The kids had a great birthday. They had friends round and plenty of presents. They have destroyed most of the presents already. It took Ben one minute to break his new remote control car. I’m convinced his future is in demolition. We had a good collection of the local characters round for the BBQ and plenty of beer was drunk. It was an entertaining evening.


The next day I only had a minor hangover so we gave the kids a couple of days off school and went to Ratchaprapha Dam at Khao Sok National Park. A few of our Thai neighbours organized the trip. I have known most of them for a few years and they are all a good bunch so I was happy to join them. I have wanted to visit Khao Sok for some time anyway.

I didn’t know exactly what to expect but it turned out to be a great trip. Our group of 12 drove up in 3 cars. It is about 2 and a half hours drive from Phuket.

At the dam we hired a boat to take us across the huge lake to our accommodation. Our Thai friends arranged everything. While they did that, I chatted to a German couple at the pier. They were very unhappy. They had been quoted 5000 baht for the boat trip and two nights stay – twice what they had paid the previous year. They were refusing to go and the guy was sure the park had been taken over by the mafia. I really doubt that but there is no doubt prices have increased sharply in Thailand and that tourists are charged more than Thais.

We of course, were going to get the Thai price. We also had the benefit of savings of scale because we had a bigger group. It was 2,200 baht for the return boat trip (200 baht each) and 600 baht per person, per night for the accommodation.

The lake really is big. It took us an hour to make our way around the spectacular limestone karst scenery to the drop off point. From there we had a tricky half hour trek over a hill to a lake on the other side and then a short raft trip to our accommodation – a group of floating huts on the lake. I actually thought 600 baht per person was expensive for the basic accommodation until I found out that the price included three slap-up meals and use of the resort’s kayaks.

We had a day of swimming in the lake and paddling around in kayaks. The scenery is fantastic. In the evening the resort prepared us a fantastic meal and the food kept coming until we were all stuffed. After that, it was beers by the lake. The next day, breakfast, swimming, kayaking, lunch, swimming, kayaking, going home. It was all good fun.


The thing that amazes me is the way our two little kids get stuck into these trips. You might think that a lake in the middle of the jungle would be a bit scary for a 5 year old and a 3 year old – not a bit of it. The pair of them could not wait to get their lifejackets on and dive into the water. They were soon swimming around in the middle of the lake. Then they jumped into the kayaks and Ben was happily paddling across the lake. Even the trek over the slippy hill didn’t bother them. They both walked right across.

A group of huts floating on a lake is not ideal accommodation for two small kids. You do have to keep an eye on them all the time. The pair of them were just not phased and never slipped. I guess I was the heaviest person in the group as my foot went through the bamboo flooring a couple of times – I’m really not that heavy.