Thailand December 2021

Thankfully we managed to get away on a long awaited trip to Thailand in December, overcoming all the hurdles of testing and filling the paperwork needed by the Thai government – that was a stressful time waiting for the Thai passes to arrive in your inbox! We spent 14 nights spending Christmas there, how lovely to be by the pool or on the beach in the run up to Christmas and not have to get stressed about getting the shopping done. PLACES TO STAY Staying in Phuket for the first 7 nights at The Old Phuket, Karon Beach, a great hotel just a short stroll from the beach, not that that mattered as we had opted for swim up rooms which was fantastic, no stress of having to get a sunbed on this holiday. The next 7 were spent just along the coast in Khao Lak, staying at the Khao Lak Bhandari Resort & Spa, a gorgeous resort with beautiful gardens where you can even come across monitor lizards going about their daily business. TRIPS WE WENT ON We took a tuk tuk one afternoon to Phuket Old Town with its beautiful brightly painted Sino-Portugese townhouses, wandering the streets and hunting souvenirs. Bizarrely that evening we took a break from the normal of eating Thai food and opted for some amazing Turkish food at Efe Turkish Old Town. We learnt Thai Cooking at Kata Cooking School, – Jim was just amazing in his teaching and we all thoroughly had a blast and made some tasty dishes – ‘Scoop Scoop’ became a bit of a catchphrase after that experience! Trekking through the jungle up to the Big Buddah was the idea from our son Josh, we certainly burnt some calories getting up there but decided on the easier option of a tuk tuk back down. The highlight for me, an afternoon spent with the elephants at the Elephant Jungle Sanctuary, Phuket, learning about these gentle giants, feeding them and then getting up close, personal and extremely ‘muddy’ (not quite sure it was mud we were bathing in) washing and cleaning these magnificent animals. One final excursion we went on was a speedboat trip to the Similan Islands in the Andaman Sea, these islands with the most amazing blue sea and softest white sand, snorkelling amongst the coral and seeing the colourful fish, a fantastic day trip and one I would happily go on again. EATING OUT Eating most days local food, with my favourite dish of Pad Thai being consumed so many times on this trip I lost count and not having to spend lots if just going in where the locals were eating – you can’t go wrong – lunch for 3 including a large Chiang beer – no more than £10!!