Thailand Or Bust (Day 5)

May 26th (Tuesday)
Temperature High: 98 degrees

Today is our last day in Bangkok and we still had a lot of ground to cover. Our first was one of the most meaningful stops of the trip. Eric & Audrey support a ministry called NightLight. One of the many things they do is run a coffee shop in the red light district of Bangkok. The coffee shop, City Light Cafe, was a few blocks from our hotel so this morning, we headed there for breakfast.

This place is doing amazing things getting ladies of the street and helping to get them on their feet. It was pretty emotional for me to be there knowing the impact they were making and having the opportunity to support it.

Jewelry ladies had made to sell

It was definitely one of the times during the trip that had a big impact on me and realizing the area, what happens on that block and watching as it was still going on as we were walking around that morning.

Street the cafe is on

After some time, we started to head out to explore more of this fascinating city. We decided to go check out the Jim Thompson house. Jim Thompson was an American that came to Thailand and made and sold silk. We were able to tour his home and see how silk was made in Thailand.

We also learned about different cultural things that were both important back then and now. We saw very unique chamber pots and the maze they put mice in and used as there entertainment/tv back then.

After our time at the Jim Thompson house, we made our way to lunch at Somtam Convent. This place we definitely out of our comfort zone and we came really close to walking out but we stuck with it and we did not regret it. It was really good.

This was Jed & I's first experience with papaya salad and chicken larb. Both were very spicy and really great! I am really glad we stayed and tried this place.

During the afternoon we went to go check out a shopping area called the Siam Center. These shopping areas are crazy! It was fun to just hang out, get out of the heat and people watch for a while. And since it had been a few minutes since our last meal, we got mango and sticky rice!

After some time in the Siam Center, we needed to rush back to get ready and get to the massage place we had made appointments at. There are a lot of different massage places in Bangkok and all of Thailand, we knew we wanted to do it and thanks to some research, we were able to find and feel comfortable with Baan Dalah Mind Body Spa.

The massage was so relaxing and a great experience. We all really had to rally to not go back to the hotel and just sleep the rest of the night but we refused to call it a night, got cleaned up and headed back out.

We went out exploring, tried the Golden buddha temple one last time (strike three) and found one of our best meals at Thipsamai. This place is known as the best pad thai in Bangkok and they were not kidding. All pad thai will fall short of this place. So great! The food, the experience, the adventure of finding this place, all so good and so much fun.

After dinner, we used our decision making game to decide if we were going to head out the a night club or do something a little more low key.

How we made decisions

Low key won so we headed back to the area we were staying in and found a coffee shop in the mall to hang out and talk about the day before getting kicked out when they closed and called it a night.

The malls have video game stations for kids (and adults) to come play for hours.

We have an early morning and plenty to pack before we head out in the morning to Chiang Mai.