taxi drivers wouldn’t charge by meter but instead gave me a random rate based on their feeling that I was a foreigner. It’s nice to feel like these rates are somewhat fair.
- Pack less jackets and long sleeve onesies for baby next time.
How did I pack?
Since the weather was ranging from 75°F – 95°F (24°C – 35°C), I packed mostly for hot weather, meaning short sleeve shirts and shorts and breathable, waterproof Native shoes for my 2.5 year old toddler, Serena, and short sleeve onesies for my 5-month old baby, Huntington.
However, it was was our first flight with Huntington and in an overly nervous way that only mothers know and since it had been winter in California, I packed too many long sleeve onesies, 2 jackets, and warm onesies too because “Well what if…?” Yup, didn’t happen, and I had a whole unused packing cube that I didn’t touch. Next time, less long sleeve onesies, less pants, and less jackets for Huntington.
On the other hand, I packed a bunch of shorts for Serena, and she mostly wore pants even though it was hot as hell. She seems to just prefer pants, I don’t know why. She’ll only wear shorts if they have a rainbow on them or if there is nothing left. I guess good thing I packed the pants then.
See my packing tips for how to travel with a baby and toddler.
