Thailand

From Siem Reap, we took a private taxi (it was much cheaper than a flight) directly to Bangkok. We had a bit of a moment at the Thai border where just before we saw the immigration officer (after waiting in line for almost 2 hours), R realised that he forgot to fill out part of the arrival cards for himself and our son. This made the immigration officer quite upset and he wanted us to step out of line. I refused and told him to process the other two while he was waiting. He threatened to call the supervisor, but I was unmoved and played dumb saying “What’s wrong?” “What’s the problem?” Anyway, after sighing and rolling his eyes at me, he let us through.

We got to Bangkok in the early evening and had an appointment to see part of our Thai “family” that evening for dinner. We were staying near the airport and they took us to an incredible seafood restaurant near the airport overlooking one of the runways. The food was absolutely delicious and we were so glad to be back in Thailand!! 😋 On our last day in Bangkok, after one month, we saw the other part of the family for lunch. We had to do some shopping in town so the family took us to a really nice organic food restaurant in the mall. This restaurant owns its own farms and the food was so fresh and yummy!

We spent 1 month in Thailand. This was 3 days in Krabi, 2 days in Bangkok (at the end of the trip) and 3.5 weeks on the island of Koh Lanta.

Krabi

We were originally planning on staying in Krabi for a month, but it was really busy and we had trouble finding accommodation. We managed to book a villa, but it was away from the beach and about a half an hour away from town. Our friends that we have been travelling with arrived in Krabi on the same day and we all met up in town for the first night for some food at the night market. Here are some photos from Krabi:

One of the mornings, we decided to walk up the street to another hotel that served breakfast. It was a good meal set in a nice location on a small lake with mountains around.

Railay Beach

From Krabi, we decided to take a trip over to famous Railay beach for an afternoon swim. We had to grab a long tailed boat over to the beach as there are no roads there.

Koh Lanta

After a few days in Krabi, we decided that it was too crowded and that we wanted something a bit quieter to relax for our 3.5 weeks. We also discovered that there was a large group of world schooling families on Koh Lanta. So, off we went to Koh Lanta.

Malee Highlands

We decided to splash out and booked a great hotel where we had a studio apartment. It’s called Malee Highlands and is owned by a Swedish family. Many of the people staying there were also Swedish and were staying for a while on the island (there are a couple of Swedish schools on the island). The complex had a water park and activities room for the kids, a family swimming pool and an adult pool. The view from the pools was amazing – especially at sunset. Here are some photos of the complex:

One of our last nights there, we splashed out and ate at the restaurant. The sunset view from the restaurant was beautiful.

We ended up having very busy days on Koh Lanta. There were daily activities in both the morning and afternoon (games, schooling, frisbee, soccer, business meetings, dad’s night, etc.).

Saladan

On our first day, we went into the main town of Saladan to rent motorbikes for the 3 weeks. We ate lunch at a great restaurant on the water called Barracuda that had an enclosed area with barracuda in it underneath the hammocks.

Meet ups

One of the first nights, we had a teen meet up with a bonfire on the beach:

K’s birthday also happened to be on the same day as their fortnightly pool party. The organisers (other families that have been there for a while) were really great and arranged for a birthday cake and Kaia’s favourite songs to be played. And, some of them even gave her gifts!!

Here are some other photos of the various catch ups:

One of the places we met twice per week (The Backyard Cafe) had a resident chicken that loved to be carried around like a baby.

Transport

Most of the time in Koh Lanta, we drove our motorbikes around. But on a couple of occasions, we took a tuk tuk or R drove both kids on his bike.

Saturday Market

One Saturday, we went down to check out the Saturday market where there was a lot of veggies, fruits, fish and meat.

One of the nice things about having our own apartment with a fully equipped kitchen was that we could buy food from the markets and cook a lot of meals at home. It was a nice change from constantly eating out.

Diving

We managed to get in a day of diving – with 3 dives. We choose a company with a great, stable catamaran and easy access in and out of the water. The dives were really nice and we saw lots of good stuff. It was nice to see the kids enjoying themselves underwater (even if they did chase after a deep turtle! 😬)

Laanta Lanta

While we were there, a festival occurred on the other side of the island. We drove over to check it out. Even though we ate tarantulas and scorpions in Cambodia, we weren’t game enough to try the grubs, crickets and cock roaches…

Last night on Koh Lanta

On our last night on Koh Lanta, the sun decided to show off and give us a spectacular sunset reflecting off the wet sand of low tide.

Bangkok

We needed to do some shopping so we decided to spend a couple of days at the end of our trip in Bangkok. We also met up with some friends that we met on Koh Lanta and went to a park and did swan boats with them.

As usual, we really loved Thailand. We met a great group of families in Koh Lanta and we’re looking forward to meeting up with them again somewhere…

Next stop, India!