Thailand: Hua Hin and Ko Phangan

I’m finally getting around to updating my travel blog with all the places that we’ve been to, before the memories fade! This time I’m thinking about our trip to Thailand in April 2013. I’ve just been through the photos and reminded myself of what a wonderful holiday it was; stunning scenery, delicious food and cheap massages! What more could we want? The twins were only 21 months old at the time, but we found travelling within Thailand to be pretty straight forward and manageable.

After arriving in Bangkok we checked into the Amaranth Suvarnabhumi Hotel, which was the perfect place to sleep off our jetlag. The rooms were clean, the staff were friendly and we enthusiastically feasted on our first of many mouth-wateringly good Thai meals.

The next day, we bundled into a pre-booked minibus and made the three hour drive down to the resort city of Hua Hin. We checked into the Hyatt Regency hotel, which we all absolutely loved. The grounds are stunning, with pretty waterways everywhere and an impressive central elephant water fountain feature. The spectacular pool meanders its way through lovely greenery and takes you to pretty waterfalls and an absolutely brilliant waterslide which adults enjoy as much as the kids! Part of the pool has a beach area too, which is perfect for children, and the resort is set right next to the actual beach which is pretty enough; nothing like the turquoise sea and white sand of the islands, but lots going on and good enough to enjoy. We mostly ate in the Talay Thai restaurant and the food was superb. The hotel is just a short taxi ride into Hua Hin where we really enjoyed exploring the shops, visiting the night market, going to Bann Silapin artists' village, eating in the restaurants and getting a glorious foot massage.

We were very happily entertained for four days before making a three and a half hour minibus journey down to Chumphon and catching a ferry over to Ko Phangan.

Ko Phangan is a palm-fringed island sparkling in the Gulf of Thailand, southeast of the mainland. I was last there when I went on my round-the-world trip with a group of friends back in 1997. That time, we’d popped over from Ko Samui to dance the night away at one of the island’s famous full moon parties. It felt slightly surreal to be back 16 years later with a husband and six kids in tow! I quickly realised, however, that the laid back vibe and impressive array of family friendly restaurants made it the perfect destination for a family holiday.

We stayed at Buri Rasa hotel. When I booked, I specifically asked for ground floor rooms which opened out right onto the beach, thinking that it would be convenient for the children. When we arrived, however, we were taken to first floor rooms with balconies overlooking the beach. The views of the bay were picture perfect. Two days later, we were offered two ground floor rooms once they had become available, but we decided that the rooms we had suited us better; we enjoyed the privacy of the balconies and they stopped the babies from being able to make their way to the sea if our eyes were off them for a second!

This brings me to the best thing about this hotel...the beach is absolutely stunning. Just looking at it made me smile. White sand, turquoise water, picturesque rocks jutting out at one end and very gentle waves lapping on the shore. It’s shallow for quite a distance and perfect for children. The kayaks were free to use and my kids had great fun in them. There are a few other hotels on the beach and the entertainment at Panviman Resort, next door, brought the whole little bay to life at night time. The entrance to the hotel is situated at the end of a lovely little street which was a joy to walk down, by day or night. Everything we needed was there; a pharmacy, laundry shops, convenience stores, gift shops and lovely ramshackle restaurants. We found ourselves eating at Baan Muay Thai restaurant a lot, we loved the couple who owned it and the food was heavenly.

The hotel spa staff offer beachside massages which were a lovely treat and we felt particularly endeared towards a member of staff called Banana...we thought her name was cute and really suited her! She went out of her way to make sure we were always comfortable and happy and arranged for us to go on a tour of the island which we loved; we visited another stunning beach, went trekking through a waterfall trail and visited a Buddhist monastery. It was brilliant!

On our way back we stayed at the Hyatt again. We were lucky enough to get upgraded to a wonderful suite and connecting room with fantastic floor to ceiling windows. Again, we all had a fabulous time relaxing and playing in the pool and, best of all, it was the weekend so we got to visit the best market in Hua Hin: Cicada night market. It's full of wonderfully artistic/crafty goods for sale, fabulous paintings and really delicious (and cheap!) food. I bought the kids, and my nephew, personalised, hand-sewn t-shirts and exquisite crochet dolls, as well as other beautiful clothes and creative items. I also treated myself to a gorgeous dot painting, which takes pride of place in my sitting room to this day!

Our last day happened to fall on Songkran, the Thai New Year festival when people soak each other with water. On our way out of the city, as we drove to Bangkok, it was great fun to see traffic, including our own minibus, and pedestrians, getting blasted with water guns and buckets of water. The kids thought it was brilliant!

All in all, it really was the perfect holiday, and writing about it makes me want to be there again, right now!