Obelix ♥ Thailand

What can I say? Thailand ticked absolutely all the boxes:

• Cheap and easy formalities
• Unbeatable food experience
• Spectacular backdrop of cliffs, hongs and golden temples
• Stunning beaches and abundant marine fauna
• Free mooring buoys at almost every anchorage
• Perfect balance of urban and rural environments
• Wide range of activities
• Provisioning heaven
• New friendships
• Salsa dancing
• Visit of family

Thailand truly lives up to its reputation of cruising paradise and we felt very fortunate to experience it with Thomas’ parents onboard for a couple of weeks between Krabi and Phuket, which made it stand out as our top destination in the trip so far.

With so many options to choose from, it wasn’t easy to devise an itinerary that would sample as much of what Thailand had to offer without sickening everyone with too many nautical miles. Nevertheless, helped with charters ready-made cruising itineraries and a bit of flair, I reckon we did pretty well. We got to hike to breath-taking views from perched up temples, big buddhas, or other lookouts very creatively called “viewpoints”, explore natural caves, abseil down a tucked away lagoon, ride on tuk-tuks, visit and go shopping at Phuket old town, sail (!), swim, kayak, SUP, snorkel, watch the sunset playing molki on the beach, try out as many restaurants as our wallets would allow, and finally laze around in Ao Po five-star marina’s infinity pool. Without forgetting our chance encounters with monkeys, horn-bills, fruit bats, blue butterflies, squirrels, monitor lizards and even elephants. No dolphins, but the daily escort on our following passage to Sri Lanka made up for it, unfortunately not to Papi Luc and Mamidou’s benefit.

A special mention goes to Port Takola, where I spent three days on my own in its very peaceful surroundings – while Thomas and the kids were off to Bangkok to welcome our guests, and from where I could ride my bike to Ao Nang, and best of all, Phra Nang Bay, between the two Railey beaches, East and West, which remains our favourite anchorage. This is where we stopped for lunch on our way to Port Takola just before Papi Luc & Mamidou’s arrival, stayed another four nights with them, and got to meet Christophe, Francoise and their two daughters onboard Ti’piko, the Thai catamaran they bought in Langkawi and were trying out for a season. Phra Nang Bay has it all, and in fact, we could do most of the aforementioned activities there, for free. That location alone ends the Phuket vs. Krabi debate once and for all, Krabi it is, hands down in our opinion.

But really, we loved all the places we visited in Thailand (except Kata beach maybe, which was rolly and overcrowded, and to which we much preferred Nai Harn where the boys had a blast on our last evening, surfing the waves with their body boards). For once in this country where we had allocated a solid month (what our visas allowed), we set the pace and didn’t feel pressured by time, and wasn’t it for the families and friends we so desperately want to be reunited with in France, we could have stayed there forever.

To see more, check out our Thailand video.