Getting sick on arrival is always the pits. No poetic way around it. One minute you’re landing in a city that never seems to exhale, the next you’re prioritizing rest and hydration while your body catches up to a new time zone.
So Bangkok, at first, became a city glimpsed in fragments.
We spent those early days resting, keeping things close to home, and easing back out only once we started feeling better. When we did venture out, it was for small, necessary errands. Grocery stores instead of temples. Air-conditioned malls instead of walking streets. Familiar aisles, unfamiliar labels. The quiet comfort of choosing fruit and yogurt when your energy is still rebuilding.
One bright spot was Moon Surface Café, a themed space café where we sat with drinks, tried on space helmets, and grabbed a few photo ops while pretending we’d briefly left Earth behind. It felt playful and restorative in a low-energy way.
We also leaned hard into one of Thailand’s greatest gifts to weary travelers: Thai massages. Two already. Not the rushed, checkbox kind, but the kind where your body feels gently reminded how to exist again afterward.
A planned visit to Bumrungrad International Hospital became part of our first weeks as well. Navigating healthcare abroad is simply part of slow travel, and the experience felt calm and efficient, another reminder that real life doesn’t pause just because you’re traveling.
Outside, the city roars.
The traffic is intense, and the smog heavier than we expected, noticeably more than what we experienced in Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City. Some days it presses down on the city, making even short outings feel heavier than they should.
But this isn’t disappointment. It’s orientation.
We’re not here to rush. We’re slow traveling Bangkok with kids, letting our bodies catch up before asking too much of the city. Right now, this chapter is about recovery, recalibration, and respecting the pace our family needs.
Bangkok will still be here when we’re ready.
For now, this is arrival.
The Curious Compass Co.™ 