March 31, 2019 – William Quý Bùi

Sunday 3/31 – Wednesday 4/10/2019

Photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/GRwHc3LzjfoaZW7r5

William got 1 week of Spring Break so we decided to go to Thailand this year, mainly because the tour cost is reasonable and the food is cheap there. The drawback that we did not like is the travel time is too long (12 hours on Air China to Beijing and 5 more hours to Bangkok; on the way home, same travel time plus 5 hours waiting for connection at Beijing) and the weather was too hot over there.

In summary, we first stayed 1 night in Bangkok, then 1 night in Pattaya, 1 night in Ayuttaya, then back to Bangkok for 1 more night. Then took flight to Phuket and stayed there for 3 nights, then flew to LAX from Phuket airport. We went with Stunning Tours, our tour guide was Ellen, she speaks English very well (she’ also the tour manager for Gate1).

William could not stand the hot and humid weather, the moment we got out of the bus for sight seeing, he immediately asked to go back to the bus. He’d kick, cry, drag his feet on the ground so that we’d take him back to the bus. Often he asked to go back to the hotel and to play in the pool.

The only times he’d enjoy the outdoor is in the evening, when we went to Asiatique in Bangkok where he can ride the mini motocycle and ride the Tuk-tuk in Ayuttaya which he danced to the music and lights.

The rest of the time he’d enjoy sitting in the hotel pool for hours.

As for food, in the morning he only wanted to eat cereal and milk or bread with butter from the hotels free buffet. Lunch time if possible we’d get him McDonald Kid meals but he only ate french fries. We’d also order the pizza from the hotel ,or if we went to Asiatique in Bangkok, we’d go to Pizza Company shop and ordered small cheese pizza with onion rings. He loved the onion rings! We also brought the instant noodle cups from home, but he did not like the noodle too much. Seven-Eleven or Family Mart in Thailand is everywhere, here we could buy hot dog, cheese sandwich, snack and stocked up on the water, soft drinks with a good price.

On the bus, or airplane he likes to sit near the window

William loved to sit in the back of the tour bus; there were 2 other guys in the tour goup like to sit in the back also, so 4 of us always sit together. There was 1 time in Phuket when the tour company sent the van that only has 2 seats on the back, the other 2 guys already sat there; when William ran back there and found no available seat, he sat on the floor! I had to ask him several times before he was willing to move to the other seats.

William loved to sit near the window so that he could watch the streets and the bus passing by. Some times he sneaked in between me and the other 2 guys so that he could look thru the back window.

As for riding the airplane, this time he did not want to run up/down the isles. I tried to keep him busy by giving his little phone that is loaded with his favorite videos. He’d sit and watch for hours, the only annoy thing is that he made noise while watching videos by imitating the sounds from the movies, which some people found that too loud. I tried to tell him to keep his voice down but he did not listen. Another good thing is that he’s not afraid of the restroom anymore; he’d go with me without me asking so many times when he needed to go; but he’d cover his ears when he was in there. So what I did is that I let him out of the restroom first before I flushed the toilet.

For some reason his eyes got so itchy that he kept scratching them, which made them swollen. He looked really bad toward the end of the trip, which made me realize that he’s not ready for any tours yet, especially he’s too young to care much about the sight seeing, temples or history; all he wants was just the pool!

William doesn’t like to take pictures, it was so hard for him to stand still for a minute to take a good picture. He’d just turn his head away or run around or pull his shirt up to scratch his body; so turned out we did not have a any good family picture at all.

He doesn’t like the beach either. 2 years ago we went to Cancun, he’d cry and kick if we took him to the beach. This time we went to Batong beach in Phuket, he acted the same way, but this time at least he was ok to stand on the sand, and eventually he sat down to play, but still refused to get wet.

One thing I felt bad is that I forgot to ask for special meal when checked in at LAX so he ended up eating bread with butter because he refused to eat rice. When checking in at Phuket Airport, I asked for special meal but they said I have to order it 1 day before checking in. When we were at the gate, I asked again and they said I need to call in 3 days before checking in. Seems like Air China staffs are not on the same page about this. Learned my lesson, I will make sure I request the special meal for William when we book the tickets!

It was a 10 days trip, not sure if William felt it was long but he did not ask to go home like we were on the Japan trip last year; I guess partly because all the hotels have pools for him to enjoy. Last year he was still afraid of water; I think taking swimming class really helps him to feel comfortable with water. Now he’d just run to the pool when he sees one. 2 year ago when we went to Cancun, I’d have to drag him to the pool because he’d kicking and crying saying “No, No!”.

Private house next to our hotel belong to 1 of the riches man

Our little boy is now growing fast, he’s 3 feet and 43 lbls now. He talks a lot more and pays attention more to his surrounding. I’m so happy with his progress. I hope that one day he can tell us if he likes or dislikes the trip and why.