We spent five fantastic days visiting Ban Phai, in the north east of Thailand, where our friend lives and runs a hotel with her family. We were treated to a personalised tour of the city and nearby, with some amazing food, great coffee ☕ and local sights, accompanied by friendly, welcoming locals.

Staying in their boutique hotel was a bit of a level up from some of our previous accommodation! The hotel grounds included lovely green areas, Thai style architecture and numerous pets – including a tortoise and a couple of emus!

Apparently coffee has been booming in Thailand in the past 20 years. We visited a few fancy cafes with some really good coffee, some with inventive ways to enhance your coffee experience. At one cafe, you could produce a picture of a silk design and the barista would make the coffee interpretation of that design. I never knew silk designs tasted so good!

Another cafe was started over 70 years ago by a local lady. She still runs the cafe (at 97 years of age!) alongside her son, who roasts the beans for the coffee they serve.

Our daily outings also included some of the sights in and around Ban Phai, after the coffee of course!

Trying new food was a daily occurrence. Our friends took us to some great places and we tasted a lot!

We were in Ban Phai for N’s birthday, which was celebrated in stages. The first stage involved us getting up rather early to do a sunrise boat trip in the nearby wet lands, spotting birds and lotus flowers.

Then cake and fancy drinks for lunch! The only trouble was deciding which one to try next at the cake shop 😁

The adults spent the evening socialising and listening to our friend sing Sinatra songs at a local bar. Then visiting a brand new cocktail bar serving up some awesome drinks.

It was a memorable birthday!