I have visited Thailand every year since 1998 with my wife at first then with our children as time went on. We have roamed from the north of the country to the south and stayed in accommodation no more than a bamboo shack. We have however travelled in a little more style and stayed in greater luxury than that shack, well you feel you must with children!!!

On one of our holidays we visited a small little know area in Krabi called Ao Nang. It wasn’t exactly Alex Garland’s The Beach but it certanly didn’t have all the trappings of your usual holiday destination.

Krabi is a province in the south of Thailand and is well known for its craggy limestone mountains and the island of Phi Phi. Ao Nang itself for many years was very much by-passed by many holiday makers except people from Sweden and Norway, I’m still not sure why this is or what was the attraction to just these nationalities!! But it was the mountain climbers that really made Ao Nang a holiday destination, with many of the small islands just off the beach providing some of the best climbing in Thailand.

Ao Nang is a U shaped town with the bottom part of the U kissing the Andaman Sea and the legs up the sides with all the main hotels and few restaurants. The beach front now provides a beautiful walk along a decorative walk-way on the opposite side of the road to all the shops bars and restaurants. In the development of Ao Nang Krabi council are determined to learn lessons from mistakes that Phuket have made and as such there are different local laws here that protect the environment as well as you as a tourist. The town is a lot more quiet than most destinations in Phuket but there is also a lot less to do during your day, this can be a good or bad thing depending on what you want from your holiday

A positive point about Ao Nang is that unlike Phuket and Pattaya there is no visible bar areas, that’s not to say there is no bar areas, just that they are not in your face with their neon lights and pole dancing girls and they don’t come close to reaching the size you will find in the other 2 locations.

From a divers view there is very little difference in the travel time to the dive sites in the south part of the Andaman and in some cases the travel time is a little shorter. There are 3 main local dive sites Koh See, Koh Ha and Koh Yawabon and these are all about 30mins boat ride from the beach. Longtails are used to get to these sites which makes it a little difficult when kitting up and getting back on the boat but the main negative point to diving locally here is the poor visibility. On some occasions the viz may clear to give you about 15-20m of cloudy waters but it can go as low as 3-5 m which doesn’t make for great diving which is a shame because I have found some really nice underwater life here including seahorses.

So why is Krabi my choice destination?

Well making Ao Nang your destination in Thailand for your holiday gives you all the same dive sites in the Andaman that are avaliable from Phuket with no difference in travel time. You can still enjoy the Similans by liveaboard with transfers to Khao Lak just as easy as if in Phuket. It does have a nightlife, it’s just not as garish as other destinations, this to me alone makes it a more child friendly destination. The people in Ao Nang are not as out to drain every penny from you and seem far more friendly. The beach has no jet skies, banana boats or parascending thanks to some of those local Krabi laws, this seems to me like they are trying to return the beaches to the people, although in saying that there are far too many longtail boats there, i hope the Krabi council see this and sort it soon. You will not find any beach recliners on the sands so you can sit wherever you want and not where someone puts there chairs, another of those Krabi laws. The down side to this however is limited shade and this causes large groups of people to huddle under the nearest tree, of which there are not many. For me and mine? Well we just get off the beach and shade else where, like the ice cream bar, from the mid-day sun, but we would do that anyway shade or not. !!!!

This has just been a ’short’ post about some of the things that make me prefer Ao Nang in Krabi to other beach destinations in Thailand, what is your favourite Thailand destination? Why not leave a comment below?

A View Of Ao Nang Front

Travelling with young children is no easy task, especially in a built up capital city like Bangkok, with heat, traffic and humidity. I have listed a few fun things for kids to do, should you find yourself there for a couple of days. Most can be done in a half day but as shopping centres are never far away I’m sure you’ll spend a little longer.

Siam Ocean World – Covering an area of the size of two football pitches Siam Ocean World is in the the basement level of the Siam Paragon shopping mall. This place has mixed reviews with some saying that, although one of the largest aquariums in Southeast Asia there is not much underwater creatures on offer and that the water clarity is not great. Other love the fact that its in a shopping mall so can enjoy a full day in an air-conditioned building. As yet I have not spoke to anyone who as tried diving with the sharks, but having tried that myself in the UK I’m not expecting huge things from it.

2) Ice Skating – This is something that is most definitely on my list to do the next time I’m in Bangkok with the kids. I was surprised to find out that there are 3 ice rinks in the city. Sub Zero Ice Skating Club brings out some laser lights and D.J’s as the sun goes down to turn into a nightclub with a difference, maybe not one for the kids! Open Ice Skate is a smaller rink located on the fourth floor of Imperial Lad Prao. Like the name suggests, this rink is open for viewing so you will become a spectacle to many of the local Thais to watch. Imperial World Ice Skating is the only Olympic-size rink in Thailand complete with skating facilities like first aid, training room, changing room, and Pro Shop. This rink is located 15mins outside Bangkok, on the top floor of Imperial World Samrong.

3) Ten Pin Bowling – Many of the large shopping centres in Bangkok will have a bowling ally. The main ones to consider would be MBK, Central world and Siam Peragon. Having spent a lot of time in MBK, this is one thing I would miss out until my children get older and I could leave them there unsupervised. The place is FULL of teenage kids hanging out with their friends, playing hundreds of game machines and generally acting like …. Teenagers!

4) Water Parks – Always a hit with the kids, Bangkok has some large water parks to spend the day at. Leoland Water Park is a little out from Bangkok centre but worth a visit if near that area. It’s on the roof of the Central City Bangna shopping mall so you can combine a shopping day with a something to do with the kids. Fantasia Lagoon is on the roof top of yet another shopping mall. With huge water slides and whirlpools this water park is popular at weekends and bank holidays, but the daddy of the all must be Siam Park. This place is again on the roof top of a large shopping mall but this time it’s the the 400-metre Super Spiral water-slide and giant man-made sea pool with artificial surf that are the star of the show. Shopping won’t really be on the cards at this place which boast swimming pools, water-slides, whirlpools and a lake, as well as playgrounds, botanical gardens, an open zoo and an aviary. A note of warning though with all these attractions it does get very busy so try to go on a weekday as weekends and public holidays gets pretty busy.

5) Dusit Zoo – Dusit Zoo or “Khao Din” is regarded as the most popular zoo in Thailand. Built by King Chulalongkorn (Rama V) as his private garden adjacent to the royal palace was converted to a zoo in 1938. Today the zoo is run by the state Zoological Park Organization who control many of the other zoos around Thailand. Its distance from the city makes it a nice trip out of the heat and traffic and if you go there midweek you will find it even more quiet.

There are other things for children to do in Bangkok so if you think i’ve missed a good one then plaese leave a comment about.