Helen’s Far East Experience –

A busy but fantastic trip, here’s what she had to say on her return –

After a relaxing flight with Eva Air into Bangkok and a quick hours flight with Bangkok air i arrived in Chiang Mai

, Thailands second  biggest city located in the north of the country.

Despite stillunder military curfew the city was still buzzing , the night market and bars were still very much alive and the Thai people still going about their everyday lives.

Chiang Mai’s highlight for me is the Elephant Treking, a couple of hours drive out of the city, it’s a full days excursion which included watching the elephants being bathed in the river and displays from the animal showing the trust between them and their mahout ( trainer ),  then we climbed on board for our hour and half trek through the jungle which was truly amazing, afterwards a ride down the river on the bamboo raft.

Ater two nights it was a flight back down to Bangkok and a three hour road transfer to Hua Hin , the Kings summer palace is based down here so the resort of Hua Hin and Cha am don’t have the clubs and bars some of the other coastal resorts tend to have , but again it has a great night marke , bars and restaurants.  You will find numerous 5 * properties located on gorgeous beaches in Hua Hin , the service within the hotels is exceptional and for clients looking for Spa facilities each hotel has fantastic treatments.  We were lucky enough to experience a Thai cookery course which was brilliant.

After three nights it was back to the buzz of a city, Bangkok never sleeps, it is busy, noisy, smelly but fantastic. The floating marking which is located outside the centre is a must, it is slightly touristy but a great must see. My favourite hotels are on the river front, slightly out of the hussle and bussle but each hotel has its own boat to take you to the skytrain stations so it is easy to go see the flower market or Patpong ( a  very lively area ) or to the numerous shopping Malls. Bangkok has so many ways of getting round cheaply, the Tuk Tuk’s are great fun the air conditioned sky train, the local boats and taxi . Despite being a huge city, and the recent bad press of the demonstrations Bangkok felt extremely safe , every body was happy to help and was a lot of fun.