Travel Guides: All Countries / Asia / Thailand
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| | | | The land of smiles
Bangkok is a hot and bustling city. A river cruise is a good way to get round. It cost £15, which includes a buffet meal and local entertainment.
We stayed in a three star hotel at £12 a night - a bargain. Next, we were off to Pattaya, 100 miles away. The hotel cost £10 a night, which included a balcony, air-con and a good swimming pool.
Pattaya might not be everybody's choice. The beach is not fantastic, but a boat ride will take to islands with wonderful beaches.
Another day trip which is really good is to the River Kwai. On the way, you stop at the floating market and you ride on a long, narrow boat which is a good laugh.
The cost of the holiday with flights and hotels was £550 for 18 days .
I will be going back soon to the land of smiles.
Travel Guide: Thailand
Travelling with kids
We took the children to Thailand, but decided we wanted to have more than just a beach holiday. However, with an 11, nine and six-year-old, it needed to be fairly easy, too. On a friend's advice we took a short flight up to Chiang Mai and then a bus to a resort in the Mae Sa Valley.
When I say resort, this was no Hilton. It was very simple. Lovely thatched bungalows dotted the hillside and there was a central building where we took our meals.
It was a real adventure for the children - they felt like they were in the middle of the jungle. Yet the resort was actually pretty self-contained, only accessible by a little bridge from the road, so we felt quite at ease with them playing in the gardens by themselves.
The highlight of their stay was an elephant ride. Not very PC these days, I know. But it was a thrilling experience for all of us, not just being on the elephants, but really feeling like you were out exploring. An illusion, perhaps. But far more exciting than a fake jungle in Disneyland.
Travel Guide: Thailand
Platform three for the Golden Triangle
From the Daily Mail
There we were, champagne flutes in hand, the breeze ruffling our hair, in the open observation car at the back of the luxury night train which runs from Malaya via Bangkok to Chiang Mai, Thailand's laidback second city.
It is way up-country, just below the lawless, drug-producing Golden triangle where Burma, Laos and Thailand come together.
It was dusk, warm and just a touch humid. As we watched the endless jungle fall away, we looked out at swirling rivers, paddy fields, lotus ponds and buffaloes.
We passed isolated wooden houses perched on stilts, and tiny but exquisitely-maintained railway stations.
The injunction from Eastern and Oriental Express was to dress for dinner 'with the style and glamour of a bygone age'.
That allowed me to preen myself in a sleeveless cream silk Nehru jacket, made for me in India some years ago.
But I was beaten in the glamour stakes by elegant ladies of varying races in national dress, and by patrician planter-types in those old-fashioned dinner jackets I remember from my youth.
After a while, we moved to the bar for a pre-prandial cocktail, past a glamorous Chinese woman who had taken over the library car (yes, this was the sort of train which had a library) and would, for a fee, tell your fortune.
In the bar, an elegant gent played Noel Coward numbers on a grand piano. By then I felt I was playing a bit part in my favourite Marlene Dietrich film Shanghai Express, made back in 1932.
Alas, there were no mysterious occurrences during dinner, so, after more champers, I prepared to snuggle down for the night in my private compartment.
It came complete with walk-in dressing room, shower and 24-hour service from my steward, Cham, who came running at the touch of a button, bearing a late-night whisky-soda or two.
Travel Guide: Thailand
I beat Leonardo to The Beach
From the Mail on Sunday
Recently it was Captain Corelli and the Greek islands. In the late Eighties Peter Mayle did it with Year In Provence, while Jack Kerouac's On The Road inspired a generation to seek nirvana along the highways of the USA.
Books have always inspired travel. The Beach, Alex Garland's debut novel, described as Lonely Planet meets Lord Of The Flies, has done the business for Thailand. Cult reading among the children of the Year In Provence generation, it has lured tens of thousands via the cheapest flights to Bangkok.
The Beach explores hip young haunts: Bangkok's seedy Khao San Road and the cheap beach huts of the south provinces. It captures perfectly both the edginess of Thailand and the spirit of young independent travel - that quest for the secret beach unknown to 'adults' and the real world.
Of course it all goes wrong for the backpacking hero in a tiresome murderous manner, but by then every twentysomething reader is convinced that if they could only get to Thailand, they wouldn't make those mistakes.
The beach itself is Maya Bay, on an uninhabited island called Phi Phi Lei, accessible only by boat. My other half, Spencer, and I, persuaded the last speedboat in Phuket to make a detour. It's a particularly long sea crossing if you find speedboats terrifyingly small and the ocean really rather large: the Thai speedboat crew appeared to be aged 12 and found siphoning petrol easier with a lighted cigarette dangling from their lips. What may have been two weeks or 90 minutes later, the speedboat ducked between two huge James Bond rocks at the entrance to Maya Bay.
It was breathtaking. Stylised by setbuilders, Maya was a perfect cartoon of a beach: a white crescent of sand framed by palm trees. The natural gateway of the rock formations meant outsiders couldn't see in. As in the book, you wouldn't find it unless you had inside information.
The Thailand adventure begins in Bangkok, a city where you can rent cut-price penthouses like the Fortune Hotel, with a view to make you feel like a Jedi Knight, or £1.50 downtown bolt-holes with clanking ceiling fans and suspicious stains.
We headed for the Khao San Road, vividly described in The Beach as the mainland HQ of all backpackers. At midnight it was raucous with the youth slang of ten languages and the rooms were as insalubrious as we'd hoped. Stalls sold fried Pad Thai noodles off hissing hotplates for 20p and bootleg Ralph Lauren shirts for a couple of quid, while a seamstress sewed fake Levi labels into jeans - the consumer gods of Nike, Reebok and Rolex are defiled on a nightly basis here.
It's not hard to see why Thailand appeals to young travellers. The architecture is alien, all pointy onion shapes and sweeping curves; the colours are alien, taxis coming in neon pink sliced with sage green and yellow; the language is an alien font, allowing you no Latin-derived clues.
We sat down in a corner cafe to wild boar in whisky (like beef in black bean sauce), oyster omelettes (gravel in batter) and fluorescent pink hardboiled eggs (either from the rare Fluorescent Pink Hen, or created with the cunning use of cochineal).
Travel Guide: Thailand
How much is that moggy in the temple?
From the Mail on Sunday
Two years ago I road-tripped across America with my Burmese cat Claudius. He was old and we stayed there until he died to avoid quarantine.
Eventually I decided to have another pet but, being prone to itchy feet, realised I'd need another travelling cat like Claudius. Burmese or Siamese could be the only possible breeds for me.
I rather fancied the classic Siamese, the chunky, squinty-eyed version which could still be found in Thailand. They can be shipped out by anyone willing to make the effort.
I flew to Bangkok in October and met up with a resident Siamese cat expert, Martin Clutterbuck, who wrote The Legend Of Siamese Cats.
His book tells how cats were traditionally kept in temples (or wats) to guard ancient texts from mice. Nowadays unwanted kittens are left at temples.
I took the express boat up the Chao Phraya, Bangkok's central river, to one at Thewet.
At Wat Naranat a woman was feeding a group of moggies. But she had no Siamese to show me.
So I headed further up the Chao Phraya to Wat Phai Lorm but this turned out to be a bird sanctuary.
However, it was not far from Ayutthaya. This ancient former capital was sacked by the Burmese in 1767 but is today littered with impressive temple ruins. Still no cats, though.
So I took the overnight train to Chiang Mai, Thailand's second city.
Travel Guide: Thailand
A haven in Thailand
From the Daily Mail
For people who know Thailand only through Bangkok, or the busy resorts of Phuket and Koh Samui, Chiang Mai will come as a revelation.
Think of Bath in the jungle and you will get the flavour of a city in which culture and history combine with a leisurely pace of life.
No one rushes in Chiang Mai. The woman checking my passport had all the time in the world. An old man ambled across the airport car park towards a stall selling satay. There was no honking of horns, no screeching of brakes. After the hurly-burly of Bangkok, it felt like a rustic paradise.
We think of Britain as green but, compared with Northern Thailand after a sharp downpour, it is no better than off-yellow. The rich green of the fields, with a white mist above, was thrilling on the eye.
By the time I reached my hotel, The Regent, some 10 miles from the city centre, the sense of tranquillity was absolute. From the balcony of my villa, I could look across the silent paddy-fields to the wooded mountains beyond.
A fountain tinkled in the gardens, among the hibiscus and bougainvillaea. Crickets trilled off-stage. There was no other sound. For anyone wanting to escape the cares of the world, it would be difficult to imagine a more perfect retreat.
Honeymooners whispered soft somethings under the palm trees. The staff padded about so quietly that you could never hear them coming: they just appeared, as though by magic, bearing drinks or bowls of food.
I have rarely stayed in a hotel where so much attention had been paid to detail. Even the swimming pool was a work of art, blended so subtly into the surroundings that the deep end seemed to stretch uninterrupted into the hills beyond.
Chiang Mai is not just the principal city of Northern Thailand, but a place of spiritual pilgrimage. Visitors flock from all over the world to the great temple of Wat Phra That Doi Suthep, built in the 14th century and a masterpiece of Buddhist architecture.
Its setting, perched high on a hillside, and its magnificent gilt facade, glowing fiercely in the sun, make it irresistible; but, like all great religious buildings, it manages to be intimidating as well as awe-inspiring.
Travel Guide: Thailand
Highly recommended
One of the most interesting and friendliest places we have stayed in for years, the people could not help us enough or be as friendly as they were, the island is truly a paradise in itself.
If it were not for the distance away from the UK we would return on a regular basis. Highly recommended.
Travel Guide: Thailand
Historical, peaceful and chaotic
My husband and I went to Thailand in May, not knowing what to expect. We went to Bangkok, Chang Mai and Cha-am, all different resorts.
All I can say is that the whole holiday, from start to finish, was absolutely excellent.
Bangkok was another world, very fast and furious. Chang Mai was more historical and Cha-am was a very restful place.
The Thai people are the best in the world. Nothing is too much trouble for them and they are so polite and smiling.
It is very cheap and I cannot find one single bad thing to say. Even now, four months after we got back, I still get a sense of sadness that I cannot go back until next year.
But believe me we will be going back.
Travel Guide: Thailand
Fab but not for the faint-hearted
Fab destination, with excellent hotels and really lovely, friendly people. Once there, you can live well on precious little money.
The beaches are fab in Krabi, Phuket and Koh Samui but all is getting more commercialised every time we return.
Try one of the new really quiet island destinations for a peaceful beach holiday but hit busy bustling Bangkok for great sightseeing tours. There are temples, markets and don't miss the trip to the River Kwai and war cemetries. There's wicked nightlife in Patpong and of course, not to forget the shopping.
I thoroughly recommended Thailand but it's not for the faint-hearted if you are only used to destinations like Malta or Madiera.
Travel Guide: Thailand
Nothing bad to say
I have been to Koh Samui several times and like it more each time I go.
The weather is gorgeous, the service, no matter where you stay is second to none and it is so cheap when you are there.
I actually can think of anything bad to say about it.
Travel Guide: Thailand
Near to Bangkok
If you don't have long in Thailand this is a great island to visit - only four hours from Bangkok by coach and a short boat ride.
Accomodation can vary to suit your pocket. The people are very friendly and genuine. The food and atmosphere ss superb.
I can't wait for a return visit. Not forgetting the sky-high restaurant - it's a must.
Travel Guide: Thailand
Magical islands
All the Thai islands I have been to are absolutely magical. The people are some of the friendliest in the world who can't do enough to help you.
Koh Samui had to be my favourite island - the kind of paradise island you see when you open a holiday brochure.
Pattaya was more lively and for the younger generation although there is still plenty to do for families like crocodile farms,water parks and much more.
We also took a few days in Koh Paeng Yang but found it was more for the full moon party-goers, but there was still interesting things to see like the waterfalls.
A very enjoyable place. Thailand has something for everyone from the young to the old.
Travel Guide: Thailand
Thailand: Beaches, Buddhas and Bangkok
It's 6.30pm on a lazy summer evening on Thailand's breathtaking Andaman Sea coast and the day's hypnotic main event is starting to unfold.
Clutching ice-cold Singha beers and smiling serenely, all eyes are transfixed on the mesmerising May sky as it slowly transforms from tangerine to blood-red, to silhouetted, aubergine dusk.
Welcome to Rai Leh, the most beautiful beach in the world.
Perched peacefully on a peninsular only accessible by boat from nearby Krabi, Rai Leh beach is paradise found.
With its vodka-clear waters and sand finer than flour, it's a tropical haven in a nation overloaded with beauty.
Whether you head there first, or make it the finale of your visit, it's an essential part of any trip to South East Asia's most diverse destination — the land of smiles.
Your first taste of Thailand is unlikely to be one of blissed out beach calm if you fly into the humid, bustling metropolis that is Bangkok.
Frenetic, frantic but undeniably captivating — if only for 48 hours — it's a baptism of fire with its dazzling golden palaces, emerald Buddhas and daredevil tuk-tuk taxis.
Unless you're a fan of stifling pollution though, don't hang around.
The country's main attractions can be ticked off in a couple of days. Don't miss the floating market, the glittering mosaic Wats or a bout of traditional — but brutal — Thai boxing. For an even less cerebral — but no less gymnastic — show, pop into Patpong.
Post-Bangkok, head north to the misty northern provinces circling the vibrant walled city of Chiang Mai.
After snapping up some cut-price silks and teak creations at the night market, take a hill-trek to discover the ethnic diversity of the mountain villages.
Among the step-back-in-time communities you'll see are the opium-smoking Akhas and the Karen tribe with their necks distinctively ringed by metal coils.
Travel Guide: Thailand
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| | | | Bizarre but captivating
Next thing I knew, he was waking me with breakfast. What better way, I thought, can there be to make the 18-hour journey from Bangkok to Chiang Mai than by train - the sort they had in the days when, like Dietrich, anyone who was anyone travelled the iron road?
Pleasure was complete when Ulf Buchert, our train manager, told me that it was, indeed, to the movie Shanghai Express that the Orient Express group had turned in 1993 for inspiration.
That was when they invested more than £1 million in refurbishing 24 Japanese-built carriages in teak, cherry, elm and rose woods and brass, and launched this delightful service.
Some hours later, our group was recovering from its arduous journey in an utterly surreal German beer garden on the edge of the 700-year-old walled city.
Our beers had been delivered by waitresses dressed as Bavarian maidens. There was, thank heavens, no yodelling. Instead, on a makeshift stage, a Thai Elvis belted out Blue Suede Shoes.
He was backed by a group of Chiang Mai cowboys who worked their way through country and western classics.
When the band took a break, there was a light show, while classical Thai music was piped into the darkness. Bizarre but captivating.
Although the beer garden was attached to our hotel, the Imperial, its customers were mainly local families with tiny children, some in elaborate traditional costumes, others in Pokemon T-shirts and sneakers.
'The thing about Thailand,' Peter, an old Thai hand, announced, 'is that you simply couldn't make it up.'
Revived, we wandered down to the bustling but friendly night market, which beats its larger rivals in Bangkok for cheapness, quality and variety.
It was offering a nice line in 'copy watches' - I paid less than £12 for my imitation Rolex - as well as beautiful silk evening bags for less than £2.
Living it up, backpacker style
We met Paul, an illustrator from Bristol, on a ferry at Ko Phi Phi, still boggle-eyed with memories from a favourite backpackers' destination, the sea bed. 'I met a whale shark!' he enthused, 'It just snuck up on me!' 'How big?' I asked blithely. 'The size of a car?' 'Three cars,' he countered coolly. 'Its mouth alone was five foot wide.'
Ko Phi Phi Don, the next island along from the set of The Beach, is a beautiful but wildly expensive resort. However, hidden behind the New England-style hotels is a warren of budget shacks. If you don't mind a goat in your back garden, you can live quite cheerfully. Here, Essex lads Philip and Paul had paired up with Lisa and Jessie from Weymouth, two twentysomethings with backpackers' tans and perfect figures honed by stomach upsets.
'We're living for £3.50 a day,' stated Lisa, casually. 'But that's sleeping head to toe with Jessie in a single bed.' 'So?' challenged Philip. 'Our room ain't even finished yet. You can't use the toilet straight because it's fitted too close to the wall.' 'What more can you want than a shower?' concluded Lisa. Not waking up with a face full of foot, I thought, realising glumly I was getting old.
Taking our cue from Lisa and Jessie, Spencer and I set off for the backpacker nirvanas of Ko Samui and Ko Pha Ngan, determined to be laid-back people who only want showers, or possibly baths. Unfortunately, our next step was Phuket, a city apparently hewn from a single block of grey dust and smelling of hot dogs, and not the edible kind, either (at least, not to Westerners).
We checked into a hotel for its 'business centre and bath in every room.' By 'bath' they must have meant mosquito - clearly the size of a cat from the noise it was making - and by business centre they meant a function room where young ladies in Peter Pan costumes disappeared with gleeful businessmen.
Phuket is not Lakeside Thurrock. We passed shops selling rare bird's nests shaped like periscopes and photos from the Vegetarian Festival. At a firearms store I bought a US army holster, wearing it under my coat for a thrill.
We stopped to cool off at a family cafe and were just starting to feel laid-back when I realised, rather too late, that my 'salad' was chopped fresh chillis. Spencer looked down to see a cockroach crawling up his leg. He leapt to his feet and started stamping a violent war dance. Bent double and weeping from chillies, I waved to the waitress for water, but, for some reason, she seemed terrified being confronted by a hysterical woman in a gun holster.
Elephant training centre
In Chiang Mai I made straight for Ed Rose, a breeder of traditional Siamese. Ed owned a Claudius doppelganger, a friendly chocolate Burmese called Chum. But his asking price of £275 seemed extreme.
Taking a quick break from cats, I ventured an hour south of Chiang Mai to Lampang, to visit the Young Elephant Training Centre. One of their most impressive feats was painting pictures.
Further south I came to Sukhothai, another former capital, with even more impressive ruins than those at Ayutthaya. Here I hit the feline jackpot.
Wandering through a wat by the river I saw something tiny - a kitten. On closer inspection it was a Khorat kitten.
Khorats, from the Khorat region in the north east, are believed to bring good luck. My heart was lost immediately.
Suddenly everywhere I looked there were cats and kittens. They lived with an emaciated old monk. He spoke no English. I spoke no Thai.
So the next day I persuaded my innkeeper, the lovable Na at the 99 Guest House, to be my translator.
She explained to the monk my dream of taking these kittens back to England and that a hefty donation was on its way to him.
He said he could see that I loved cats but that he would have to think about it and that I must come back at Loy Krathong.
This is a festival celebrated in November to mark the end of the rainy season and to pay homage to the goddess of waterways, Mae Khongkha. But Loy Krathong was a while away.
Serenity of a single face
Behind the souvenir shop, an old monk slept under a banyan tree, with a cat curled up at his feet. He looked as though he had been there hundreds of years. In the serenity of a single face, one could glimpse a deeper peace.
If the Chiang Mai night market was hectic in comparison, it was certainly not an unholy capitalist scrum. The ambience was bohemian, the haggling over prices good-natured.
Goods targeted at tourists - wood carvings, silk blouses, gold jewellery, 'Calvin Klein' boxer shorts - were sold cheek by jowl with native produce.
Perhaps just as important was what there was not. Other parts of Thailand have a reputation for sleaze, particularly after dark; but you could have taken your church-going grandmother for a stroll through the Chiang Mai night market.
You also get the sense of a community in transition. Twenty years ago, the logging industry was an integral part of the local economy.
Now, logging has been discontinued in the interests of environmental conservation.
That left the problem, of course, of how to find alternative employment: not just for the workers, but for the hundreds of elephants they used to drag the heavy teak logs through the forest.
Leave and you'll suffer sunset-withdrawal
It's on its fringes that Thailand really excels though, with a spectacular coastline dotted with islands and archipelagos to die for.
Ignore Pattaya's sex tourism and sleepy Hua Hin and instead head south towards the Ang Thong National Marine Park with its popular island cluster of Ko's Tao, Samui and Pha-Ngan.
Ko Tao is a divers' hotspot with coral galore and, if you're lucky, turtles.
Ko Samui is nearing saturation point development-wise but still retains its laid-back atmosphere, golden sandy beaches and enticing cuisine.
Livelier still, at least during the monthly full moon parties on the Hat Rin headland, is the now legendary Koh Pha-Ngan.
Hippies, travellers, and some scarily armed police, still convene regularly for the day-glo, all-night party.
For the pure picture postcard beach experience though, nothing compares to the unspoilt idyll of Rai Leh Beach.
Framed by lush tropical vegetation to the east and eerie limestone outcrops — immortalised in The Man With The Golden Gun Bond movie — jutting out of the sea, it's like nowhere else on earth.
The only problem is the very real possibility of contracting severe sunset-withdrawal when you leave.
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| | | | Important religious sites
The perpetual problem of presents resolved, we drifted back to the hotel after stopping for a beer in a square where locals had set up a kick-boxing ring, and young boys were performing apparently vicious but, I was glad to learn, carefully choreographed fights.
Next day was the Eve of the Day of Buddha's Enlightenment. So we drove up to the monastery of Doi Suthep.
Perched dramatically on a heavily wooded mountain top overlooking the rain forest, this stunning complex is one of the country's most important religious sites.
The route from Chiang Mai was lined with thousands of white and yellow prayer flags set out for that night's pilgrimage.
The huge temple complex was buzzing, and I was fortunate to be invited to receive a blessing from the abbot.
Clad in saffron robes, he sat cross-legged on a table in a side chapel and showered us with holy water, before asking us to crawl forward one at a time so that he could pray over us.
The elephant is revered in Thailand, and Doi Suthep was built on the spot to which a white elephant (particularly holy) led pilgrims 700 years ago.
Today, devotees lay flowers at the statue of this holy creature, which guards the monastery.
Inspired by this Thai preoccupation with tuskers, we spent the afternoon at a former logging camp - now an elephant training centre - in the jungle, a few hours' drive from Doi Suthep.
Ecological pressure led Thailand to ban logging in the rain forest, so today elephants are trained instead to take part in religious and state ceremonies, and to take visitors trekking.
We enjoyed our trek and later watched these good-natured creatures washing in the shallow Mae Tang river.
As we drove back to Chiang Mai, we reflected how much more there is to Thailand than Bangkok and beaches.
TRAVEL DETAILS:
SAGA Holidays (http://www.saga.co.uk/travel tel: 0800 414383) for the over-50s offers a 16-night package, including one night aboard the Eastern and Orient Express from Bangkok to Chiang Mai.
Flights are by scheduled Thai Airways International services.
Trustafarians gone tropical
We were grateful to arrive at Ko Samui.
'Full Moon Party! At Secret Beach!' confided a hoarding, with the name and location of this 'secret' beach fortuitously following in big letters. But I wasn't sure what kind of party it would be: Samui is now a commercial resort that seemed to be twinned with Frankfurt. Everywhere German toddlers whined at German Dads.
'All the Germans look like Hale and Pace,' Spencer marvelled.
Tourist attractions included cockfighting and chained monkeys half strangled for our entertainment. But away from all this, Ko Samui had Lamai beach, an undisturbed spot with family-run resorts like the Spa where we got annihilatingly effective Thai massages for £4 an hour. Hardcore recuperators were on seven-day fasts and even having coffee and hydrogen peroxide enemas.
Deciding oyster omelettes would probably have the same effect, we made for the island everyone is talking about, Ko Pha Ngan. We boarded the ferry and for most of the voyage were regaled by a brilliant expat called Lee with stories from the Full Moon parties that put Ko Pha Ngan down in legend.
'I played a 30-hour set once,' he grinned. 'People were going home to sleep, coming back and I was still going.' Ko Pha Ngan was a youth club by the sea. Everywhere young Europeans hung their sarongs outside their bungalows like flags while their owners listened to techno music and drank 30p pineapple shakes from traditional pyramid-shaped floor cushions.
The upside of life in Ko Pha Ngan is young alternative travellers. The downside is young alternative travellers of a certain type, trustafarians: arrogant trust fund heirs who fancy themselves rastafarians. Spencer took a photo and some posh young man in tie-dye stormed over and shouted aggressively, 'You're the media, man! You're all ****! You print lies and you mess up our scene, man!' before flouncing off, presumably to phone his father for more money.
I considered 'messing up' his 'scene' but instead left for the other hot youth destination, Ko Tao, which really was paradise this time: water thick with tropical fish, soothing warm breezes flicking palm fronds and hardly any posh young men with dreadlocks.
As I left the islands the last thing I saw was a copy of The Beach in a travellers' bookshop. Thailand is no longer a trendy secret. Finding your secret paradise in the spirit of The Beach takes a lot more effort and adventure these days. But isn't that the point?
Injection of luxury
First I went to Khao Yai, a national park in the central plains, to see other cats - tigers.
After that I moved on to Khorat, origin of those kittens. It was a large, hot, noisy city with little to offer in the way of feline friendship or interest. So I moved on to Phimae.
On its outskirts is a cattery where Khorats and Siamese are bred at the back of a restaurant. There were plenty of kittens here but either they were too scrawny or too timid.
While I waited for the approach of Loy Krathong I took myself south to some beaches.
First I tried Ko Samet, which, though easily accessible from Bangkok (three hours bus ride and then 40 minutes by boat from Bang Phae), was maddening in its inflated prices and unfriendly locals.
Next I tried Krabi and visited the geological miracles that are the famous stacks (particularly James Bond island, filmed for The Man With The Golden Gun).
Exhausted after all the travelling, I opted for the ultimate in deliciousness and headed back to Chiang Mai for the Regent Hotel.
Situated half an hour out of the city, the hotel, a series of wooden pavilions, is built in the traditional northern Lanna style among perfectly manicured gardens.
After this much needed injection of luxury, I went back to Bangkok for a five-day Thai massage course at Wat Pho.
But these were cat-free days and my desire for those kittens rose again as Loy Krathong approached. So I made my way back to Sukhothai.
Of Cats And Kings, by Clare de Vries, is published this week by Bloomsbury price £12.99.
TRAVEL DETAILS:
STA Travel (http://www.statravel.co.uk tel: 0870 160 6070) offers return flights from Heathrow to Bangkok with Thai Airways.
Tour operators to Thailand include Travelbag (http://www.travelbag.co.uk tel: 0870 900 1350), Quest Travel (tel: 0870 442 3548) and Magic of the Orient (http://www.magic-of-the-orient.com tel: 01293 537700).
For further information call the Tourism Authority of Thailand (http://www.tat.or.th tel: 0870 900 2007).
The elephant training camp
Part of the answer could be found at the elephant training camp, a popular attraction 20 miles from the city centre.
After watching the elephants bathing in the river, with their drivers perched precariously on top, we saw them lift and stack logs, using their trunks or feet.
Then the elephants lined up and bore us, like oriental potentates through the surrounding rain forest.
Our route took us over the brow of a hill, then down into a valley and along a muddy stream, which wound its way through the thick undergrowth.
Birds rustled the bushes or swooped down in search of water. Two butterflies, one a brilliant yellow, the other an intricate red-and-black pattern, hovered above us.
The midday sun beat down fiercely and we were grateful for the canopy of the trees.
It would have been a memorable journey on foot. Riding an elephant, sensing both its huge strength and its gentleness of disposition, was something else again.
I felt the same sensation of peace that I had experienced at the Buddhist temple.
My preconceptions of Thailand had focused on a far-off land bustling with energy, brimming with unfamiliar sights and sounds. I was not prepared for this feeling, intangible but intense, of being within touching distance of nature.
Lunch in a roadside restaurant - a feast of colours and flavours which cost us less than £5 a head - was dull in comparison.
TRAVEL FACTS:
For further information contact Kuoni on 01306 747001.
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