As mentioned in a previous post, we don't live near London or Heathrow Airport. So it was a hard rush hour slog on a wintery Monday morning (rife with freezing fog, a UK specialty) from our house to Heathrow, along with the numerous poor souls who were all on their way to work.
There is no better way to find your Bangkok feet than a food tour of the nighttime restaurants and markets by tuk-tuk. Coming from the Iceberg, it was just too hot for us to entertain the notion of pigging out while the sun was up.
Thonburi, a maze of markets, wooden river homes, and ancient temples, is located across the Chao Praya River from the more polished Bangkok. It was the kingdom’s capital for about 15 years in the eighteenth century, before Rama I became the ruler and founder of the current royal dynasty.
I was looking forward to spending a few days along the River Kwai but was not prepared to see such a beautiful part of the world so deeply scarred by the ugliness of war and human depravity.
When I first started to research a holiday in Thailand a couple of years before going, I knew that supporting elephant conservation in the country had to be a part of our tour. The three-day jungle safari at Elephant Hills fit the bill – a stay at the comfortable oasis inside Khao Sok National Park that strives to educate visitors about the environment, elephant care, and local village life.
After a week of hard touring around Thailand, it was time for the flop-in-the-sun part of our holiday. I had chosen Koh Lanta for our serious R&R because of its marine sanctuary and lower tourist numbers.
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about the author
Amy has lived in the UK since 2010 with her British husband, two American rescue dogs, one English Chihuahua, and one RSPCA kitten who now thinks she's a dog. She's a marketing and communications professional by day but finds time for charity work. Despite the constant movement, she is still usually freezing to death on the iceberg.