Thailand with 9 month old - stroller, carrier - what would you do?

[missmelly]

hi there
we are leaving in a month to return to NZ. We're stopping in Thailand for 6 weeks, then Aussie for 2 weeks on the way.
Has anyone travelled with a baby this young?
We are undecided what to do regarding taking either a small back carrier that folds flat, or a stroller like the Quinny Zapp.
I'm worried that the Zapp wont be able to be used too much on the streets over there, but on the flipside, worried that DD wont be able to sleep in the carrier while we eat etc.

Any ideas? any other tips for taking a baby?

Thais love babies. They will push two chairs together and make a "bed" for dd while you eat, if she needs to sleep, if she would be comfortable with that. The streets are very very crowded in Bangkok, you wouldn't be able to manage a pushchair there.

Whereabouts in Thailand will you be going to? I had an Ergo carrier and used that for DS when he was 7 months old and we were in Phuket and that was fine for short distances. I would take a pushchair as it can get quite tough carrying a LO in a baby carrier for long periods of time in such hot weather and if you do decide to take one, get a really cheap, foldaway one made of very thin fabric. It's very hot there (and I'm from SE Asia so go back to the area a lot!) and you will find that a 'normal' pushchair here will just act as an oven in the tropical weather.

The other thing I found about Thailand was they don't seem to do highchairs ANYWHERE in restaurants! If you ask for one, they will literally bring you a tall chair but with no straps or nothing! In the end, we resorted to tying DS to the chair with a tablecloth many times. If you don't want the hassle of bringing a booster chair, get one of those cloth things you can sling on any chair to restrain your baby.

Enjoy and go with the flow... Don't stress too much about it. My DS is only 18 months old and has already done longhaul 3 times in his little life and we plan to do many more. It's tough but always worth it!

thanks for your replies

we havent any fixed plans where we're going as yet - we're backpackers at heart so I guess we're winging it in a way. I've so far only booked a hotel in Bangkok for a few days while we wait for a friend to arrive, then we'll probably take the train down to one of the Southern beaches.

The only problem with the very cheap strollers is that they're also not very high, and myself and my partner are both 6ft! I do like the idea of it being disposable though

If you are going on boats, remember to buy a life jacket.

Have fun missmelly! Sounds like you have a good attitude. I do find that sometimes the worrying about the logistics is worse than the actual travelling itself.

You have to remember that no matter where you go, it is very likely that people have brought up children there for centuries with little problem... You might have to do things differently for a little while but your LO won't remember it and you might learn a thing or two from the locals! The other option you have is to buy a cheap pushchair there when you get there. When I was back in Singapore (where I come from), I found that there were lots of pushchairs from Asia that are more suited for the climate and the terrain there and cheaper too and we ended up just borrowing pushchairs from relatives there. We went to the Maldives recently and even though it was a small island and DS walks, we did find he wanted to be carried a lot as he does get tired easily and it was hard without a pushchair!

thank you
I think what we'll do is take a carrier that can be folded down and put in the luggage and look at getting a pushchair over there if it's necessary. There's 2 of us, so we can take turns carrying her