The great thing about being an expat in a foreign land is that I can still play tourist anytime I want. Sometimes…okay most of the time; I scoff at tourists, who seem incapable of obeying the unspoken rules of the land of smiles in their silly neon color Chang beer tank tops, or (my favorite) the girls walking around the malls in their bikinis. Listen ladies, there is no beach around here so it’s not acceptable to parade your body in a skimpy bikini in places of business but I digress.

A few months ago, our friends invited us out for an afternoon bike ride. I had not been on a bike since I was a kid so I was a little apprehensive at first but Chris has been dying to do a bike tour. Our friends have a little girl younger than Killi and had already spoken with the tour operators to confirm if they had kid bike seats. It was a beautiful day, the kids were in a good mood, so we set off to start out bike tour with Follow Me Bike Tours.

We were fitted with our bikes and we were off to the river. We hopped a long tail boat to an island where we would explore the jungle, a floating market and a few temples; all while riding on 8 foot high concrete platforms (I didn’t handle this so well but at least I didn’t fall into the water/swamp). This was a full day experience (26km) but well worth it. This is a tour I would highly recommend for anyone visiting or living in Bangkok if they are the outdoorsy types. This was a great day if you have kids! My son enjoyed seeing all of the new places and seemed very comfortable in the kid bike seat.

A tour I went on just last week was recommended by a expat friend, who had just been entertaining her family who came to experience Thailand in all of it’s glory. As I sit on the beach this morning writing this, we have a friend visiting from the States and I wanted to find a tour that could share what I experience daily as an expat. The sights, the sounds, the smells, and especially the food. I decided to take him on the Taste of Thailand Food Tour.

We made our way to the river to meet with our guides for the day. On this tour, we were able to explore the Village of Love (Bang Rack neighborhood). This was a four hour tour, which I recommend for those who are not picky eaters. This is a day of delicious culinary exploration; this is not the time to be picky.

The tour takes your taste buds throughout all of Thailand. We tasted curry puffs from the south, spicy papaya salad from the north, visited a curry shop that has been in the neighborhood for 70 years and has had the same lady smashing out the same recipe of all the different Thai curry pastes for the past 20 years. We stopped at so many different places it’s hard to remember but I do remember the tour provided my friend a view and taste of Thailand that I would have never been able to explain to him without him experiencing it first hand. The food was different but delicious, the guides were friendly and their English was perfect, the day was hot but worth every minute of the adventure.

Two very different, fun, touristy adventures every Bangkok expat should try out with or without visitors.