Exotic Thailand
My latest trip saw us stopping off in Bangkok for a few nights; a real love it or hate it city. Personally, I love it. A vibrant, buzzing city, full of interesting people, bursts of colours and plenty to keep you occupied. We opted to take a local Tuk Tuk (an experience for anyone who hasn’t tried one!), an inexpensive and fast way to get around the city and we stopped off at the Grand Palace to take in some culture. We also allowed time for shopping at one of the many huge shopping malls and made the most out of sampling the local cuisine. A must whilst in Bangkok is to ensure you visit one of the many amazing roof top bars, taking in the spectacular views over the city.
After taking a short internal flight down to Khao Lak we spent a few days relaxing at a fabulous beach resort. The days here varied between pool time, taking advantage of the amazing spa offers, trying the local restaurants and taking in a beer or two at the local night markets watching the world go by.
Moving on from here overland we went on to an Elephant resort for several days to experience lodgings in a truly spectacular setting amongst the jungle and dramatic limestone cliffs. Here we got to experience jungle treks, kayaking, snorkelling and of course we spent some time with the elephants in a conservation environment.
After a few days in this remote resort we got a boat over to Phi Phi Island to enjoy a little more down time. Mostly we had amazing sunshine but we got to witness an incredible lightning storm which was a good excuse to take cover and take in some more local cuisine.
The last leg of our trip was something I was really looking forward to, a 3-night trip where we lived onboard a catamaran sailing around some of the loveliest most picturesque islands in Thailand. We met our skipper in Phi Phi at lunch time and not long after we set sail. Our first stop was Maya beach, where the film ‘The Beach’ was filmed, and as a result is extremely busy with tourists, so we didn’t spend too long here and decided to go back to relax on board for the rest of the day.
When we reached the next island, it was much more remote and we decided to moor up for the night in one of the bays, with no one else in sight. This made it possible to get a clear view of the night sky, including some shooting stars. The skipper showed us the natural phenomenon of phosphorescence which are plankton that shine and glimmer in the water when disturbed. As beautiful as this was from the surface getting in to the water with a snorkel and swimming through the plankton for your very own underwater light show was the icing on the cake. In the morning, we woke up to our own private beach, taking out the sea kayaks to watch the monkeys playing. I am not a morning person but waking at 6am and being part of this before any other tourists arrived was something very special. We sampled a floating restaurant one night, which turned into an experience when we all had to huddle in the kitchen after an unexpected storm blew in, luckily a little rain never hurt anyone!
We ended the trip with a few nights back on dry land in a lovely resort – just what we needed before the return journey and back to reality!
Call me to chat about your wish list for Thailand.