The family and I spent 2 excellent weeks in Thailand earlier this month. Seven of us were able to make it in the end – Myself, Zawadi, Amani and Malaika, my daughters Skye and Hayley and Hayley’s fiance James.

[simage=2255,144,n,left,] Zawadi, the little ones and I flew with Oman Air and enjoyed a couple of nights in Bangkok staying at the luxurious Banyan Tree Hotel. I managed to bag Club rooms through Myhotelguru for only $109 a night, including taxes and buffet breakfast! These rooms normally cost more than 3 times this amount. I sent Zawadi off shopping with cash in hand whilst I took Amani and Malaika swimming in the hotel pool and then for a walk to Lumpini Park where they had much fun playing on the equipment until Malaika slipped over in some thick, black mud… Yuk! The walk back to the hotel certainly seemed much longer than the walk to the park, what with Malaika falling asleep in my arms whilst I tried to keep the worst of the mud off me and while hanging on to Amani with one hand. She must weigh close to 20kgs now.

[simage=2270,144,n,right,] We made it back without incident though. For the evening, I had arranged an in-house babysitter and took Zawadi to the Banyan Tree’s rooftop alfresco restaurant Vertigo located on the 61st floor. Magnificent food and views as we celebrated (slightly belatedly) our 6th wedding anniversary. A special evening indeed.

[simage=2291,144,n,left,] We met up with the rest of the group at Krabi airport and then all ventured on to Railay Beach – one of my favourite getaways, staying as usual in Villa Plus rooms at the Sunrise Tropical Resort. Just love it there. Phra Nang beach is so incredibly beautiful. Straight out of a post card.

[simage=2309,144,n,right,] After a few days in Krabi we loaded up in a minivan for the journey to Koh Ngai, a beautiful island in the Trang province. We stayed at the Thanya Resort and loved it. The hotel staff were all so nice, especially the manager Ms Naan and dear Noong in the restaurant. Incredulously we had the whole resort to ourselves for the first couple of days! Actually almost all of the (only) 6 hotels on the island were empty, very different to when I was there in March during the high season.

[simage=2365,144,n,left,] All having had sufficient time to chill-out and unwind, it was time to start and pick up the pace! We caught the overnight express train back to Bangkok, a journey of about 800kms. Apart from the toilets/showers, the train was quite comfortable and we were in Bangkok’s Hua Lamphong central station before we knew it. There a minivan was waiting for us for the 2 hour drive to Pattaya where I’d booked us in to the Hard Rock Hotel. Rock ‘n roll baby!

[simage=2383,144,n,right,] The hotel was a blast and we all enjoyed it since they cater to all ages. Went out to the -5 Ice Bar one evening and drank shots of vodka from glasses made of ice!

[simage=2430,144,n,left,] After 3 nights of Hard Rock, time for a change of tempo. So off we headed to the Khao Kheow Open Zoo where besides tigers and other indigenous wildlife, they also have giraffes, rhinos and other African wildlife! Hayley kindly volunteered to look after Amani and Malaika at the zoo whilst the other 4 of us prepared ourselves for the adrenalin rush about to come… The Flight of the Gibbon experience! Flying by zip-line up to 300 metres between giant rain forest trees over 50 metres high! There are something like 23 zip-lines in all and the experience lasts about 3 hours. Was great fun and I’d love to do it again some time.

[simage=2450,144,n,right,] That evening we did the night safari and got to see the big cats when they’re active – not like in the daytime when all they seem to do is sleep. Was very interesting and we then spent the night at a camping resort called Es-Ta-Te within the zoo boundary. The tents had proper beds, a mini bar and air-conditioning! Pretty civilized actually. Droppings near the tents indicated that ‘wild’ deer had been wandering around during the night. Also a very nice and fairly unique place to stay.

[simage=2454,144,n,left,] With the holiday nearly at an end, it was back into a minivan for the short trip back to Bangkok. We stayed at the Siam Heritage Suites on Surawongse road, near the Montien. It’s an excellent location just around the corner from the Patphong night markets. Rooms were very comfortable and the rates were very reasonable. We prefer to stay in this area of Bangkok at the end of a holiday in Thailand, so that on our last night we can-:

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1) Have cocktails at the beautiful Montien hotel lobby bar

2) Go for dinner at Patty’s Fiesta, a somewhat crazy Mexican restaurant at the end of Patphong road, with transvestite waitresses, live music, average food but excellent Margaritas and Daiquiris!

3) Shop until you drop! Enjoying the odd drink whilst absorbing the surreal atmosphere that is Patphong, safe in the knowledge that you won’t need to worry about taxis or tuk-tuks and can simply saunter back to your hotel when you’ve had enough.

And that is exactly what we did :-)