Thailand & Vietnam Family Tour

Bangkok is a terrific antidote to a world of iPads and all things electronic. There are many places in the world where children are glued to their devices, barely lifting their heads to register what goes on around them, but Bangkok is not one of these. Touch down, and there is so much going on, the city almost feels like a video game. The cultural transportation is immense, and most families are quick to be dazzled. A local guide is on hand to teach you the local ways as you take your first steps in the city. Nothing specific is planned, and it is good to stay flexible to leave room for any jet lag. Accommodation is on the Chao Phraya River, far enough from the noise to suggest you are not in one of Asia’s most bustling cities.

Wake up, and it is into the spectacle you go for a banquet for the senses as you spend the day exploring Thailand’s capital. Throngs of incense float down to the river, coins clatter as they reach a monk’s bowl, a reclining Buddha dazzles with 46 meters of gold, and you can hardly take it in. As you explore, you can visit historical temples and the Grand Palace, and then walk the streets of Bangkok’s Chinatown. It is a lot to take in, and that is why it is so memorable with the sights, the sounds, the smells, and then the calm of the riverside hotel as you escape it all. A renowned local guide leads your city tour, and your route is flexible with a handful of optional extras dependent on your interests.

Paddling through one of Thailand’s floating markets is an iconic experience with boats of fruit and vegetables all around as you push through all the colors. Another local favorite is cycling along the grassy banks of Ayutthaya, the old Thai capital that now lies in ruins. On a private day trip, you can explore these Thai legends at your pace with a chance for you to explore the decaying temples as the children to stretch their legs in the open countryside. Again, the tour is flexible as other nearby destinations could be included, Sukhothai just one of them for your consideration. Return to Bangkok at your leisure, and this could be a night for delving into the city’s evening bustle, although it could still be another evening resting up along Chao Phraya.

Flying north, you are soon in the jungle and beneath the canopy in a lodge that is tucked away from most of the world. Your neighbors are elephants, both wild and captive, who make the trails in the place where Thailand, Myanmar, and Laos converge. It will be a relaxed two days, allowing the din of the city to drift away and be replaced by the tranquility that is all-encompassing for most of the day. Elephants break the silence, hooting their whereabouts from the trees. Travel along jungle trails, the pachyderms stopping to suck up water and rip up the undergrowth. Go with them into the river to bathe them and have the chance to feed the giants part of their meal.

As debates continue as to whether it is ethical to ride elephants, it sometimes worth considering how well the elephants are treated. Your lodge has an excellent conservation record that has been acknowledged in international circles, and riding an elephant can only come after a lesson on elephant behavior and conservation. This is definitely not a place where elephants are overworked or squashed into cages – some may approach the restaurant terrace in the morning asking your children for fruit. You can stick to the lodge and the pachyderms over these two days, but there is also the option of a half-day long-tail boat tour up the Mekong to Donxao island in Laos.

From the Golden Triangle, you can glimpse rural Thailand on the four-hour drive to Chiang Mai, first twisting out of the jungle before crossing a swathe of emerald rice paddies. Stop at the White Temple on the route, Wat Rong Khun, where Yoda and the X-Men pop up across the interior murals as the dazzling whiteness creates such a contrast to the temples of Ayutthaya and Bangkok. While it is easy for children to be overloaded with temples in Southeast Asia, Wat Rong Khun stirs every imagination. Arriving in Chiang Mai, you will have a hotel in the city’s old quarter, an area that is mostly the preserve of bikes and pedestrians. Chiang Mai’s famous evening market is a good way to get a sense of the city’s locals and atmosphere.

Chiang Mai is a city that always has a relaxed pace and takes things easy, even if it is Thailand’s second-largest city. Not far outside the old urban core, you can find contrasting adventures. Take a slow jungle trek along a trickling creek, until the water swells, and there is a rip-roaring escapade down the river in a raft. After lunch in the trees and some free time to swim, the atmosphere changes at Chiang Mai’s holiest temple. High above the city, where the prayers bells spin and the gongs chime, you can receive a blessing from a monk and watch how sunset brings change to the skyline.

Chiang Mai is an excellent place to unwind without forgoing any of the cultural impressions. Temples stand evocatively, many of them remnants of relatively recent glory while street-side stalls send exotic smells into the air, and monks walk by. It is easy to walk around or travel by tuk-tuk, and it is rare that you are confronted by the noise of Asia’s other well-known cities. Today is mostly left free for you to explore at your own pace, but it does include a cooking lesson in a local home. Fry up some banana fritters, try to concoct a Massaman curry, and share stories with the chef. Your cooking lesson will be tailored towards your children, and you will have a good chance to get a peek into a traditional home.

Fly west to Vietnam and land in a city of rich heritage and honking motorbikes. Hanoi can be overwhelming, so a city tour is optional, and can be determined based on the mood of your family. There is a huge amount of history to embrace, including various stories from the US-Vietnam War, but there is also a lot of noise, so you can also head straight to Halong Bay. Limestone karst rises in multiple shapes and sizes, some glistening with forest, others as rugged shards of rock sprouting from the sea. You can spend a couple of days on a traditional junk, a time-honored vessel for cruising between the islands and letting the wind rush past your ears. In the evening, all is still as you dine on-board and drift off in this almost fairytale landscape.

With two days to spend amid the jagged scenery, you can really explore as a family. Kayak from the boat to smaller islands, where monkeys roam the beaches and fruit drops from the trees. Descend into vast caves, where stalactites mingle with Buddha sculptures and then discover an island outpost and eat fresh seafood that has been barbecued on the coals. Find your own piece of this unique space, and have time to be together as a family. Drifting to sleep late in the night, you will already be looking forward to the morning to wake to a karst landscape shrouded in mist as you continue to cruise across the bay. You may know it as Halong Bay now, but after two days, you will see why they call this the Bay of the Descending Dragon.

Fly to South Vietnam, and you will find a city of color and contrasts. Its name changed after the war, and the city has become a juxtaposition of many different worlds. Incense drifts from temples as you travel down back streets to skyscrapers and designer stores. Vibrant marketplaces reveal the atmosphere of the past, yet they stand side by side with a modern era or a place still bearing the scars of war. Arrive in what used to be Saigon, and the best way to get around the contrasts is on a bicycle, a family activity that helps to amalgamate history and future.

In the Chinese quarter of Cholon, you can find an evocation of trading history, a mix of Buddhist shrines, Taoist signs, Catholic cathedrals, and pagodas. It is a confusing place that comes clear with your local guide alongside you. Elegant villas still line the avenues elsewhere, evidence of a French colonial past. Here you find quiet places to contemplate on what you’ve seen. Stop at a cafe for lunch, and then continue the cycling tour by traveling along the Saigon River, looking up at the skyscrapers of a modern economic hub. The time spent peddling feels surprisingly short, and as you tuck into a Vietnamese dinner, you recognize how much Saigon crams into a small space.

Escape the city and find yet another new impression today. Explore village life in the Mekong Delta, first by taking a boat out towards villages that have hardly changed in two centuries. You will be invited into a wooden house to meet a Vietnamese family, an experience that may have a profound impact on younger ones in your family. It is one thing to see how life is different, but it is quite another to spend time with the locals and really appreciate what it is like to live in rural Vietnam. Children, being children, usually make friends before the adults do as in the village, you will visit a school and eat a traditional meal before some scenic cruising on the Mekong Delta as you travel back to Ho Chi Minh City.

As your final day of vacation arrives, there are various places to explore in Ho Chi Minh City. Your local guide will help you with ideas and transfers, and wherever you go there is a sense of being fully involved in Vietnamese city life. Take a walk through the overflowing stalls of Ben Thanh Market, marvel at the stories that come from Reunification Palace and its wartime telecommunications center in the basement. Visit the War Remnants Museum, or try the alleyways of 3A Alternative Art Area. Most important is that you savor these last few hours exploring as a family enjoying how Vietnamese exoticism creeps into almost every corner.

The airport in Ho Chi Minh City makes for a convenient departure, so after a morning at leisure, you will be transferred to the airport for your homebound flight.