Blogs from South-West Thailand, Thailand, Asia - page 27

As we have already traveled to many parts of Thailand, the goal for this trip isn't to sightsee, but just to pick a spot to hang out in for a couple of months and experience daily life with the kids. But which island? Ko Phangan? Too much partying. Ko Phi Phi? Too overrun and expensive. Ko Samui? Too much sleaze. Phuket Island? No, just no! Ko Kradan or Bulon Leh? Nice, but not enough infrastructure for staying long term with small kids. We need access to medical in case something goes wrong, and a minimart for essentials - diapers, wipes, snacks... It had been ten years since we'd last been on Ko Lanta. We had good memories of it being at that right level of development. Not overrun by large concrete hotels, but with enough infrastructure. ... read more

Hit and Run, six countries, one month, two girls! We have a month off school for winter break. A whole month to explore Asia. After looking at a lot of different routes and working out the best one financially, Val and I decided to go to Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, The Philippines, Taiwan and Japan. Unfortunately the Irish had friends from home coming for part of the holiday so couldn't join us so they spent two weeks island hoping in Thailand. Our first stop was Krabi. We were only there a night before getting a boat to Ko Phi Phi where we were staying for five nights. Once we were checked in to our hotel on Phi Phi island we went to the beach. It was the 16th of January and we were in the sea, it ... read more

Recently, my husband Archie and I decided to visit a beautiful Koh Yao Noi island. As much as we love our home in Chiang Mai, a periodic change of scenery can be a great source of inspiration and motivation. After searching through various Koh Yao Noi hotels, we ended up finding a private villa at Coastal Escapethat suited us quite nicely. It's located close to popular destinations, but there is some distance from the massive tourism that sometimes overruns other Thai islands. I feel like it's important to maintain a healthy work-life balance, and these islands ended up being just what we needed. Figuring out how to get to Koh Yao Noi was an easy, painless process. The island is located between Phuket and Krabi, two popular travel destinations in Thailand. Afte... read more

We're not used to spending so long in one place but this time we decided to try it instead of rushing around from place to place, even county to country. Also the main reasons is that Sharon and Scott are here with the two children. The area of Ko Lanta we are staying in is beautiful in its own way and very lively so we never get time to be bored. Having said that after over a month here we began to feel a bit claustrophobic and wanted to see more of the island. We debated whether to get a bike or not, I wasn't too keen. Then we came up with the idea to rent a tuk truck and driver for all six of us. A tuk truck is a kind of open back truck ... read more

Travel with little kids requires a lot more "stuff" than when we travelled before kids. It's amazing how someone so small can require twice as much packing space as someone four times their size, and the smaller they are, the more they need. Anyone who has travelled with a baby can attest to that! Of course, they need their own little sets of clothes, and lots of them. The smaller they are, the bigger the mess they make at mealtimes. Hence the need for exponentially more clothing. And then there's the diapers. In the BK (before kids) days, we travelled with just one large backpack and one small backpack each. We brought along the very same ones on this trip but added to it a huge wheelie suitcase full of cold-weather clothing for South Africa. The ... read more