Pleasantly Surprised by Yangon

So we live in Bangkok but Jonathan *technically* works out of the Yangon, Myanmar office. I remember when he first called to tell me about the job and I honestly had never heard of Myanmar. Thats because in the US its mainly referred to as Burma. That I had heard of. And not in a good way. I won't get into it here but there is a long, complicated, ongoing ethnic and political tension which gets a lot of bad press. There has been marked improvement over the last few years but there is definitely a long way to go before Myanmar joins the developed world. 

So the company usually puts people with Jonathan's job in Thailand vs Myanmar, which unfortunately means he travels constantly, which is really hard in this season of life. For various reasons, I hadn't accompanied him on a trip to Myanmar since moving here last January, but when we were invited to a wedding the first weekend of March we decided to take the whole clan. Our nanny is a citizen of Myanmar (which she exclusively calls 'Burma'- it's SUPER confusing and I never know the PC thing to say) so it was easy enough to bring her along and she got to see her daughter that she hadn't seen in years. 

My first impression of Yangon was that it was much preferable to Bangkok! I don't think its a secret that Bangkok is not my favorite. It's so chaotic and busy and congested and hard to get around. Yangon had a lot better infrastructure and the sidewalks were actually walkable which you're hard pressed to find in Bangkok as well. There were lots of beautiful parks and open spaces which just made everything feel a bit slower and more manageable. We were only there for a quick weekend trip but we hope to go back to explore more. 

Our big outing while there was the Schwetigone Pagoda, a massive golden Buddhist temple in the city, surrounded by city parks. Forest was not too enthused for a cultural outing so we made the rounds and photo ops pretty quickly. 

Speaking of photo ops, everyone asked for a picture with Forest. He was in an ornery mood and said no so instead they asked if I'd take a picture with them. I'm a brunette with a fairly Asian style frame so I was a bit caught off guard by this, but it shows how closed off and off the beaten track Myanmar is. Any westerner is a rare sight, but a blonde headed child is definitely still the cream of the crop (our copper headed baby was at the resort with the nanny...and that's the most expat parentheses note I've ever written). 

After the pagoda we headed to a nearby park for Swan boats. Again, we got lots of attention and requests for photos. 

So. Many. Soi dogs.

We cut it short because we had an afternoon wedding to go to and I forgot my concealer in Bangkok so still had to dash around town trying to find a concealer that matched my skin tone. At the mall we discovered that Myanmar doesn't charge 50% import tax so we loaded up on LEGO sets too which Forest was very happy about! Also, their airport has a LEGO store so no more trekking through Bangkok traffic to get to the one measly LEGO store with astronomical prices. Jon can just pick up sets on his frequent (well normally) trips to Myanmar. Woohoo! 

That night was the wedding, which Jonathan and I were actually honored to be a part of. We got to perform the flower ceremony to kick off the wedding and had traditional garments made for the occasion. 

For sleeping arrangements, we had two very small hotel rooms with 2 full-size beds for the 5 of us. We paid for a rollaway bed for Forest to sleep in the room with us and Juliet slept in her pack n play in the room with Nanu. 

Here's a chance for me to put in a plug for the miraculous Slumberpod. 

pic from Amazon bc I forgot to take one

easily fits in suitcase

If you have an infant/toddler and you travel a fair amount, you need this in your arsenal. It's a tent that goes over the pack n play/portacrib/toddler blow up bed and blocks out light and noise so it's much easier to sleep in the same room as your baby. When Forest was a baby/toddler, I would just camp out in the bathroom until he fell asleep and then sneak into my bed because there was no way he'd fall asleep with me in there and then if he spotted me at 5 am he was up for the day. It was always awful and we avoided standard hotel rooms like the plague. 

This was the porta-crib the hotel provided. Not safe! Luckily we brought our pack n play along as backup!

We've only used the slumberpod on two trips so far (and who knows when we'll get to travel again) but I am sold! Juliet actually slept better in this thing than she normally does, I think because it's so dark and cozy. She's been having early morning waking issues so I'm considering just switching her to the pack n play with this thing over it to see if that helps at all (or at least let's us know if it's a darkness issue). Anyway- it's amazing! One of those products that makes you think- how did we survive the first baby without this thing?

Last Call for Travel- February Break in Phuket

Before the world came to a grinding halt, Forest had a week long break in February. Jonathan just so happened to have a trip to San Ramon that week so I had a choice of 'stay in Bangkok with terrible air quality and emerging coronavirus risk keeping us away from indoor play places'  or 'take a trip solo with the kids.' Neither was an excellent option, but I decided to bring my nanny along for a trip to Phuket. 

I landed on Phuket mainly because it consistently has the cleanest air in Thailand. 

It was hard traveling with a baby but in hindsight I'm especially glad we went! Who knows when we'll be able to or will even feel comfortable traveling again! (And remember when I was only worried about yucky air quality? Seems like such a privileged time looking back on it.)

covering our covid-19 bases from the start

if baby constantly touches/pulls off the mask- does it defeat the purpose?

Phuket is an easy trip from Bangkok. There are several direct flights every day which allowed us to pick ideal times for traveling with Juliet's schedule. The flight itself was about 1 hour and the car transport was a little over an additional hour or so. Unfortunately, despite confirming a car seat for the hotel transport, they showed up without one. 

Their attitude was like 'Eeeh. It happens. Sorry. Whatcha gonna do?' So what I did was keep Juliet in the lillebaby carrier in the car which she was very unhappy about. My plan was for her to nap in the car but that just was not working out very well and she let everyone know that she was pissed about it! Road safety in Thailand is not the greatest and there were even a few swerving misses to avoid accidents along the way. Plus Forest and I got pretty car sick. So we were starting off on the wrong foot for sure!

I had looked for a resort that would be all-encompassing with plenty to do and eat so that we wouldn't have to leave. I landed on Centara Grand Beach Resort Phuket on Karon Beach, mostly for its water park features and it's beachfront location. 

The water attractions were a total hit with Forest! He especially loved the cliff jumping and spent hours each day here. 

He would be lined up at the rope at 10 AM each morning and usually had the place to himself for at least the first 20 minutes. (Apparently some people sleep in on vacation????)

There was also a lazy river and two big-kid water slides which were a lot of fun. 

The trip mostly consisted of eating a massive breakfast buffet, heading to the pool while Juliet napped with Nanu, eating lunch and then having more pool time, getting a snack while Juliet took her afternoon nap, eating dinner and then watching Lost In Space after Juliet went to bed at 7 PM and then both me and Forest going to bed at 8. 

Honestly, I think Nanu had the less exhausting kid because keeping up with Forest's energy level all day is exhausting! But fun! Yours truly even did her fair share of cliff jumping and water sliding and it was very helpful to have Nanu to help with the baby. 

The age difference is super challenging and I'm sure it will remain that way their entire childhood but especially until Juliet is 4 years old or so and can keep up on some adventures (but perhaps my assessment of what a typical 4 year old is capable of is a bit skewed after having Forest-who hiked 8 miles in Utah at age 4). 

Forest hiking 8 miles in Utah and still only needing 9 hours of sleep at night.  

The trip wasn't without it's snafus and a couple of moments questioning 'wouldn't this have been much easier if I just stayed home with the kids?'. But being able to be outside all day everyday without a single worry about air quality was priceless. And seeing the joy on Forest's face as he lives his best life is always worth it to me. 

This kid LOVES vacation and knows how to do it right. Juliet is still mostly a bump on a log but I see her curious and fun loving personality already shining through, so I'm sure she'll be joining more and more on the family fun as she rapidly approaches toddlerhood. This resort had a ton of shallow pools for the smallest guests and she loved her first time swimming! Forest wants to go back asap with Jonathan to do more cliff jumping. 

We didn't experience much of local Phuket but we are embracing this season of life as a 'plop our butts down at a resort and take it easy' sort of stage. Thailand has plenty of opportunities to do just that! I wonder when the tourism world will be open for business again? Such a strange time.

Phuket actually wasn't our last trip- Yangon, Myanmar was. I'll write more about that and how COVID-19 has effected us here in Bangkok when I get a chance. Stay healthy, safe, and 6 feet away from others, my friends!