Thailand: Tropical Paradise

Pic Credit: Fatima Vanker

Have you ever wondered what a family vacation in Thailand would entail? Is Thailand a kid friendly destination? Is it an affordable holiday destination? What activities can you do in Thailand? Where can you shop? In this article you can find out about this and so much more. 

Travellers Experiences

Author: Fatima Vanker

Thailand

A tropical paradise located in South East Asia, known for its emerald oceans, opulent palaces, ornate temples and modern cityscapes. There’s something for everyone!

Thailand is a fantastic family holiday with lots to do and see. The pictures of longtail boats against the backdrops of emerald waters, limestone karsts and idyllic islands with the prospect of amazing snorkelling is what drew me to pursue a holiday there.

Unanimously, this magical 2 week trip in December 2019, was the best holiday that our family of 5 enjoyed together. We explored Phuket for 6 days, the Phi Phi islands for 2 days, Krabi for 4 days and Bangkok for 3 days.

Phuket

We stayed in Patong which is notorious for a lot of crazy things but staying further down away from the infamous Bangla Road, this can be avoided. We stayed at the 4 star Sea view Patong which was on the quieter side of Patong but an even more family friendly area would be Karon Beach. However if you are curious about my experience there, you can read it here 🤣. 

We loved the day trips to the islands (which you can book through your hotel concierge or at any of the tourist kiosks around) and our highlights were:

James Bond Island

The tour takes you to the iconic island and limestone karst where the Bond movie was shot, kayaking through the beautiful and mysterious hongs. Read the description here.

Koh Panyee

It also takes you to Koh Panyee, a floating Muslim villiage complete with a hospital, mosque and floating soccer pitch. You can also read this post here.

It also takes you to beautiful Naka island. 

Similan Island

We did a trip to Similan Island which had the most beautiful turquoise waters. And Freedom Beach was a must! Here’s why 

Additional Places in Phuket

Other places that we visited in Phuket were Jungceylon Mall, many wonderful night markets like Malin Plaza Patong, Chillva Night Market and Kalim Muslim Night Market. We then took a ferry and stayed at Phi Phi islands (Bay view beach resort) for 2 nights. There are day trips here from Phuket and Krabi but you can truly immerse yourself in the beauty of Phi Phi by spending a night or 2 here and avoiding the crowded areas. Here are the tours we took from Phi Phi Don.  We then took a ferry to Krabi and stayed at the luxury 5 star Centara Grand Krabi. 

We mostly relaxed at this beautiful beach resort which offered amazing activities like stand up paddle boarding, kayaking, Jacuzzis, spas and great kids activities. We would hike through a hidden place called Monkey Trail which was a tad strenuous to get to Ao Nang, which is the hip and happening place in Krabi , as our resort was only accessible by boat or you could wade through the sea at low tide. We loved doing this! We did the 3 island tour of Krabi islands. You can read about the weird and wacky experience here. 

We loved visiting Ao Nang in the evenings to shop for souvenirs and trying the wonderful halal cuisine available. We then flew to Bangkok and stayed at Centre Point Chidlom and visited the MBK Mall for cheap clothing etc and Siam Paragon for luxury brands. We also visited Bangkok Ocean World here: 

Everything was easily accessible via the BTS skytrain. I had planned to take the Hop on Hop off bus to see Bangkok’s highlights but after reading about Bangkok’s traffic nightmare, we did the lovely Hop on Hop off boat on the Chao Phraya River and it stopped at these places. My favourite place in Bangkok was the classy Asiatique Night Market. You can read about that here.

Halaal Food

Halal food was so easily found in all the areas that we visited and was absolutely tasty! There are Muslim vendors at the street markets as well as halal restaurants and Thai cuisine is delicious. There’s even a Muslim night food market in Kalim at the end of Patong Beach and Muslim Night food market outside the Masjid in Ao Nang Krabi. There’s a wide range of halal restaurants there as well. My favourite Thai foods were: Mango sticky rice Pad Thai Yellow curry crab and yes you read right… fried squid. View the links below to find the halal restaurants in each place and what we ate there.

Krabi Cuisine

Mbk Mall

Tonsai Bay

Jungceylon

Masjids

We visited a mosque on Phi Phi island, one in Ao nang and one opposite Asiatique in Bangkok.

Shopping

The best places for shopping would be the malls and markets in Bangkok.

Thai Local People

The Thai people are very friendly and helpful

How to get around in Phuket

Here are a few posts on how to get around in Phuket, some info on night markets and of course spas! Spas are everywhere and so cheap that you can afford to have a massage every night. Just be careful that you don’t pick Any shady ones!

Patong

SPA Cenvaree

Things to do at night in Phuket without getting into trouble:

 

Getting around in Phuket:

You can spend as much or as little time as you like depending on how many areas of Thailand you would like to explore. We could have spent a month exploring other areas like Koh Samui, Khao Lak or Hua Hin to mention a few. View this Instagram post for more details about getting around in Phuket.

Tips:

Research your destination well and have a provisional itinerary of what you would like to do and places you would like visit. Be flexible though as things can change. Free up time to just relax instead of cramming everything into the little time you may have. Be present and enjoy the experience.

About the author:

My name is Fatima and I live in JHB. I’m a mum of 3 and I am an educator and a High School Department Head at the school that I work at. I love reading and travel and can be an adrenaline junkie. You may visit my Instagram page @fats.v

Thank you to Fatima for sharing her experiences with the readers of Halaal Travels. If you have been to Thailand or any other country and would like to share your experiences here on Halaal Travels please click this link to submit your article.

If you have been to Thailand and would like to add any of your experiences, insights or additional tips that have worked for you please comment below on this blog post.