Getting Lucky In Phanom Bencha Mountain Resort – Family Adventures in Thailand.

Whilst we’ve been travelling, some of the most amazing things have happened because we’ve researched them, we’ve planned them, and we’ve organised every detail to make sure that we squeeze out every last drop of adventure and excitement. Other things have “just happened” as if by magic. Three days kicking out heels waiting for a flight somehow transform themselves from the mundane to the marvellous. Our stay at Phanom Bencha Mountain Resort, thirty minutes outside Krabi, is perhaps the perfect example of this sort of serendipity.
We only booked three days here as it saved us some money on the flight from Thailand to Kuala Lumpur and as it was in the mountains so might be a bit cooler.  We knew that the place was in the middle of nowhere with very little chance of much to do. We’d expected that we could spend the time catching up with the kids’ schoolwork, with the website and getting a few good nights’ sleep. What we actually got were three days living in a two-bedroomed shed right in the middle of our own private jungle which was surrounded by stunning mountains and breathtaking karsks.

Our hosts, Lek and Jup are genuinely the nicest people that you could ever imagine meeting. They’re so laid back and relaxed about everything, but run the place with laser sharp efficiency. The kids were considered to be part of Lek and Jup’s family, and earned free drinks by helping out at meal times serving our drinks. Nowhere was off-limits and nothing was too much trouble.

We did a small amount of schoolwork, but the education came from simply living in the jungle. We had a brilliantly funny afternoon getting the kids to put together a wildlife documentary. We watched awestruck as the first monsoon rain arrived, filling the afternoon sky with brilliant and deafening thunder and an amazing lightning show. And we hid like cowards in the dark trying to avoid the biblical plague of flying termites and ants released by the rains.

Our time here ended much too quickly, and not just because we had to be up at 4am to catch that cheap flight. This place really is magical, and I can’t wait to get back and revisit the area.

Love travelling. Love serendipity. Hate plagues of flying ants.