Category Archives: Travel With Kids

November 22, 2011 · 12:08 pm

Missing a Step in Chiang Dao

Sandeep is constantly telling me I need to be more vigilant. About the kids, about walking on the street, about watching my stuff.  Historically, I’ve been known to be too carefree. So today when Kayan took a tumble down the stairs Sandeep earned the right to say “I told you so.”

This trip has already made me more mindful. There certainly appear to be many more ways to maim a child here than at home. Open fires, open ditches, no seat belts, no helmets, no railings… But I’ve also been trying to stay relaxed, to maintain my belief that kids should be able to run around without hovering parents.

Sandeep has also been trying his best to be less calculating about all the terrible things that can happen to us. He was even willing to make the one and a half hour trip to Chiang Dao and back in a Songtaew, the open pick up truck that he so feared on day one in Thailand. And he was trying to let go by allowing Kayan to run around the garden of our restaurant.

And then Kayan fell down the stairs and ended up looking like this.

Luckily, for being an active toddler, this is the worst damage he’s ever had. Both Sandeep and I are trying to strike the balance between caring for our children and allowing them room to explore.  What that means will probably change as we go through this trip. But in the end, isn’t that the balance that any parent anywhere in the world struggles to find?

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Filed under Health, Thailand, Travel With Kids

November 15, 2011 · 11:35 am

Our Family Seeks Familiarity

No matter our ages or temperments, there are just certain things we think we have to have.

This morning Ava refused to board another Tuk Tuk unless it took her to a playground. In New York City, the kids were spoiled with countless playgrounds in our neighborhood. Chiang Mai, although it’s full of lovely temples, gardens and a river, has only one real outdoor playground. So off we went.

Kayan woke up from his nap crying for cranberry juice. Fresh passion fruit, watermelon, mango, dragon fruit, orange, guava juice or coconut water are available everywhere. But not cranberry. I was able to trick him with a concoction of apple and pineapple juices. He was suspicious, but it worked.

Sandeep couldn’t deny his Indian cravings any longer so we went on an evening hunt for Biryani. We found it at the Anusarn Market in the Night Bazaar, which has half a dozen Indian and Pakistani food vendors.

I’ve been missing my random trips to our corner bodega. This evening when I craved chocolate I went down to the Seven Eleven. So it’s not as quaint as a New York City bodega or a Thai corner store, but it was open at 10 PM and it had that Mars bar I needed.

Luckily these are all simple pleasures that we’ve been able to meet in Thailand, which is more equiped and easy to navigate than most other countries we are visiting. Let’s see how long we can fuel our habits.

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Filed under Food, Thailand, Travel With Kids

November 13, 2011 · 10:22 am

Screaming Toddler in Chiang Mai

*sigh*

Many people told us that we were brave to attempt this trip with two kids so young. We brushed this off… Our kids are well behaved, we thought. They sleep well, food is usually not an issue, and they have no stranger anxiety. What could possibly go wrong?

This evening, we got the first taste of the miserable side of traveling with toddlers.

Every Sunday evening, Walking Streets Chiang Mai closes a portion of the small and windy roads of the Old City to traffic. Don’t be fooled that this is a leisurely walk. Tuk tuks and motorbikes are replaced by hoards of visitors and vendors. The only way I could track Sandeep was to keep and eye out for his clean head, which is about a half foot higher that the general crowds here. Ava was kept in sight after we tied a balloon to her (at $2, it was the most expensive thing we bought all day). And Kayan…well, Kayan needed no visual identification because he made his whereabouts clear by being in a  rage the entire evening.

We are trying to wean him off his pacifier. He was so upset by our determination that when we finally caved in and plugged it into his blaring mouth, he ripped it off and flung it on the street. That resulted in even more elaborate verbal and physical rage.

Walking Streets is an opportunity to sample hundreds of street stalls from around the city, to peruse many handicraft vendors, and to get a $5 an hour foot or body massage on the lounge chairs than line the sidewalks. Sadly we couldn’t enjoy any of this.

Sorry I have don’t many pictures to share. I snapped this during Kayan only minute of calmness, when we convinced him that rice on a stick is a lollipop. Notice despite all of this, the pacifier still made it into the picture.

Let’s hope Kayan has nightmares about his pacifier tonight so that we can put this chapter behind us.

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Filed under Thailand, Travel With Kids