We had about 5 nights from when our Cambodian visa ran out to when we were due to be in Bangkok to meet family and so we thought we’d have a bit of beach time again. We knew Pattaya had a very shady reputation but it was on the way so we booked an apartment in the “ family friendly “ area of Jomtien. The studio apartment had everything we needed and the complex had a gorgeous and sparkling clean pool so it was a good place to come down with my cold; only I can go to the hottest place and still end up with one. We enjoyed lazing about and just wandering down to the beach for a sunset drink. We sat one evening and watched the world SUP championship races which were pretty entertaining. We watched them practicing their entrances to the water and became quite critical of their styles as we enjoyed the beers. We were expert coaches by the end🤔. Jomtien beach itself is very wide and clean but it is extremely built up which is just not our cup of tea. We did find a really nice night market though with great food.

On our final evening, we headed into central part of Pattaya to see what all the fuss was about. It was so busy, full of tall buildings, jostling people and absolutely everyone appeared to be heading to the famous walking street. We were not really surprised by the “ menus” of activities thrust in front of us every few steps but we were surprised to see quite a lot of people bringing children along the street when it really wasn’t a family friendly environment. Having sat in what we thought was a “safe” bar, we then realised I appeared to be the only non-“working” lady there. Safe to say, we only stayed for one drink on the edge of the street and then made our way home though we did see some lively dancing on the way back.

After a very easy journey to Bangkok, we enjoyed a few family days there (again) before heading to Koh Chang; an island which Kate had highly recommended after her release from Covid quarantine in Bangkok during her Thailand term for her masters degree.

It took about 7 hours by bus, ferry and minibus but we arrived at Lonely Beach and found that the hotel had a gorgeous pool and beach. There are only a few cute bars on it which we used one sunset watching the free fire shows and chatting to some very interesting Londoners who worked in some well known films with very impressive actors, one of whom we’d met due to the Downton connection. We moved hotels and bays a few times on the island for some variety but decided that Lonely Beach was the best beach but Bailan Bay (Mercure Hideaway) had the best hotel, massage and food. We even watched a Thai/ westerner wedding there where the bride arrived on an elephant!

We’re, at present, not sure quite what we’re doing for our final week; whether we’re going north to a national park or south to more beaches but I think either way we will be seeing some wild elephants and perhaps a temple or 2 just so that Callum can have more ice cream of course.