Thailand

Thailand has been as wonderful as, maybe even better than, our last visit 13 years ago.

Thai people are gentle, elegant, friendly and very tolerant of others. Maybe this is an aspect of their Buddhist religion, or the fact that this is the only country in Asia (one of the few anywhere) that has never been colonised.

Life here is vibrant and colourful. Siam - the land of smiles, Thailand - the land of the free. Still my favourite country in the World.

Will miss:

Heather:

Elephant ride, beaches, dance, costumes, snorkelling, Shanti Lodge, swimming with monkeys, dragon statues, tuk tuks, James Bond Islands

Rhiannon:

Elephant ride, feeding elephants, Thai dancing, Jungle Pool & rope swing, lizards, Temples, forgetting all about T.V.

Frith:

Food, 25 degrees feeling cold!, snorkelling, peoples smiles, jungle thunderstorm, geckos

Graham:

Snorkelling, Khao Sok, Food, Thai people, driving with loonies, the heat

Won't miss:

Heather:

Jellyfish stings, bad smells, bug stalls

Rhiannon:

Spiders!!

Frith:

Thai radio, Thai roads, haggling, mosquitos

Graham:

Dido

We drove up to the Rainforest National Park in our hire car. Our route took us past a Police Launch at Khao Lak; left stranded where the Tsunami dumped it - 2 km inland. Due to a quirk of underwater topography, the wave topped 11 metres here and extended over 3 km inland, killing nearly 4000 people.

At Khao Sok we stayed at Arts Riverview Lodge in a wonderful location right by the river at the end of a jungle track. On the other side of the river the land rises in a shear cliff for hundreds of feet. We went on a 2 hour elephant trek through the jungle, following trails and creek beds. Although these huge animals are very sure footed (ever see an elephant fall over?), when they work their way down a steep river bank your perch on top can feel very tenuous!

Although the Sok river was very low (there has been a drought here too) and we were unable to take any canoeing or rafting trips, there is a deep swimming hole under the cliffs, named the Monkey Hole, no doubt on account of the troop of Macaques that clamber down to drink and cavort, at the end of the day. A rope swing has been set up and the girls had a lot of fun swinging and swimming before dinner. We were told that there were leeches in the river, but none of us was bitten.

Just as we were about to head to the restaurant for dinner a huge thunderstorm hit, so we had to sit in the shelter of our balcony and watch the heavy rain fall.....

During dinner a spider fell down Rhiannon's neck and gave her a really nasty shock, it took her quite a while to calm down.

Later, we sat on the porch in the dark drinking Mekong and listening. The cacophony all around us was awesome! Every niche of pitch and tone seems to have been occupied and creatures strive to outdo each other. Take every jungle movie you've ever seen, combine the soundtracks and turn them up to 11!

We awoke (did we sleep?) to the same orchestra of insects, frogs, birds and gibbons and a hazy mist hanging over the river. After breakfast we took a trail to some caves in the limestone karst. We saw countless lizards (one flying!), butterflies, birds, etc. Heard gibbons again but didn't see them. Although we only walked a couple of kilometres, we returned drenched to the skin, it was so humid.

We drove back inland along route 4118. This took us past a stunning landscape of jungle and huge limestone outcrops - the perfect setting for Jurassic Park or The Lost World.

We took a day trip to the Similan Islands. After the usual Mad Max minibus ride, we were taken out to the islands by speedboat from Thap Lamu. Our first snorkelling stop was one of those special moments - the clarity of the water was simply unbelievable - it was absolutely crystal clear. The girls are now totally confident with diving down to the reef and are ready to progress to scuba.

We had a great lunch on island 4 and could see flying foxes hanging - and fanning themselves - in the trees. A really beautiful place and one we'd love to explore further given the chance.

We went on a speedboat trip to the Phang Nga National Park.

The first view of the stunning Limetone "Hongs" was breathtaking!

We went under cliffs with overhangng stalactites, through sea caves - and, yes, visited "James Bond" island (which was very crowded). We had lunch in the floating village and motored through mangrove forests, before heading off for a refreshing swim and snorkel off Ko Khai.

This would be a fabulous place to charter a sailing boat for a week or two (as would Similan Island - see later).

We booked into Shanti Lodge to give us a couple of days R & R whilst we planned the next stage of the trip, but we were so taken with the place that we had a complete rethink.......

Travelling with young kids in hot, humid conditions can be a bit of a trial, even with our little angels (hmm!). By staying here, doing trips away and then missing out Malaysia and Singapore and just flying straight from Phuket to Singapore to connect to the Australian flight, we save at least 3 days of travel - days that we can spend having fun in Thailand!!

So - Shanti Lodge - in every respect better than we expected from viewing the website. It is conveniently located near the Chalong Circle, the staff are friendly and helpful, the menu contains enough items that Rhiannon will eat (!!!) and plenty of vegetarian options for Heather, the pool is great (the kids practically lived in it) and the whole place is tastefully and thoughtfully designed and decorated, with ponds, waterfalls, carvings, plants, muted lighting, etc. And they play good music (and Dido!).

Our room is very large, airy, Thai-styled, with air-conditioning and at 750 baht per night (11 pounds) is truly resort standard at backpackers prices. We have the A/C set at 25 degrees which is seriously refreshing to walk into!

So we're staying here for the duration.