We’ve been researching getting from Ko Phangan to Malaysia for a few days now.
That’s when we’re not sitting in the shade looking at the turquoise waters of Haad Salad beach, eating fantastic Thai food, occasionally swimming, snorkelling or kayaking and gazing at sunsets.
Sounds good doesn’t it? But the kids are bored. It’s all just the same, every day, this isn’t travelling and it’s not their thing. We lived on a beach back in Port Douglas, they’re over it.” There’s nothing to do Mum!”
What is it with kids these days?
What they really mean is, they want the tablets.
The kids take a lot of entertaining, it’s probably the hardest part about being here “relaxing” while Chef recovers from surgery and, of course, I’m having to be both parents at once. Chef can’t do any of the physical stuff with them. I’m doing quite well, I’ve paddled miles and had a lot of fun.
As well as water activities we have Uno, bats and balls, footballs, a frisbees, books, occasional school work, I’m reading The Hobbit to them, and still they’re fed up. All they want are the tablets and I say no.
The old line ” I’m not the entertainment committee.” just doesn’t cut it. When they’re bored they fight and that drives me nuts. I refuse to let them fiddle about with their tablets all day, that’s not living. Boredom isn’t attractive and nobody wants to hear about it, I’ve had enough!
Skip to the bottom to read what I really think about tablets!
When we’re actually travelling we’re all fine, so I’m really looking forward to getting back to Malaysia.
We’ve looked at every possible combination of ferry, bus and train for getting from Ko Phangan to Malaysia. As extreme budget travellers we’re looking for the cheapest route, but after Chef’s medical emergency, we need to get to Malaysia without too much walking or hefting packs. It was looking like we’d have to stay overnight somewhere en route and pay for a hotel which would up our expenses. The trains to Malaysia from this part of Thailand leave at 1am, it’s all a bit complex.
Yesterday we found ourselves a bargain. We checked the Air Asia website and for just $22 AU, each, we bought tickets from Surat Thani to Kuala Lumpur. That’s the sort of thing that lifts everyone’s spirits. Checked baggage is $18 for 20Kg. No catches, no other hidden extras. We’re pretty happy!
This takes us back to how we originally started this adventure. Rather than flying from Cairns, or Brisbane , we flew from the Gold Coast to Malaysia because of another amazing deal with Air Asia. We were better off getting a train or flights to the Gold Coast and making our way from there, rather than booking a trip from our local airport.
We only have two weeks in Malaysia and a lot to do.
Chef has never seen Kuala Lumpur, so we’ll have a few days of catching up on sights with him there.
Our must dos for him in Kuala Lumpur will include the Petronas towers and the fabulous Indian food on offer. He wants to check out our favourite hostel in KL, too. The kids say it’s the best place we’ve stayed in the last 4 months.
Our last visit to Malaysia didn’t go according to plan, freak environmental conditions drove us out. We had a great time in Kuala Lumpur and then ended up on Penang, in Batu Ferringhi, which we weren’t so keen on. We flew straight from there to Bangkok, skipping most of what we’d planned to do in Malaysia
This time we’re going south to Malacca and Johor Baru. We have tickets for Legoland Malaysia and the new Legoland Water Park down there. I have two very excited kids!
He looks pretty happy to me! These kids don’t know when they’ve got it good.
I’ve tried giving them more responsibility, sending them on errands, upping the school work, even letting them play with fire and knives and still they’re fed up. I really believe that if they didn’t have electronic gizmos and weren’t used to that level of stimulation they’d be absolutely fine digging holes and chasing bugs.
I really regret buying the tablets. They cut them off from the real world, life is passing them by as they sit indoors beeping in the dark.
Even when there are other kids here to play with, they often prefer the tablets and that’s just not right. I’m going to be controversial here.
I would recommend NOT buying your kids any of these gizmos before you travel. They may make your life easier occasionally, but I don’t think they do the kids any favours at all.
The young guys ( kids themselves really, from Burma), who work here play football and volleyball with my boys sometimes and I love them for it, but that only takes up an hour or so each day. I play ball too, I’ve never kicked or headed a ball before in my life, I’m getting quite good! But still they want the tablets.
On trains they want the tablets, on buses they want the tablets. I’m pretty good at saying no, but once you waver, even once, they know there is a chink in your armour they can exploit. They were never, ever, allowed to have them in the car back home so they associated journeys with reading, singing, talking and listening to audio books, not beeping and swiping at screens. But they’re getting more insistent. One tablet is broken now and we Won’t be replacing it. Game over.
The act of travelling, moving through a new landscape, is as much a part of this trip as any. They need to experience it fully.
Haad Salad is purely for tourists, there is no village or community , so there are no local kids for them to play with as they did in Laos. I wish there were, maybe they could show my bored kids what life is like without technology.
We can’t wait to be back on the road again and Malaysia will be a great change after Thailand, I think we all need a bit more stimulation. It’s good to keep alternating beach, culture, city and countryside.
I’m wondering if we’re all stimulation addicts, Chef and I through travel, the kids through tablets. Is that why we travel, we have low boredom thresholds? What do you think?
