PREFACE AND CONTENT
There is a lot to write about regarding traveling in Thailand. You could fill hundreds of pages with information about the many beaches, the best diving spots, the nicest coral reefs, and the most exciting boat trips. Similarly, you could fill another couple of hundred pages with information about the culture, the customs, and the religion. And yet another couple of hundred about the shopping and the bustling nightlife, not to mention the food and all the restaurants. The material must simply be reduced in order to become comprehensible. And in this book, all em-phasis is put on activities and excursions that the whole family can enjoy together.
Most of the material can be found on the Internet; however, not always with ease, and the information differs in many cases between websites, thus creating confusion. Moreover, most websites about tourist attractions in Thailand are swamped with commercials, banners and ads, making it at times impossible to retrieve any relevant or trustworthy information. My aim with this book is, therefore, to remove everything unimportant or non-essential to present what there is to do, how much it costs and, more importantly, how to get there. A straightforward presentation about the things you really need to know when traveling in Thailand with children.
The costs and fees mentioned are dated to 2017. However, they sometimes change arbitrarily, and the meticulous traveler is advised to visit the websites of the listed places before setting out from the hotel. In a few cases, there will not be any specific websites connected to the presented activity; however, you will always be able to find a Facebook page. And although most of the destinations and attractions compiled in this book are fairly easy to access, it could also be worthwhile to jot down some information about directions and phone numbers, in case you get lost.
The cities presented are as follows: Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Hua Hin, Cha-Am, and Phuket. The activities for each place are listed in alphabetical order, respectively. In addition, almost all the places mentioned are so-called "permanent" installations. That is, considerable sums have been invested, and one does not have to worry about arriving at the attraction just to realize that is has shut down.
On a different note, there are certain moral issues involved in presenting, and indirect promoting, animal shows in Thailand. Many of them are beneath contempt, and occasionally horror stories of maltreatment of animals pop up in the local press. Nevertheless, a couple of animal shows figure in this book, but most of them are of a high stand-ard, at least in comparison to the general state of affairs in this part of the world regarding zoos and animal farms. Tiger Kingdom in Chiang Mai and Phuket might, though, cause some visitors to feel slightly uneasy. Not due to neglect or abuse, but rather because it is impossible to release domesticated tigers into the wild. Moreover, the claim of some of the companies in this book to be fully certified and insured has not been confirmed, or verified, by anyone at Asia Revealed Publishing Company.
