On arriving in Bangkok after a week In Chiang Mai we headed to our accommodation near Khao San Rd. Bangkok didn’t offer an abundance of family room options so we weren’t surprised when we were shown to our room to discover it was actually three bunk beds in what would have been a dorm. It wouldn’t have been too bad if the mattresses weren’t as hard as planks of wood, the shower wasn’t a hose above the toilet and the continental breakfast wasn’t a loaf of bread with old margarine and jam. The young ladies who ran the place also clearly preferred to be out partying or sleeping off hangovers.

Our time in Bangkok was split between visiting Khao San Rd and themed cafes. Khao San Rd is interesting and vibrant. We enjoyed leisurely dinners, shopping and getting henna tattoos. There is plenty of western food but if you are adventurous you can also snack on some fried insects or a scorpion. Themed cafes seem to be a relatively new asian phenomena. We walked past a Cat Cafe near our place, so naturally had to stop in for breakfast one day. It was great for my allergies to be sipping on an iced latte surrounded by 26 cats, but the girls loved it of course.

The other cafe we visited was a Unicorn Cafe. This was a complete assault on the senses. The cafe was covered from floor to ceiling with stuffed unicorns. The food was unicorn themed and you could even hire a unicorn onesie to dress up in. Strangely there were a number of adults who seemed to enjoy this. Bizarre.

After four sleepless nights in Bangkok ( the beds were THAT bad) we moved on to a beach side town called Hua Hin. We booked a beautiful apartment at the Dusit Thani Villas. We had two bedrooms, soft beds, ocean views and could enjoy all the amenities of the five star resort. This meant that we didn’t see much of Hua Hin but enjoyed everything the Dusit Thani had to offer from deck chairs around a huge pool, cocktails, complimentary kids club, badminton court and a gym. If we hadn’t pre-booked our accommodation in Koh Samet we would have happily stayed longer.

En-route to Koh Samet we stopped in Pattaya to break up the journey. We took the boat across which saved us 3 hours in a car but was a stomach-clenching experience. Pattaya isn’t the typical place you might visit with kids but lucky for us it was a Buddhist long weekend which meant the bars were shut. We were pretty thrilled by this given the proximity of our room to the neighbouring bubble massage parlour. I don’t even want to imagine.

Koh Samet was then about a 2 hour drive from Pattaya. We felt every minute of the drive as our driver snacked on what looked like dried fruit with seeds. He loudly cracked and crunched the seeds between his teeth the whole trip. I could almost see the steam raising from Murray’s head every time he reached for another snack. He handed us his card so that we could book him for a return journey. That was not going to happen.

Our last 11 days in Thailand were spend on the island of Koh Samet. Our boat dropped us off on the beach in front of our accommodation and our bags were carried for us up to our room. We were thrilled to have our own hut with beach views, a large veranda, air con, hot water and a daily cleaning service. We spent hours each day in the ocean where the girls learned to body-surf small waves. The pace of life slowed down considerably with us dividing our time between swimming, visiting the only coffee shop, replenishing snacks at the 7-11, doing some school-work and relaxing. If I had to compare Koh Samet to the island we visited in May (Koh Lipe), I still think Koh Lipe comes out on top. That said, Koh Samet was a very nice spot to visit. Thailand has been terrific. It’s easy, fun and there are lots of interesting things to do with kids. Next stop is Siem Reap , Cambodia.

Our month in Thailand seemed to fly by super quick. I think it is because Thailand is a fairly easy place to travel and is set up extremely well for tourism. The food is great, it’s easy to get around and there is plenty to do , especially with kids. We wanted to experience a mix of hills and beaches so we set out mainly to explore Chiang Mai in the north and Hua Hun/ Koh Samet south of Bangkok.

After a short hiatus to the UK for a friend’s wedding, I met up with Murray and the kids in Bangkok. We were also lucky enough to have Fi with us for a few days. Fi and I had traveled to Chiang Mai together 18 years prior so it was nice to create some new memories there again. We checked in to the Rainforest Boutique Hotel and were pretty happy with our new digs. It had a buffet breakfast and two pools so the kids were in their element. Murray, Fi and I enjoyed the cheap cocktails – it made up for the hard beds and unsavoury stench when the wind blew in the wrong direction. You can’t have everything and after a few cocktails you barely noticed 😉

Chiang Mai is an awesome place to visit for a few days or a few weeks. Although it’s a reasonably big city it has the feel of a hill-side town. We had one of the best days of our trip so far at The Elephant Rescue Park ( not to be confused with other similarly named but less ethical organisations). We deliberately chose an elephant experience that put the welfare of the animals first , did not involve riding and allowed us to get up close to these magnificent creatures. We were not disappointed. After changing into our ‘red pajamas’ we were taken to meet the elephants who had all been rescued (purchased by the retreat) from circuses and working sites. There were 7 elephants in total , a couple were still babies. The elephants were all untethered and keepers did not ride them. In fact they were free to wander around if they chose. We hand fed the elephants a breakfast of bananas then head out on a walk through the valley so that they could forage on some tasty trees. At times the elephants walked alongside us and occasionally they would wander off into the bush to tear some branches off a tree. The guides would also find some extra tasty leaves for the kids to pass to them. We walked around to a couple of water holes where we were then able to take a splash with the elephants and give them a scrub. The elephants genuinely seemed to like this experience and it was fun to see them splashing, playing and spraying water. This was a genuinely uplifting experience with animals that seemed to be well looked after and happy. We finished off our day with a shower and some lunch in the rice fields.

Besides elephants, there are a lot of other cultural experiences to enjoy in Chiang Mai. We spent a morning carving fruit into what could only be described as pieces of art. While we were busy carving the twins were given paint brushes to colour the fruit with food dye. Fi and I both acknowledged that Murray was king carver; he seemed to have the superior knife and geometry skills required to make the watermelon centrepiece. Fi and I were both pretty good at turning tomato peel into roses and Maya made some excellent cucumber butterflies. All in all we made a good team.

We also spent a day out at the Smile Organic Cooking School, a day at the zoo and lazy days wandering around exploring markets and temples. The cooking school gave Maya the confidence to create and taste her own curry ( which she declared delicious) and the twins became our sous chefs adding ingredients, stirring and tasting. The zoo was an interesting day out. We didn’t have hugely high expectations but we enjoyed feeding hippos, giraffes , pigs and deer. Some of the exhibits were a bit depressing and a lot of the zoo looked half completed. It is also huge and tiring to walk around.

We thoroughly enjoyed Chiang Mai and particularly for those traveling with kids found it an easy place to visit with lots of fun things to do.

Next stop – the beaches …