Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Children's Highlights
Of the many destinations in Thailand, children will especially enjoy the beaches, as most
are shallow, gentle bays good for beginner swimmers. Please, however, be aware of rip
tides and take all sea-related warnings with the utmost seriousness. Many of the beach re-
sorts, such as Phuket and Ko Chang, also have wildlife encounters, waterfall spotting and
organised water sports ideal for children aged six years and older.
Bangkok is great fun for those in awe of construction sites: the city is filled with cranes,
jackhammers and concrete-pouring trucks. Then there's the above-ground Skytrain and
shopping malls complete with escalators (a preschool favourite). The city's immense shop-
ping options will appeal to tweens and teens.
Kids on a train kick might like an overnight journey. They can walk around on the train
and they're assigned the lower sleeping berths with views of the stations.
Temples can be engaging places for children. Some of the forested temples have resid-
ent monkeys and cave shrines. Merit-making at a Buddhist temple is surprisingly kid-
friendly - there's the burning joss sticks, the bowing in front of the Buddha and the rub-
bing of gold leaf on the central image. Most temples also have a fortune-telling area,
where you shake a bamboo container until a numbered stick falls out. The number corres-
ponds to a printed fortune.
