Exploring Bangkok with kids can feel like cultural chaos! The city is jammed packed with people, vehicles, buildings, and heat! But whether you have one day in Bangkok with your kids or a week, there are three specifically Thai cultural icons that shouldn’t go unnoticed.
These three different icons are symbols of Thai culture that go beyond simple sightseeing and help kids to understand the daily life of the Thai people: Spirit Houses, Street Food Stalls, and Tuk-tuks.
Spirit Houses
A unique icon to Thailand, spirit houses are fun for kids to look for as they travel around the big city. Unlike big temples that are so much to take in, the spirit houses are found around many buildings in Thailand, so they are easy to spot on every walk and come in all shapes and sizes. Spirit houses are foundational to Thai spirituality and are placed to invite good spirits to live on their land. It is an important icon to note as you explore Bangkok with kids.
How do you find the spirit houses? Keep an eye out for the different decorated tiny temples that are found on a stand and have various amounts of elaborations. Here is a list of questions to discuss with your kids as you pass by each spirit house:
-What colors and embellishments are found on this spirit house?
-What makes this spirit house unique compared to others you have seen?
-What offerings are found next to the spirit house? Flowers? Food? Drinks?
On a related note, and less frequently seen in Bangkok, but something to be searching for is a spirit tree. These are usually large trees, and they are decorated with Thai material and clothing wrapped around the trunk. These trees are believed to inhabit spirits and therefore are decorated and may also be given offerings.
Street Food Stalls
A second cultural icon when exploring Bangkok with kids are the street food stalls. The variety of food options can be overwhelming but for kids to see all the different foods being made right there on the side of the street can be so much fun! I especially love showing my children the different methods of cooking the food that exists whether it’s grilling bananas, griddle molds for kanom khrok (coconut-rice pancake balls), or deep frying Thai doughnuts.
Here some questions I like to ask my kids as we walk past the food stalls that we see:
-How many different types of food can you find on one street?
-How are they making the food?
-Would you guess the food ends up being sweet or savory?
-Do you recognize the ingredients that are going into the food?
-Are there any ingredients that you want to research because you have never tried it before?
Street food stalls can be found on corners of main intersections or even along a main road. But the real gems of street food are found hidden on little soi streets (small streets off of main roads) where you can find wet markets jammed into a small space. These markets have plenty of food being prepared for you to take away to eat.
Tuk-tuks
The final cultural icon found across Bangkok is a tuktuk. Across the world over, when you see a picture of a tuk-tuk, you think of Thailand. This specific model of three-wheeled transportation is uniquely Thai, though many countries in southeast Asia have a similar type of transport. The aspect of this transportation that is fun to dive into with your children is “What is the tuktuk used for in Bangkok?”
Many tuk-tuks are used to cart around tourists and you may have tuktuk drivers calling out to you if you are walking down the street of Bangkok. Be ready to barter on price if you want to ride one. But let’s stick to the observation side of these Thai symbols – if the passengers are not tourists, who are they and why are they using this method of transportation?
While you are exploring Bangkok with your kids, here are some questions to ask as you observe tuk-tuks driving by:
-How is the tuktuk decorated?
-Who is riding the tuktuk?
-How many bags is the passenger carrying with them?
We enjoyed seeing all the different people in Chinatown getting into tuk-tuks and filling the tuktuk to overflowing with their goods. Unless the tuktuk was being used for tourists, the main passengers were those who were transferring goods to or from the market. Tuk-tuks have ample space to be filled with bags that make them great carriers of products instead of people like other modes of transportation.
Conclusion
These three icons around Bangkok have three very different cultural aspects associated with them. Spirit houses show religion, street food stalls show cuisine, and the tuk-tuks show transportation. All three, however, combine to give visitors a real sense of daily life in Bangkok. Making observations about seemingly small symbols can have a lasting impact on children having a deeper understanding of Thai culture.