Travel Thailand & Hotel Booking

After a long flight via Bangkok it was a delight to land at the small, sunny airport of Luang Prabang. This wonderful UNESCO World Heritage site is somewhere I’ve longed to visit and it didn’t disappoint.

Small streets with beautiful colonial architecture, stunning temples and enough restaurants to be able to eat dinner in a different place every day of the week. A real highlight - and not just because I’m a committed shopper - was the night market. None of the rubbish you find in other markets of this nature but genuine local crafts brought down from the villages each night and set out along the main street. A real delight but it did mean that I soon had no space left in my bag!

Another treat and well worth the early start was watching the monks walk the streets to collect alms. Although I did feel that some were not aware of the high regard in which Buddhist monks are held in South East Asia and were too intrusive with their cameras.

From Luang Prabang I travelled up the Mekong to Chiang Rai. Two days watching the world go by - the Mekong affords a tranquil easy life to those on its banks - and stopping at local villages en route. It was freezing in the mornings and I needed endless layers and blankets until the sun was high enough to take the chill out of the morning. We overnighted in a lodge on the banks of the river where a fresh, local dinner was served with plenty of Laotian beer. And then a second day relaxing on the boat before reaching Chiang

Here, I was reminded how lucky I am to work in travel: waiting for me was an a/c 4×4 to whisk me to the Four Seasons Tented Camp. Yes, it’s expensive but it is truly amazing. Permanent tents are scattered through the forest with outside showers and large terraces.

At breakfast the following morning (not wearing the most glamorous of Mahout’s outfits) I was greeted by the younger elephants who were delighted to be receiving treats from the thrilled guests. Then it was off for my morning’s Mahout training course. Learning to ‘drive’ an elephant was not something I had yearned to do but it turned out to be a lot of fun. For me at least - I am not sure how appreciative the elephants were of me clambering all over them without much thought to style or elegance.

Moving onto Chiang Mai and the Four Seasons which is located just outside the town. Another jewel in the Four Seasons Crown this has long been a Steppes favourite and again did not disappoint. The following day I was lucky enough to stay at the reasonably new and very stylish Chedi Chiang Mai which, right in the middle of town, is ideally placed for the night market (not quite the night market of Luang Prabang but the perfect place to replace broken sunglasses)! Some of the sights outside Chiang Mai have been rather spoilt by mass tourism however with a bit of insider knowledge and effort you can see elephants based at the Thai Elephant Conservation Centre and it’s also worth the drive to see the long-necked Karon tribe at one of the smaller villages located an hour or so outside the city.

One of the main advantages of finishing a trip to Laos and Northern Thailand in Chiang Mai is being able to fly direct to Phuket in the South and from there to any of the outlying islands. I went on to the Sarojin in Kao Lak and the Chedi Phuket - both a wonderful spoiling treat to end with!