An Agent Abroad Experience: Far Exceeding Expectations in Thailand

A love of Thai food and Elephants meant that Thailand was always on the bucket list for LIBBY WILSON FROM Thomas Cook, Omagh

I Had been planning this trip for a couple of years so was worried that it would not live up to my expectations. I need not have have worried as it far exceeded them!

We set off from Dublin on a wintry April day and flew with Emirates to Phuket. 7.5hrs to Dubai then a further 6.5hrs to Phuket. The inflight entertainment was a bit like having Netflix in front off you so several good films later we arrived in a steamy Phuket.

I had chosen a chill out place for a few days the beautiful Cape Panwa Hotel. This was on the southern tip of the island and had vistas to the east and west on its hilly headland. We found ourselves in a luxurious suite with beautiful views. This hotel had a selection of restaurants which were excellent but we also tried one in the village which was the best meal of our trip. It was here that we discovered that massages were only about £7 for an hour! Needless to say we had one almost every day of our trip. Very quiet here, perfect for unwinding before our adventure.

Day 4 and we were picked up nice and early for our 3 hour trip north off the island to Koh Sok National park. We were taken first to Elephant hills camp. This consisted of a large, thatched open air building that served as a bar/restaurant meeting room and entertainment area. We were given the key to our room which were tents laid out along a path through the trees. The key of course was for a padlock on the zipper of the tent. This was no ordinary tent however as it had a wooden floor, king sized bed(complete with towels folded into elephants) lights, fan, shower room with flushing toilet and dressing table. Wow!

After settling in and a buffet lunch we were introduced to the rest of our group and our lovely guide Nao. Our group consisted of an extended family and 3 other couples. Next it was time for some afternoon activities. We were taken by minibus to the Sok river for a  jungle river canoe trip. This was lovely and peaceful and our local guide who did our paddling for us pointed out wildlife and vegetation along the way. Our next stop was the moment I had been waiting for, the Elephant sanctuary. This was a large area which allowed the elephants to roam free.

All of the elephants at the sanctuary were previously working elephants for either logging or the tourist industry. Each elephant had a mahout who looked after their needs daily. We got lessons on what they ate, chopped up some bamboo and pineapple and fed them. They then went for a roll in the mud before we washed them down, all great fun. It confirmed my overwhelming love for these gentle giants.

After refreshments while watching a conservation documentary about the elephants we returned to camp. There was even a little pool here to cool off in before our evening meal. The buffet food was gorgeous. My husband was gluten free and nothing was too much trouble for them. Every meal our guide pointed out the dishes safe for him to eat and the chef also prepared a separate dish just for him!  This evening we enjoyed watching a  Thai cookery demonstration followed by a song and dance from the young children from the school in the village.  I was delighted to learn that the Thomas cook charity supported the children of this little school and provided their materials for learning.

Despite a thunderstorm we enjoyed a restful night and were ready and eager for our next days adventure. After breakfast we were taken to explore Cheow-Lan-Lake. One of the largest in Thailand. The scenery was outstanding with the limestone cliffs towering up from the water. We travelled by long-tail boat to our next destination, a floating camp! This place blew my mind. Amazing. By far the highlight of the trip. The camp consisted of about 12 floating tents with a floating restaurant at each end all joined together by a walkway behind. Each tent had its own kayak tethered for you to go off and explore the lake. The tents surprisingly were of the same standard as before. The only difference was that each had its own solar power.

We had some lunch and the afternoon activity was to be a jungle hike up to a cave. We decided to give this a miss as we could not tear ourselves away from our little deck in front if our tent. We were so glad we did this as the camp was completely silent except for the sound of crickets and birds. An unforgettable afternoon was spent daydreaming over the scenery and reflecting on how lucky we were to gaze apron this scene. The lush vegetation all around us had turned the waters a Jade green. Truly magical!  Before our fellow travellers returned we did some swimming and paddling around in our kayak.

That evening we had another wonderful meal and a quiet evening with a couple of beers chatting to our fellow travellers and watching the sun set over the lake.

The next morning we were awoken by the sound of birds then a whoop Whoop WHOOP from some gibbons in the trees across the lake. Like some others in our group we hopped into out kayaks and were treated to a real show of a gibbon family having a real domestic in the tree above us! Fab.

We had breakfast and headed off again on our kayaks for a guided tour of the lake. Here we seen tropical birds, gibbons and other monkeys on our way. I so wanted to stay here but soon it was time to get our long tail boat back to the port at the edge of the Lake.

The journey back to Phuket was enjoyable with our newly made friends and soon we found ourselves at our destination for the rest of our holiday, the Karathani hotel. We chose this as it was beautiful hotel close to, but not in the middle, of the busy tourist resorts. We were very close to Karon and a bit further to Patong. We enjoyed nights out in both but were glad of our peaceful location on the beach. The hotel was ideal for families and couples as it was well laid out under the palm trees with several pools and easy access to that super beach From here we visited Phi Phi island and Maya beach with its turquoise waters. We also enjoyed a few more massages and shopping and tried the street food and markets. We thoroughly enjoyed our holiday mix of quiet luxury, adventure, food , people and night life but the memory that will linger the most is our Glamping on the lake.

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An Agent Abroad Experience: Far Exceeding Expectations in Thailand

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