A Thai awakening..... the boy's first long haul

The boy’s first long haul was long awaited. It had previously been frowned upon. But nowadays I'm not inclined to tread on eggshells waiting for a sanction to come, I sanctioned myself.

Flight costs were extortionate but a fortunate tax rebate and the taking on of more work that almost crippled me at points over the summer, made it possible, just.

EVA was not the airline of choice but after much deliberation and evaluation, offered the best fare to maximise what had now become an 8 day window. The opportunity presented and I’m not one to let important commitments back home that I would not miss allow us to put the trip off. 8 days was short, but entirely doable and, as it happened, proved to be a perfect duration for an introduction to such a contrasting culture.

I hadn’t mentioned why Thailand. Yes, other destinations were an option, but it had always been Thailand as the first place I wanted to take August, which makes the aforementioned lack of sanctioning even more puzzling. Thailand is a place of great personal importance. I have travelled there countless times and I'm very familiar with her joys and challenges. It's where I lived for a short time, the location of my doctoral study. There was so much joy in this place that I couldn't wait to share with my little man.

As it happens I’m glad the trip happened this year. Six was the perfect age for this trip. An age of wonder and curiosity. Perhaps he might remember some of it this time! He’ll certainly remember the nasty bug we both picked up where he vommed directly into mummy’s face and mummy almost shat on him.

The one only other previous flight with EVA air was functional and cabin crew perfunctory. This time, I was well impressed. Even better, we had the very back row seats, two together (alone), one window seat, one aisle seat of a 777-ER out of LHR. August was blown away with his own TV to himself and happily tucked into the plentiful food on offer, neck pillow round his neck. The proper seasoned traveller. The 21.35 flight ex LHR couldn’t have been more perfect. Augs slept for 9 out of the 11 hrs. I slept a tiny bit (much better than usual). It was bumpy…. But the fear had subsided. Need to give myself credit here. In the space of 5 years i’ve gone from continuing on the M11, and attempting to drive to Copenhagen on account of a crippling, irrational fear of flying to taking August on his first (very turbulent) long haul flight, totally unmedicated, totally chilled and holding my shit together enough to attend proactively to his needs, showing no fear.

In the interests of time maximisation, I had opted for a flight directly out of Suvarnabhumi up to Chiang Mai. The inbound flight arrived late and exacerbated by some rather contradictory advice and signage upon arrival we missed our connection. Damn, the military precision with which the trip had been planned was now in jeopardy. Much vagueness surrounding whether there was another flight up that day. We ran. We sweated (like hell). Thank god August had a good sleep. No one was grumpy, just uber efficiency mode. He really is a superstar to travel with, the most helpful little guy. Upon presentation to the airside Vietjet check in desk I was overjoyed when they offered us the next flight departing in an hour’s time. We were back on schedule. An hour and a half later, we landed in Chiang Mai and grabbed a 15 minute taxi ride to the Royal Shilton. Less of the Royal nowadays more of the (earl) Shilton (for those Leicestershire dwellers).

But we loved the place. At 12 quid a night who could grumble, We had the place to ourselves, a beautiful brick built villa room with enclosed verandah. A small but perfectly formed pool, if a little on the murky side.

We both felt perky enough to head out with bellies grumbling. The hotel was located in a suburb, quite far out of the centre, but delightfully authentic with some great street food and eateries. We sat down for grub in a lovely little restaurant and August was delighted with his yummy tempura shrimps and Pad Thai. I was delighted with my first ice cold bottle of Chang…. with just being back, the heat, the smells, the food. Boy was it good to be ‘home’.

We were there for a short time and so, provided we were both up for it, let’s try and pack in as much as we can. People have seen our photos and said things like ‘oh it didn’t look very relaxing’. Firstly, is a holiday meant to be relaxing? Just depends on who you are and what you enjoy. Each to their own. I don’t judge your travel habits so please don’t pass judgement on mine. As it happens though, we got plenty of ‘down time’. Meet any six year old that wants to stay in one place for too long.

So Mr Amon, who had taken us from the airport the previous evening had been asked if he would take us out for the day, to Doi Inthanon National Park, the highest point in Thailand. Before that we procured a tasty breakfast of sticky rice and fried chicken for 25 baht from one of the house front food sellers close by to the hotel. August also had an iced Cocoa in tow, me an iced coffee, equipped with Thai style drink holder, so he could swing it as he walked and consequently swing the Cocoa all over the place. His new favourite drink. That’s my boy. Finding mega joy in the same simple things :-)

Doi Inthanon was disappointing. Two pagodas, King and Queen. Which August couldn’t really give a shit about. Lots of fog = couldn’t see a bean.

The waterfalls within the national park however were a different story and fuelled by the rainy season, were magnificent and powerful.

But August was done in. He slept all the way back in the taxi, so did I. Like a little pair of nodding dogs.

He was revived by the time we arrived back at the hotel and we enjoyed a couple of hours of dive bombing and jumping into the pool. He was in his element. As he started becoming chilly, a natural opportunity arose to do something else. Two things I'd been keen to do in Chiang Mai, which I thought he would like and I also had never done myself, was to visit the night bazaar and the night safari (yes despite the ethical concerns of my early days as a tourism academic. I mistakenly thought the night safari and Chiang Mai zoo were the same place. For anyone who cares. They are not. We managed to fit in both. Night bazaar = overpriced tourist trap, Many much better places to eat in the city. But Augs loved the big juicy garlic prawns with special ‘prawn eating gloves’ (much to my amusement) and ice cream roll making watching experience.

It was already getting dark. If we wanted to fit in the night safari we had to leave now. Cue August’s first tuk tuk ride in Khun Him’s Tuk Tuk. Something I knew would give him great joy. It did. He now wants to replace Nancy (the Nissan) with a Tuk Tuk. To be fair, so do I.

By the skin of our teeth we made it in time for the tiger show and the safari. Incredibly impressed and well worth the visit. No signs of the previous unethical animal attraction reputation they had earned for themselves. However one always needs to dig beneath the surface.

The next joy…a late night snack….. More street food. A far more exciting street food market at the end of our road exposed Augs to deep fried fishballs (which are actually growing on me, not in the literal sense thankfully…. That would be weird) and crabsticks on sticks and me who mistakenly ordered some hotter than hell sauce coated chicken wings.

I couldn’t wake the dude the next morning. He is an early riser. Like really early. I was still waiting for him to wake at 10 am. Clearly adjusting to the time zone/ travel. But afforded me the opportunity to get some work done. NB the down sides of self employed remote working. I had planned everything so this was supposed to be the only, tech off, tools down trip…. But a last minute let down meant I was catapulted into the helm of a module and the cover I had been promised disappeared in the blink of an eye. So the alarm was set at 4.30am each day to work before August woke and to work until 1am after he had fallen asleep was the reality. So yes, the life I have created is a dream, but please do not be under any false illusions that it is easy, or that I'm not grafting, or that there aren’t downsides. Instagram just doesn’t show that.

August’s mood had changed. It was shitty. Which meant he was constipated. The poor boy has very sensitive bowels . Typical boy doesn’t drink enough. Which wreaks havoc from time to time and we always have a tricky time around about then. But, halleluyah that morning he birthed a babbies arm and, bingo, he was my normal cheery boy yet again.

We visited again the street food market for a delicious sweet breakfast of pandan leaves containing Thai Sweet treats. August was introduced to the delights of 7eleven and chose yet more iced Cocoa and some dim sum. We took another Tuk Tuk back to the airport. Seeing his happy, in awe face I just felt so happy, authentically happy.

Next destination was Phuket. We could have flown directly from Chiang Mai to Phuket but for half the price we could go via Bangkok Don Muang which wasn't too much of an inconvenience compared to the time it would take to travel by bus or train.

We didn't have an extended stay in Phuket planned, unfortunately. This was a stopping off point for a morning ferry to Koh Phi Phi and so I opted for us to stay again at Pek house which was near Rassada ferry terminal in Phuket town. A spotlessly clean and incredibly cheap accommodation option, I would recommend it wholeheartedly to anybody who needs accommodation near to the ferry port. They also can provide a variety of add-ons which I guess makes the diminutive room rate viable for them and so we were picked up from the airport and Luna the host also cooked us breakfast and arranged our ferry tickets those from Phuket to Koh Phi Phi and onwards to Railay a few days later.

The area surrounding Rassada Pier ironically is a big Islamic area adjacent to Ko Sire, is also an area where there are many “karaoke bars”. Not the karaoke bars that characterised Patong beach serving the tourists but those serving the locals. Nonetheless there is no malice, no sense of grit, no feeling of threat or potential harm. Families and family restaurants and dwellings were side by side with these bars. We walked searching for a Thai BBQ place, S89, I was certain was close by. Another joy I wanted to share with August whereby you have the barbecue on your table and you select your meat and vegetables to cook quite a Thai social experience. But my bearings were gone and the only restaurant that was still open was one serving noodles soup. We were warmly welcomed and enjoyed the most delicious meal in the most humble of settings.

We slept well and again August had to be woken in time for our breakfast and ferry that was due to depart at 8:30am. I regret not inquiring about which of the numerous ferry companies to Phi Phi we had purchased a ticket for from our landlady. Trust me it matters. If you are just wanting to get to Phi Phi as quickly as possible, don’t take Princess Cruises. I couldn't believe how much Rassada Port had changed in the intervening years since I'd last been there. So much bigger, so, so much more sophisticated, so many tour boats, so many more tourists and so many more boats. I say don't take the Princess cruise because they are predominantly serving the day trip and market. We set off an hour late on account of faffers and obsessive selfie tourists. A jam packed boat full of Indian tourists on the lash who appeared to enjoy nothing more than photographing and videoing everything including us without permission and invading our personal space. It became really annoying, especially as the boat, rather than taking us directly to Phi Phi proceeded to circumnavigate Phi Phi Ley which appears to have Maya Bay again closed for Environmental restoration, to serve the curiosity and photographic needs that almost tipped the ferry, of the mass day tripper market. We finally arrived on Phi Phi. To my amusement they are still collecting the 20 baht per person environmental restoration fee with no sign of its application in practice on the island.

Thanks to my leaving presence and my lovely colleagues at Nottingham Business School who had gifted me a very generous airbnb voucher, I decided to book somewhere really quirky and different. I had been looking at the Viking resort previously on booking.com. The Viking resort is located out of Ao Tonsai towards Long Beach and even though it was possible still to walk into town you are isolated and out of the way of the hordes. This was the best possible decision I could have made and with the exception of the Sand Sea resort at the far end of Long Beach it was definitely the best accommodation option and I will definitely stay there again next time I visit. Through airbnb we were able to book a bamboo Fisherman's hut on the rocks, part of the Viking resort but in some way unexplainably separate. The most amazing accommodation I ever stayed in. Rustic, simple, quirky, beautiful, with the most amazing views you could ever wish for. The resort itself had a stunning little beach, kayaks and snorkels to hire and bean bags to chill out on. The whole atmosphere was zen. The food was amazing in the restaurant and the staff incredibly friendly and hospitable. I fell in love with the place . Even though it was possible to walk to the resort we were met by a long tail boat. August’s 1st trip in a long tail boat, amazing.

The Numroi bungalow as it was named is my definition of paradise. Pop Swan. The tattoo on my right foot that I'd had done many years before on Phi Phi says it all. Find paradise. We did right there.

It had been an awfully long time since I last visited Phi Phi. I can't actually recall when my last visit was. Obviously a lot of time and has been a huge part of my life on the basis of my doctorate. It was intriguing to see the changes that have taken place since my last visit, a curious permission for cannabis selling. Was this an illustration of Phi Phi’s disconnect from the public administration system or had drug laws in Thailand changed? but there were shops selling cannabis and gummies everywhere on top of the buckets of alcohol. I groaned inwardly. The ugliness had continued. The shops had even stooped so low as to start to sell mass degenerate souvenirs, the ‘airport art’ phase of cultural degeneration, as Shackley would term it. Decorated wooden cocks as bottle openers. Authentic Thai decorated wooden cocks.

The walk into town enabled us to sample some of the culinary delights that Phi Phi is associated with in my mind, the mango shake (or ‘shek’, the tuna baguette, the banana pancake (pangkek). August was a very happy boy although much to my delight he declared that he prefers mummy's pancakes as these were too sweet.

Where had the poo garden gone? all of that money that the Danish government had donated in the wake of the tsunami to create the stinking monstrosity of human effluence had been bulldozed in favour of a new hotel complex being built. The grey stinking water was still being pumped out directly into Ao Lo dalam bay where the day trippers frolicked and took yet more selfies in the shallow waters. Karma. Conjunctivitis inbound for you my dear.

We should have headed back earlier than we did but as we passed Hippies (bar) the proximity of the fire show seemed too good an opportunity to miss and again one of the delights I was keen to share with August. It was a bit of a long way but so worthwhile the place was pretty deserted which made me feel sad but a few people gathered around the time of the fire show. The same guy was playing acoustic songs on his guitar, the same numbers, some things just don't change. August was enraptured by the fire show and even more delighted when he was encouraged to participate.

The next day started with the most delicious buffet breakfast at the Viking resort followed by a swim in the crystal clear turquoise sea. Following this we both decided that we would like to walk into town again, stopping for a swim at each of the small coves before you reached Ao Tonsai. The next beach along had a swing. We paused momentarily and August scaled the rope of the swing under the gaze of two young Thai boys that were playing on the beach. My Ling Noi (little monkey). August generally takes a lot of time and persuasion to make friends on holiday. It normally takes him days to warm up by which time we are due to depart so are they. But for some reason with these two boys it just clicked. They climbed. They played football. They played in the sea. Not a word of common language was shared between them except the language of play. I could have sat there for days just watching. As a mother, who cares deeply about bringing up her son to have cultural empathy and awareness and an openness to the world, I couldn't have derived more pleasure watching my son make friends with people with whom he couldn't converse and yet he was there, finding a way.

Their mum, a longtail boat man’s wife who lived in a corrugated iron makeshift hut just off the beach, was sat in a hammock, smiling just like I was from ear to ear and taking the occasional video and photo on her phone. Occasionally we glance over to each other, smile, sharing this moment of joy. The children couldn't have come from different worlds but this is precisely it for me, one of the fundamental values I have as a person and I want August to have as well is that we are all equal it doesn't matter who we are or where we come from. It's one of the most significant benefits of travel from my perspective, the Promotion of open-mindedness and the fostering of cross-cultural empathy and understanding. These children should have been at school but weren't, one of the social issues on Koh Phi Phi. But our children were united through their love of football, their love of climbing and their love of the water. These were the most precious moments on that trip. August was gutted when their mother called them over to get some shade.

We carried on our walk into town in the hope that on our return journey the boys would be there, sadly they weren't and we didn't see them again this trip. I kicked myself that I didn't ask their mom if she was on social media which she probably would have been. How amazing would that have been if August could have kept in touch until we return again, which he has insisted we do.

We didn't spend long in town, picking up a few souvenirs for loved ones, grabbing yet some more Phad Thai Gung (shrimp) and then heading back to base because you could rent snorkels from the Viking resort and August was keen to try his hand (or lungs) at snorkelling. The sea was a little rough and the bottom churned up so visibility wasn't great, but we climbed the headland rocks round to Long Beach where the problem still persisted until you reached the rocks at the end of the beach where there was an abundance of beautiful tropical fish.

Later that night we had this barbecue of delicious freshly caught, we saw it delivered, straight out of the ocean onto the barbecue.

August was uncharacteristically out of sorts that evening and we headed back to Numroi.

It was as sleeping was supposed to start, when the projectile of vomiting started. On one occasion right in my face. The poor mite was experiencing his first bout of potential food poisoning (another first…. yayyyy!) which I wouldn't have put down to the fish barbecue but perhaps his Pad Thai with shrimp earlier in the day. It might not even have been that, we weren't being particularly careful with anything like ice or toothbrushing. It was a tough night that followed. A messy night. A night of very limited sleep for both of us. But bless him his main concern was that we'd get told off for making a mess so I worked as hard as I possibly could through the night to clean any soiled items in our beloved bungalow.

The next morning he chilled and slept in the hammock on our veranda. He must have still had stomach cramps, the poor little thing. We had to leave that day. This was a day of rain, big rain, fat old rain. An illustration of the power of mother nature. I love it. Our resort transferred us with another long tail ride to the pier and we padded time in a lacklustre way because August was still feeling a little under the weather and I without realising it was probably starting my own descent at that point.

A very heavy and prolonged downpour followed but the boat to Railay wasn't delayed and we got there at about five pm. It always frustrates me that there is only one afternoon boat. Our limited time within the schedule therefore meant that we would only have one night in Railay, a place I hadn't visited since 2002 on my very first trip to Thailand. Things had just never aligned in that way even though there had been many, many trips over the years.

Again using the kind airbnb voucher I booked a familiar accommodation, The Diamond Cave Resort that had been the one I'd stayed in over 20 years ago, on account of its beautiful pool that I know that August would love to play in. August was feeling better by this point and we swam and enjoyed the pool for a bit and then headed out just as the sun was setting to Pra Nang beach and Pra nang cave, one of the most beautiful places on this earth that I have yet had the fortune to visit. This is where the monkeys are. and August had his first exciting encounter with monkeys everywhere you look.

August's previously shown interest in martial arts and particularly Thai boxing and I had thought how nice it would be if somewhere we were visiting we'd be able to see a Thai boxing match. Low and behold we were given a leaflet indicating that the Last Bar (simply and appropriately named) would be hosting a match that evening at 9:00 p.m.. Some consultation with August suggested that late night would be absolutely fine with him and he was desperate to see this match. We chilled and ate dinner in the Treehouse bar and restaurant with a company guitar-toting crooner who consistently appeared to be getting the words wrong or not even really caring whether the words were in any way shape or form accurate. The performance was certainly “unsporgettable…… in every way”.

Finally the match was about to start. It was clearly staged but August didn't need to know that even though he's astute to have figured it out himself from the many hours invested in YouTube watching wrestling matches.

The next morning we spent a good bit of time in and around the pool before heading to our next destination which was Ao Nang. I'd opted for a night in Ao Nang because there's a lot of things to see and do in and around the area and transport options are cheap and plentiful so I knew it would be easy enough to get around, as well as get to Krabi airport the following morning. Clocking up the different types of transportation that we had used this visit we hopped into a motorbike sidecar taxi to the Do Dee Swiss Chalet resort. Again courtesy of NBS. A fabulous place on the outskirts of the very busy Ao Nang that can sometimes be a bit overbearing. August was a little out of sorts this day but maybe he was still feeling a little rough and couldn't articulate that.

So even though next door there was an option to feed some elephants that was not going to be given as a reward for a belligerent and backchatting six-year-old. I'd heard something about a tiger cave temple but clearly got my information sources mixed up. Expecting actual tigers, not a lone fibreglass one, we spent an excessively long amount amount of time in a rickshaw taxi to get to said temple to find nothing but monkeys, incredibly cheeky monkeys, aggressive monkeys that were a consequence of tourists' presents and feeding.

I figured that I had just been spending a bit too much time in the back of a Ute that I was really starting to feel a bit queasy. We headed to the amazing night market close to the accommodation, which offered the most extensive and amazing array of foods but I just wasn't feeling it. I had a fruit shake and then the vomiting started. It was my turn. I haven't been sick like that since my honeymoon where I spent nearly a week on the bathroom floor in Sri Lanka. In between bouts of sickness and diarrhoea we still manage to have a moonlit swim with a quick rush back to the bathroom. Again another sleepless night.

The next morning we had an early start for our flight back to Bangkok. Our final day of the trip where some shopping and Bangkok typical joys were planned. I'd booked the Prince Palace Hotel on account of its amazing looking rooftop swimming pool and location in China Town and the area that I love. It was also fairly close to Phaya Thai BTS station. This should mean a smooth transfer from Suvarnabhumi airport using the BTS airport link that could get you to Phaya Thai BTS for 45 baht per person in 20 minutes. We would then grab a tuk tuk to the hotel. To my delight I found that the hotel was located in the area of loads of clothing wholesale markets. Wow I'd forgotten how much I love walking around Bangkok and soaking in the smells and sights, an assault on all of the senses. August was fixated on the promise to procure some fake Nike high tops.

That would have been all he wanted to do with the day so I had to prolong it and integrate some sightseeing. I did this through the medium of another TUK TUK trip that I know he would love into Chinatown and exploration of the bustling busy vibrant ChinaTown and their wholesale markets and then a speedy trip using the Chao phraya river Express for 20 baht per person down to Sathorn bridge where we could connect with the BTS to the MBK Center; a place of pleasure. We secured those high tops, I'm sure given the crummy exchange rate right now of about 40 baht to the GBP, whether they were a bargain or not but August was sure happy. We filled our boots with cheap souvenirs and clothing for people we wanted to buy for back home. Exhausted and still trying desperately to avoid crapping myself we headed back to base and August had plenty of time to play in the amazing rooftop pool.

I really wish I hadn't been feeling so queasy because the next morning the buffet breakfast on offer at the hotel was just out of this world, but I really needed to stick to the dry toast. Back the same way to the airport, unfortunately not such a pleasurable or productive flight home and I pity the poor lady who was sat on the aisle seat next to me who I had to keep moving out of the way every half an hour to visit the facilities. A minor inconvenience in the greater scheme of things. My soul fulfilled and son’s quest for adventure awakened.