Something for Everyone

Our weekends are primarily for family, but Jeff and I also like to have some grown up only time, so we try to plan weekends that have a little of both.  This Saturday worked out really well, because we went on a family adventure with some friends to the Children's Discovery Museum in the morning, and then we went downtown for a grown ups' night out with some other friends.

The Children's Discovery Museum is across the street from the Chatuchak weekend market.  It's recently been renovated, and admission is free.  We've had mixed luck driving to Chatuchak, so we tried to leave ourselves some extra time in case we got lost.  There's a tricky u-turn we missed the first time we went, and a tricky flyover that I missed on another occasion.  We learned from our mistakes though, and so it was smooth sailing until we had to figure out where to park.  We could see the museum, and we could see a jam packed parking lot with double parked cars, so we figured that's where we were supposed to park.  We pulled in and even though we don't really speak Thai and the people who worked there didn't really speak English, we communicated enough for them to show us where to double park, and make clear to us that we should leave the car in neutral, so that it could be pushed out of the way if necessary.  We were perfectly willing to do that, but we learned that our car doesn't let you take the keys out if it's in neutral, so we had to leave the key in the car, which made us really uncomfortable.  Then, we walked around to the front of the museum, and realized that there was a beautiful, practically empty, dedicated parking lot there, so Jeff quickly ran back, got our car, and reparked it.  Whew!

The first thing we saw when we walked in was a huge playground and water splash area.  Our friends were already playing at the playground, so Vivian ran off to join in.  Elena climbed around a bit as well, but it was definitely geared to older kids.  There were a lot of cool features, like this metal ball tree house.

We wanted to check out what was inside the buildings as well, so we saved the water part for another time, since it closes from 11:30-1:30.  On another day, it would be fun to make a morning of just the outside area.

Inside, we started with a section that let kids explore science concepts.  There were chairs with different types of pulley systems, so that kids could see how pulleys make lifting easier.  Next to it was a set of vacuum tubes for sending cylinder message containers.

One of the best parts was that there were employees there to help us and show us how to use the different stations.  Our favorite though, was probably the one where you could put yourself inside a giant bubble (with Daddy's help of course ;-)

Then we went around the corner and saw the entrance to the dinosaur area.

They had some hands-on exhibits and boxes full of dino dress up.

After some fun there, we went up to the next floor.  That dress up area let you try walking like a duck

or flapping your mermaid fin.

The second floor also had a hall of mirrors type exhibit which Jeff and Vivian took full advantage of.

Four Vivians is a scary thought!

Vivian's favorite part of that floor though was a small exhibit tucked away in a corner.  It had a couple replicas of Thai houses, with a hat for dress up and a few baskets with plastic foods.  She played there for at least half an hour, both by herself and with her friend.  

We spent a little bit more time playing outside after that,

but Elena was clearly fading.  We figured the best plan was to call it a day and get her home for a nap.  Plus, Jeff and I needed to rest up for the second half of our fun Saturday.

We have some very good friends who we like to go on downtown adventures with, and we hadn't been out together in a while, so we all felt it was time.  For this outing our friends picked the Scarlett Wine Bar and Restaurant in the Pullman hotel.  It was a fantastic choice.  The wine was reasonably priced, which is practically unheard of in Thailand, and they had a huge selection of cheeses and meats to go with the wine.

You could also get tapas style dishes, main courses, and decadent desserts.  We may have overdone it a bit.  This is a place I can see us going back to, but next time we will definitely order less food.  The restaurant is up pretty high, and they have outdoor seating, but we ended up sitting inside, which we decided was for the best.  There were a lot of smokers out on the balcony, and it was a bit stuffy.  The view was fantastic through the windows and we had a/c, so it all added up to a fabulous night out.