The Ordinary versus the Extraordinary – A year of travelling with three children: 17 January 2015 - Bangkok: city of festivals, shopping and movies

We were ready for a slower paced day after our journey yesterday. We had to re-stock our pantry and buy Luke some new shoes.

Big C has no exact match to an Australian shop as it has everything and is like a KMart and Coles combined. We chose a pair of shoes for Luke which was easy before heading to the grocery section. For our tropical fruit challenge today we bought Jack Fruit which was rubbery but delicious. However, what really caught our eyes were the cheap fancy doughnuts and croissants (8 Baht each - about 24 cents!)

We had promised the kids another movie which also meant that we could see one if the times were similar and so purchased our tickets for later in the day.

There was some kind of health and leisure fest - "Put your hand where your brain is???!" - happening outside Centre World now that the Christmas Snoopies have gone. Annika made a keyring guided by a senior citizen and Karl and I were offered free icy poles made by walking machine power. There were people being interviewed on the stage but we had no idea what they were on about. We have no chance of even eavesdropping in on a conversation in Thailand!

Put your hand where your brain is????

Making icy poles!

Annika and I went to the little street market community near Lumpini Park to investigate hair cuts and we think we have an appointment on Monday. I couldn't resist another serve of the sensational Pad Thai from the dear old hunched over lady there. She is an excellent cook! To Annika's delight we spotted a roti cart outside the park so we bought pancakes for the others. We are so used to street carts now! Usually, buying take away for food for us is a treat but it is so cheap and so delicious here that we are making the most of the opportunity.

The kids headed off to see "Into the Woods", with strict instructions to stand for the National Anthem before the movie started, while Karl and I used our time together back at the health and leisure fest. Some stall holders were keen to pass us pamphlets in Thai which we had no hope of reading!

Karl and I enjoyed our date night - or date hours - watching "The Water Diviner" in the comfort of the cinema. It was so good that the big kids are responsible enough to take Luke and themselves back to our apartment when their movie had finished.

The cultural fest theme seemed to continue in Lumpini Park where there was festive stalls and loud music displaying various provinces of Thailand. We spent a while wandering about but not understanding much!! We did enjoy some PJ Pizzas, cooked in portable pizza ovens and also some more roti. Rather late night again which wasn't our intention!