If You Ever Come to Bangkok...

     So this past week we didn't take any field trips.  We just did school.  I didn't dare have the kids report on their week because it wouldn't have been a fun entry to read.  It would've basically said: "We did school all day every day.  The End."  So, this week the kids are talking about the things we've already done that they liked.  It's not your typical guidebook descriptions, but enjoy their recommendations!
      Even though this is the 3rd time we're doing homeschooling, it's like I'm starting over and having to relearn how to do it.  And it's not going to look like the other times we homeschooled either because the kids are older, we're using actual textbooks from their schools, and there's more kids to homeschool.  I wish I had a kindergartener again.  Sigh.  They're so easy and they don't take much prep.  Having the actual school textbooks is increasing the pressure to do more book work this time.  But what we're finding is we can't do that.  Teachers in school don't do that.  They mix it up with videos and activities and experiments and field trips.  So Field Trips are officially reinstated.  We would be wasting a giant social studies opportunity to not go out and see what's here in Bangkok and Thailand.  So this homeschooling teacher is trying to relax and make school a better experience for everyone.  Otherwise, we will never make it till the end of the year.  (Although kids may not complain if this is the shortest school year ever! )

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL at the 

HICKEN ELEMENTARY-MIDDLE-HIGH SCHOOL OF BANGKOK

RACHEL, 4^th GRADE

If you ever come to Bangkok don’t miss Art in Paradise.  Art in Paradise is cool.  They are illusions. They are paintings that look like they are real.  You can stand and pretend that you are in the paintings and look like you are there.  I really liked a painting that looked like I was surfing a big wave. Also Terminal 21 is a mall that has the best food court.  Make sure to try the chicken and rice, with chicken broth.  It is really yummy and tasty.  And the chocolate ice cream is really good too.  Also the 7 UP is good.  The Brazilian chicken and rice is yummy.  All the floors are themed and the Caribbean floor is the food floor.  There’s Paris, Rome, London, San Francisco, and some other floors. The bathrooms are themed too.  I think that the Rome bathroom is the best.  The sink is like a fountain.  It is awesome.  There is another place I would recommend.  It is called Wat Pho.  There is a reclining Buddha  there and a lot of stray cats.  The Reclining Buddha is HUGE!  It’s really tall.  It’s bigger than our apartment.  It’s covered in gold and it’s really cool.  It’s feet have designs on the back and it’s covered in murals, basically.  Also they have a souvenir shop that have little emerald elephants. It is so cute.   And they have ice cream.  It is really fun, but never go on a holiday weekend.  It is really crowded!

Rachel playing cat's cradle with some very nice girls.

The Reclining Buddha at Wat Pho

On the London Floor at Terminal 21 Mall...my favorite mall!

EMMA, 6^th GRADE

            If you come to Bangkok, make sure you don’t miss Art in Paradise. Art in Paradise is really cool because, it’s all about optical illusions. That’s what I like. There was this one picture where you could put your feet or hands on a hippo’s open mouth, while you lay on this broken bridge picture. So, it basically looked like you were trying to escape up a rope ladder, while being chased by a hippo.  Sorry if my description is hard to picture, you’d have to actually see the pose. Anyway, there were several stairway paintings that you pose in front of. It would look like were climbing up them. THIS PLACE IS AWESOME!!!!!!!!!

            Another thing you can’t miss is, the Reclining Buddha. It’s an ENORMOUS golden Buddha statue, that’s lying on his elbow.  It is WAY bigger than it looks in all the pictures. Well, at least in my opinion. Another thing there is, a TON of creepy lion statues. Almost all of them had a ball incorporated somewhere on the statue.

            Also, you should see Wat Phra Keaw. There are lots of pretty buildings everywhere. There’s more, but I told you about it last week.

            You should also go to Benjakiti Park. There’s a lake in the middle where you can rent paddleboats. Also, it’s really quiet, and all the flowers make it smell really good. There are lots of things to do in the actual park place. For example, there are exercising areas and playground sets. Another thing is, they have two big fountains and a couple statues. There’s a bike rental there too, and a super long, smooth, bike trail that goes around the lake.

            You shouldn’t miss the Ananta Samakhom Throne hall either. It has lots of REALLY REALLY fancy stuff the kings and queens owned. Almost everything was embedded with diamonds and made of gold.  

Help!  The  Hippo is going to get us!

The Lion Dogs at Wat Pho...they don't like it when you try to take their toys!

Benjakiti Bike Park

LAURA, 8^th GRADE

If you ever go to Thailand, be sure not to miss “Art in Paradise”. I gotta say, it sounded a bit boring to me. I’m not a huge fan of looking at paintings of bowls of fruit. But we actually got to be in the pictures. It was really cool. There was a section of classical famous paintings where you got to be part of the painting.  You could be in the painting, or there were some where parts of the painting were coming out of the frame.  There was another optical illusion section that had a room where you could have two people stand in corners of the room and the person on the left would always look taller.  Rachel could stand on one end and make Rachel look taller than Emma even though she’s really not.  There was another picture of a giant paper clamp where you could put somebody in the clamp part and someone holding the metal handle part and it looked the other person was getting squished.  I was more of the photographer here,  but I still had fun.

Another thing not to miss is the pore-cleaner on the side of the street. It’s called heat. Amazing!! It’s completely free!

Also, don’t miss the giant grand palace Vimanmek. It’s so awesome with rooms filled with cool stuff.  There was a room full of  old-fashioned swords and guns.  There was lots of antique furniture everywhere. It wasn’t all the actual furniture from the old palace, but it looked like it would’ve.  My favorite room was one that was filled with china cabinets and china.  They had some pianos on display too and one was a self-playing piano.  That was pretty cool.  It’s not air-conditioned but it’s shady and has lots of fans so heat isn’t really a problem. There are like, 3 floors. If you’re going to go, you might see enormous amounts of students on field trips.  When we went there were TONS of them.  They’re not loud but they sure make their presence known. The END!!!

In reality the checkered floor is actually the wall, and the "wall" the girls are laying is actually the floor.

Watch out, Rachel!!

Vimanmek Teak Mansion.  We weren't allowed to take pictures inside, so this is the best we could do.

NATHAN, 11^th GRADE

If you come to Bangkok, be sure not to miss Art in Paradise. It’s a 3D art exhibit that’s pretty cool. There are optical illusions and paintings that you pose in along with whole scenes. I liked the jungle scene.  You could pretend to be on a log bridge, or hold up an elephant, or hang from a tree, or balance on rocks in the river.  Another cool scene was an Egyptian Pyramid room that you could pose on a flying magic carpet, or touch a Sphinx, or look like you were heading into a tomb.Make sure to bring your camera.

You also shouldn’t miss Benjakiti Park. You can take a paddleboat out on the lake or rent bikes to ride around on the bike trail.  It’s less noisy and it’s not too crowded, and it’s scenic.  It is super fun to ride a bike after not being able to ride one for so long.

You also shouldn’t miss Wat Po. This is the home of the Reclining Buddha. The Reclining Buddha is pretty cool because it is so huge.  There are also some other temples to see with Buddha statues in them.  One had a snake throne behind a sitting Buddha statue.  There’s also a hall of seated Buddha statues around a courtyard.  There are lots of stray cats around, but they just sit there in the shade.  It doesn’t take as long as Wat Phra Keaw to see the sights.

Nathan saving Emma from getting squashed by a car.

The Reclining Buddha at Wat Pho

Biking in Benjakiti Park