In December, Educational Tour Agent, Heidi, took her family for a well-deserved holiday to Thailand. Here’s what she had to say:
We started in Phuket, with the highlight by far being the Elephant Sanctuary where over 250 elephants that had been mistreated or injured can live out the rest of their lives in peace. The elephants could come as close as they wanted to us, but we stayed at a respectful distance and had the magical experience of feeding them fruit baskets. Watching their trunk wrap around the watermelon, and stack many pieces of fruit before feeding it to themselves was really special to see so close up. Each elephant chooses it’s own Mahoot (carer) whose sole job is to follow it around and ensure it’s OK through the day.
From there, we journeyed by longboat (so cool!) to Khao Sok National Park, taking in the stunning karst landscapes and spending the night in a floating hotel — such a unique and peaceful experience, literally getting rocked to sleep and hearing the wildlife surrounding you.
We then spent three nights in the Krabi province, where we loved the shopping, vibrant night markets and island hopping to Lao Lading, Pak Bia and Hong Island (our absolute favourite for the long white sandy beach, snorkelling and the insane view from the many, many steps up to a lookout).
Next stop was Koh Lanta, with its gorgeous twin bays. We enjoyed more night markets (mango sticky rice is our favourite as well as Pad Thai, Pad See Ew and Minced chicken with basil) and a day cruise by speedboat to Koh Mah, Koh Ngai, Koh Mook (second fave beach of the trip) and an 80m swim through the famous Emerald Cave (Tham Morakot). I’m not gonna lie, it was dark and a little scary swimming through the cave, but so worth it to pop out on the other side to the secluded beach.
We finished our journey back in Phuket, exploring the charming Old Town with its Portuguese, Malay and Thai influences, and visiting the iconic Big Buddha. We spotted a few monkeys here and one ran right up to us!!
We loved every moment of our time away and would highly recommend a trip to Southern Thailand.
