Thailand

• Lissom with mother - Chiva Som, Thailand
• Perfect harmony - Chiva Som, Thailand
• Battle of the Beaches - Thailand
• Bliss on the beach - Koh Samui
• Freshly Squeezed - Thailand
• Kaleidascope - Bangkok
• Why Our travels with Banana - Bali
• Beautiful Bali looks back to the future - Bali
• Off the Bhutan track - Bhutan
• The Temples of Another Time - Cambodia
• Temple of Secret Smiles - Cambodia
• Celebrity check-in - Langkawi
• My Perfect Moment - Pangkor Laut
• Fantasy Island - Pangkor Laut
• Feast for all the senses - Bali
• On Honeymoon Island, strictly alone at last - Phuket
• Our Ho Chi Honeymoon - Vietnam
• Victory for Vietnam - Vietnam
• You like! You try! - Vietnam
• Why I'll always miss Saigon - Vietnam
• Hanoi's New Dawn - Hanoi
• Saigon Surprise - Ho Chi Minh
• I spy in Shanghai - China
• Shanghai Chic - China
• The Great Makeover - China
• Far East in a Flash - China & Japan
• Cherie blossom special - Japan
• Why they call Hong Kong toy town - Hong Kong
• Mysteries of the secret gardens - Kyoto
• The Geisha Game - Kyoto
• Hong Conquerer! - Hong Kong
• Reach for the Spas - Thailand
• My spa heaven... - Thailand
• A taste of Zen - Vietnam
• Vietnam’s happy invasion - Vietnam
• My Thai surprise - Thailand
• Striking gold in Thailand - Thailand

MY WIFE ALI and I missed our honeymoon in the frenzy of the Spandau Ballet comeback. So we decided to make up for it - and headed to Thailand. Slightly unusually for a honeymoon, we took our three-year-old daughter Zara along too - it just wouldn’t have been the same without her.

We set out to find the perfect family holiday. As is always the case when you have a toddler, the holiday became more about her than us and she became the centre of attention everywhere we went. Choosing Thailand was an easy decision.

Neither Ali nor I had been there for a leisure trip before and had always wanted to give it a go.

We left London on a snowy day and as the ice was blasted off the wings of the plane, we felt relieved that we were heading to warmer climes. At Bangkok we were greeted like royalty at the Amari Watergate Hotel, where we were festooned with garlands. On our first night we ate in Heichinrou, our hotel’s Cantonese restaurant.

We were greeted like royalty

It was probably the best Chinese we have ever had. The Peking duck was like nothing we had tasted before - you could sense the freshness.

I started my first day as I meant to go on, with a massage. I’d heard that Thai massage was the best, and I wasn’t disappointed. Ali and Zara went to the pool, surrounded by bright ochre parasols and landscaped gardens.

We headed to see some of the sights. The Grand Palace was beautiful and Zara enjoyed all the bright colours and golden details. We had a great English-speaking guide who gave us an interesting introduction to Thai culture.

A top tip for visiting the palace: wear long trousers, shoes (not sandals) and a sleeved shirt, otherwise you will have to wear a fetching rented outfit that won’t look good on your holiday snaps! On our last night in Bangkok, we ate at Thai On 4, in the hotel. The pomelo salad with tiger prawns was a highlight.

Krabi is one of Thailand’s best-kept secrets

Next day we took a short flight to Krabi, one of Thailand’s best-kept secrets. Our welcome at Amari Vogue was as regal as in Bangkok.

We stayed in a beautiful ocean villa with its own plunge pool. This was popular with Zara, a true water baby.

On the beachfront we enjoyed cocktails, canapes and an amazing sunset.

A distant electrical storm added to the ambience. That evening we ate at Bellini, the hotel’s restaurant on the beach - the first of many notable meals in Krabi. Our pace certainly slowed from bustling Bangkok. After a few days of lazing by the pool, we ventured on a boat trip to exquisite Hong Island.

We were a bit alarmed by the 4ft monitor lizard we came across. Zara squeaked - but she’s a brave little thing and then wanted to make friends. We spent the rest of the day snorkelling and getting close to many colourful and beautiful fish, including a shoal of parrot fish that ate directly from our hands. Zara couldn’t stop giggling at the tickling sensation.

No visit to Thailand is complete without a visit to an elephant sanctuary. We were happy to see well-treated elephants at Nosey Parkers in Ao Nang. Zara was the most gung-ho, sitting on the elephant’s head with the mahout. This was a fabulous day; getting so close to the animals was amazing. The seafood was out of this world.

We visited Ao Nang Beach Home Restaurant several times. We discovered some amazing dishes, including prawns marinated in limes and chilli and prawns with glass noodles in a hot pot. Inspired by the food, Ali and I signed up for a cookery class with the hotel’s executive chef, where we made geang phed ped yang - roasted duck in red curry with pineapple and grapes.

Zara made friends with other children from around the world and her favourite daily ritual was feeding the fish in the ornamental ponds around the hotel.

The seafood was out of this world

We hired kayaks and set off to explore some of the nearby bays and beaches. We discovered an uninhabited beach - very Robinson Crusoe. We saw the sand moving and realised the beach was full of crabs.

Zara happily chased them into their holes. The perfect end to a perfect holiday was being treated to a candlelit dinner on the beach. To borrow from one of the band’s biggest hits - we were more than lucky, we struck Gold.