Tropical Travels In Thailand

Harriet Whiting - 20 Mar 18

At a swanky travel awards party an older, wiser travel writer shook his head slowly when I told him of our plans to holiday long-haul to Thailand with our young kids for a lengthy hotel review trip. “Honestly?” He said, “Just take them to Cornwall.”

That moment solidified for me why I was determined to make the trip work. For one, call me selfish but perhaps I don’t want to go on another soggy holiday to Cornwall.  Maybe I wanted to go to a tropical,  sun-soaked paradise. And maybe I want our children to learn more about this planet of ours along the way.

Having travelled extensively and child-free in our 20s and then as a married couple, we knew we wouldn’t be able to see the world in the free-as-a-bird method we had on past trips to Asia, Central America and Oz but we were craving something different and adventurous, and we gambled that our offspring (boys, 4 and 6) would enjoy it too.

Happily, they rose to the challenge of a multi-stay travelling holiday in an exotic location. What helped was the warm and friendly welcome they received, from our arrival in Bangkok where our taxi driver flipped down not 1, but 3 screens in his taxi to keep them calm after our long flight, to the lovely hotel staff at Koyao Island Resort, on exotic Yao Noi,  where they were treated like little princes. And frankly, with such sensational views of the Ag Phang Nga limestone karsts, a spacious family suite with carved rattan 4-poster beds and an outdoor bathroom, we all felt like royalty.  At dinner, patient staff  would talk through the extensive children’s menu (one of the best we’ve seen with kid-friendly Thai specials such as spring rolls, noodle soups and mango sticky rice) then thoughtfully bring a blanket for post-dinner sleepy time. Meanwhile Mummy and Daddy were able to work their way through the seafood platter and a bottle of wine…

The hotels we stayed in were not ‘kid-friendly’ per se, with no kids clubs or playgrounds in sight therefore harder to achieve adult ‘down-time’ but it made us a stronger travelling tribe because of it. We didn’t need a kids club when we had stunning Thailand to entertain us, which it did at every turn with its kaleidoscopic colours, dazzling beaches and awe-inspiring temples stuffed with shimmering buddhas. There was always something to look at and talk about from skyscraper coconut trees, papaya-stealing monkeys or scuttling hermit crabs on the beach at night.

At remote Golden Buddha Resort, located on an island 44kms north of Khao Lak, we found the experience of living in a back-to-nature jungle surrounded by swathes of deserted beach particularly bonding. We kept the windows wide-open in our stilted wooden house which meant beautiful mornings (all of us usually under one mosquito net by dawn) watching red-orange streaks of sun appear through the coconut trees. We spent low-key afternoons sprawled on Thai cushions on the deck of our Baan, with just the nosies of nature around us (and the click of lego). At the Saturday night beach bonfire, staff taught the boys learnt how to roast fresh cashews, before bashing them with a stick to release the nut.  They still talk about this now.

Because when you take a leap and travel out of your comfort (and time) zone to somewhere different, you come back armed with an array of new memories. We hoped that by showing our boys a contrasting culture they could begin to understand the world a little more (although explaining the fundaments of Buddhism might have been a wish too far).  When we visited a local Thai school, the differences between this and their London primary were stark but what we as parents picked up from our boys was actually how alike all these happy kids were, laughing and playing together despite huge language and cultural barriers. As they say in Thailand, Same Same, But Different.

For more information about family-friendly travels in Thailand head to i-escape and check out their Kids Collection

Harriet Whiting

Harriet Whiting is a travel writer who likes nothing more than a family adventure. If she can't do that then she'll settle for copywriting, social media management and getting that book published...

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