A Fun Way To Explore Beautiful Thailand

A few months ago my little family and I jetted off to beautiful Thailand for a week for a holiday, and also to explore Phuket in a really unique way. I’d heard a lot about how beautiful Thailand was, particularly Phuket, but I hadn’t visited before myself and didn’t know quite what to expect. It was everything and more than I could have dreamed of. The people were beautiful, the food delicious and the experiences were completely memorable and perfect for all of us, especially the kids.

We based ourselves at the Holiday Inn Resort Phuket, which was this large oasis in the middle of hustle and bustle. I like to relax as much as anyone, but I also like getting among it and exploring… so I loved that we could totally chill in the resort, and then step out and feel like we’d entered into a whole different world.

I mentioned that we explored Phuket in a really unique way, and how we did that was by using our five senses to guide us. It’s something I’d never really considered before, but I think it will probably shape the way we always travel now. We worked with an amazing camera crew to capture our travels for Little Big Travellers, and I’m sharing the videos below so you can see how it all happened {I was busy filming so didn’t get to snap as many photos as I’d like, but the videos show it all}. Here’s why we fell in love with Thailand…

SIGHT

We headed out, by boat, to explore the Phi Phi Islands and do a bit of snorkeling. Our family loves snorkeling, and we do it whenever, where ever we can, so when this came up it was the thing that I was most excited about. Our captain parked our little boat on a private beach, and we snorkeled right off the shore. Guys, I don’t know if I’ve ever seen anything more beautiful. We snorkeled with the kids, and then Shane and I went out a bit deeper to snorkel on our own {while the kids stayed with the camera crew}. It was some of the best snorkeling I’ve experienced, and the friendliest fish I’ve ever met {they practically kissed me!}.

SMELL

We headed over to the Banzaan Market at night to explore using our sense of smell, and oh boy did we smell some things! The market was bustling with more locals than tourists {always a good sign} and we got to really see, touch and experience the local produce. There were flowers, and loads of seafood, and the scent of everything combined really hit us as we walked around. One of the biggest smells though, was the durian fruit. You have to watch the video below to see how that went down {I still cry when I watch it!}. Durian is a pungent fruit that locals seem to love, but it’s so strong in smell that we needed gloves to handle it. We finished the night with a family favourite, banana pancakes cooked right in front of us at the market.

TASTE

You know I love my food and I love to cook, so I was keen to try an authentic cooking class. I was sure it was going to be complicated and difficult to recreate at home, but I was so pleasantly surprised. We visited the Phuket Cooking Academy and got busy cooking Mango Sticky Rice and Tom Kha Soup, and they were so quick and easy to make, and I’ve been able to make them at home too. I’m drooling thinking about them actually!

SOUND

For the sound component of our trip, we went on a big adventure… a bike ride with Amazing Bike Tours Phuket. We took a drive out of Phuket, and met the crew away from the hustle and bustle. We started our ride in the rubber tree plantations, and then made our way to the most beautiful waterfall that I’ve ever seen. It was so nice to step out of the busy part of Phuket, and listen to the roar of the waterfalls and the peacefulness of nature as we rode along.

TOUCH

I want to say that this last experience for us was my favourite, but they were all amazing… I guess this one was the most special. We went to a little market and made flower garlands together to offer to Buddha in the temples later in the day. This was such a beautiful experience {can you please look at how enthusiastically Hubby is making his garlands? I can not stop laughing at him in the below video}. Heading to the temples, and experiencing them was something I hope you get to experience in your lifetime too. It was absolutely beautiful.

Have you been to Thailand? Or is on your bucketlist? We used the LittleBigTravellers site when playing our activities, and found it awesome. Make sure you check it out too.