Destinations

Articles or Posts that reference or elaborate on the destinations and locations we will visit

Khao Lak – Back to the beach – Days 256-260

Mike PLeave a comment
Empty shoreline on khao lak beach with palm trees

  After the last couple weeks in the north of Thailand and Laos, we made one last-ditch attempt to experience beach life before our time in the Middle East.  We were thinking Phuket, but it was high season and accommodation was expensive.  Instead, we booked ourselves into a nice hotel on a strip of sand about an hour north of Phuket.  We hadn’t heard of Khao Lak but the hotel we looked at was attractively priced and had very positive reviews.  After booking, we researched the area and then realized that the area has a sad history.  It appeared to be the area in Thailand most severely affected by the tsunami. 

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Vientiane to Thailand – Days 252-256

Mike P1 Comment
Family peace sign on second class train

Should we have skipped Vientiane?  Probably.  Maybe I feel that way because we were sad to be leaving Laos and excited to return to Thailand.  Our time in the Laos capital was so unremarkable we’ll focus on our epic journey from Vientiane down to Khao Lak in Thailand.  I imagine there were things to do in Vientiane, but we just phoned it in.  We barely left the hotel, didn’t care about eating local and spent too much time playing Pokemon.  Looking back, we just weren’t in the right head space from the get-go as our train from Luang Prabang wasn’t enjoyable, and it set the tone.

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Luang Prabang – Days 247 – 251

paige mLeave a comment

We had high expectations for Luang Prabang, with many of the travel bloggers we follow writing that it was their favourite location in Southeast Asia. We knew we were heading to a city packed with Unesco-protected temples encircled by the beautiful Mekong and Khan Rivers. We booked a hotel with a river view and prepared for five days of exploration. Walking around the city was as beautiful as we had imagined. French colonial buildings were set next to temple after temple. We visited several sites and walked up the mountain in the town centre at sunset for beautiful views of the area below.

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Laos Homestay – Days 245 & 246

paige m1 Comment

One of the reasons we’re taking this trip is that we want the girls to see how different people around the world live. While we’ve been to many places, we have not spent much time in rural communities and have not done a homestay yet. This all changed when we disembarked the slow boat and set off to visit the village of Muang Soune with our homestay guide Kham. She grew up in this village, which is home to both ethnic Lao people and Hmong people. Kham returns with small groups of tourists to a newly built wooden house she owns surrounded by fruit trees on the outskirts of the village. This place is not on Google Maps – a tiny village on the Ou River north of Luang Prabang.

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Mekong River – Thailand to Laos by Boat – Days 242 – 244

Mike PLeave a comment
Girls boarding boat on mekong river

Up next was our scheme to take the slow boat from Northern Thailand to Luang Prabang. Floating down the Mekong on a boat turned out to be a blast. The children entertained the like-minded travellers, while it was a chance for the parents to be social with other adults again. Upon reflection, we spent two awesome days recapturing some of our old backpacking glory.

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Chiang Rai – Temples & Caves – Days 237-241

Mike PLeave a comment
Smiling children in front of white temple

Having finalized our decision to take a “slow boat” to Laos, we made our way closer to the border in Northern Thailand. Chiang Rai would be our home for the next four days, and we kept things simple. Our only agenda item was to visit some famous temples. We stayed at a decent hotel with breakfast, a pool and a large lobby that we made our own. We passed the time playing board games, reading and catching up on school. Isabella was not pleased with the amount of schoolwork she had to get through! Julie was not impressed with the number of postcards we ended up writing!

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Chiang Mai – Finally a Tuk-tuk for Isabella – Days 229 – 237

paige m6 Comments
Family with Tuk Tuk driver smiling

Chiang Mai is a very popular city for digital nomads and travelling families. There is so much to do in Chiang Mai and, despite the smog (caused mainly by rice field burning), we enjoyed our time in this Northern city. When we arrived, Isabella and I made a Powerpoint presentation (I can’t help it) about all the attractions and activities on offer. Each family member got to pick 2 things that we’d add to the itinerary. Initially, I thought that the list was a bit ambitious for our slow travel style but we were going to be in the city for 9 days so we set out to do the following:

  1. Visit the Chiang Mai Zoo and see a Panda: Julie pick
  2. Go to the Planetarium: Isabella pick
  3. Float down a river on a bamboo raft: Isabella pick
  4. Visit Cocoon farm and see silk being made: Julie pick
  5. Go the Sunday Night Market: Paige
  6. Do a cooking class: Paige pick
  7. Go to a Soccer Game: Mike pick
  8. Make paper from Elephant poo: Mike pick

Guess how we did? I can tell you we did 7/8. Read on to see which one we missed.

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Koh Tao – Could Thailand ever live up to the backpacker memories? – Day 212 -228

paige m3 Comments

Have I mentioned that I love Thailand? Secretly, I worried that I would find a very different Thailand than the one I remember from when I was a 22-year-old. I knew that I could find a Singha beer, a plate of pad thai and a banana chocolate crepe, but I was going as a middle-aged person with kids…. What was it going to be like? To be honest, the first day had me worried.

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Langkawi – Ringing in the New Year a second time – Days 207-211

Mike PLeave a comment
Secluded beachfront with loungers

Five nights at a resort in Langkawi, an island off the Malaysian mainland, was a new level of “slowing things down”. Most days involved 4 hours at the pool, 4 hours of television, 3 hours of eating and then an hour at the bar. In between, we would sprinkle in some homeschooling. It rained every day but fortunately, it was limited to 15-minute downpours in the late afternoon. By the end of our 5 days, the family was fit, tanned and in excellent spirits. Our mini-break exceeded all expectations.

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