Chiang Mai, 2023

Our second visit to Thailand, this time with two smalls in tow. We started in Bangkok, assaulted by ferocious jet lag and inexperienced with travelling with toddlers we booked a night train up to chaing mai, less than 24 hour after a long haul flight. Needless to say that didn’t go to plan (in a 50 strong communal cabin) but we can just about talk about it now. Once back in Chiang Mai we were overjoyed that it still retained it’s beautiful charm that we fell in love with 7 years ago.

The city hits different with children through. The smells, the noise, the heat, all which is overwhelm on steroids as a solo traveller suddenly becomes tem times trickiers as you try to manage their feelings & emotions, as well as your own. But what became clear from the first day was how much it enriches our experience as well. The Thai people adore children, especially cheeky, confident, cute children (biased, but, such as ours) and this meant we made connections with people we otherwise never would have.

You don’t need to speak the same language to communicate (although google translate goes a long way) so much can be shown through hands, expressions, laughter, and play.