Irish Sunday Mirror

Try a safari ... TRAVEL FILE

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Audley Travel offers tailor-made trips to Thailand. A nine-day itinerary visiting Chiang Rai, Fang, Chiang Mai, Cha Am, Kui Buri National Park and Bangkok costs from €3,146pp for two sharing, including Heathrow flights with EVA Air, domestic flights, B&B accommodat­ion, transfers and excursions. audleytrav­el.com Thailand

Serious insect repellent is essential, but if you pack DEET keep it in a sealed bag because if it leaks it can burn through your passport (as I discovered).

Go to tourismtha­iland.org

Following the young man who’d strolled down to collect us (with his jungle machete), we clambered through bamboo forests as tall as skyscraper­s, past banana groves and plunging waterfalls.

We watched eagles soaring above and, yes, even saw a couple of impressive banana spiders.

Just at the point I was wondering if it was actually beyond me, we came out of the dense jungle to a mountain plateau that overlooked the valley for miles below.

The village crouched in the hillside ahead. It was sort of life-affirming view that makes you feel invincible.

With Yok at my side keeping my pace even (‘‘Go slow,’’ she smiled, ‘‘we’re making great time.’’) we tottered into the village in just 2½ hours. Apparently villagers can do it in about 40 minutes. An amazing lunch of chicken wings

Octavia travelling at cycle speed At Chiang RAI and steamed rice wrapped in a banana leaf was being cooked for us in one of the bamboo houses which was raised up on stilts with a glassless window overlookin­g the valley.

It was one of the simplest houses I’ve ever visited, with easily the most incredible view.

In the heart of the rolling Leicesters­hire countrysid­e sits Ragdale Hall, a former Elizabetha­n hunting lodge. It has been a health farm since the 1970s and is now considered one of the premier award-winning health resorts in England. It offers luxurious accommodat­ion combined with innovative health and beauty facilities. Guests come here for one reason only – R&R in a white fluffy robe and flip flops. I headed straight for the famous thermal spa. Here you can work your way through its various chambers, getting hot and steamy in the Colour Flow Cave, salty in the Volcanic Salt Bath, breathing in the aromatic herbs in The Scented Room before floating in magical heaven in the Audley checks every hotel it includes on its itinerarie­s.

So even if you’re just there for a night, you can rely on it being friendly, comfortabl­e and delightful – like the Anantara Serviced Suites in Chiang Mai, a twominute walk from the famous night market, or The Siam in Bangkok, where a private riverboat can take you into town in 15 minutes.

My personal favourite, was the X2 Kui Buri Resort on the coast near the elephant reserve, where most villas have their own private pool.

Just the thing thing for freshening up after a day on a magical wild elephant safari.

undergroun­d Candle Pool. Guests can also enjoy Ragdale’s new addition to its pool collection – a rooftop infinity pool with views across the gardens. There are 93 en suite rooms from standard and economy to superior plus, three suites, a four-bed lodge and an adapted room for guests with disabiliti­es.

Fitness fans can work up a sweat in the gym. The two studios offer everything from spinning to Chinese fan dancing. Then pamper yourself with a treatment or a makeover in the beauty or manicure rooms. My one-night break included a divine 50-minute Blissful Face and Back Therapy.

In its previous

incarnatio­n Ragdale was a ‘fat farm’ which weighed guests and then fed them the ‘Ragdale cardboard brick’ breakfast biscuit. These days, you can be as naughty or as a healthy as you like, choosing from the tempting daily menus cooked by top chefs and served in the grand dining room under twinkling chandelier­s. Every guest gets treated to breakfast in bed, lunch is a copious buffet with a wide range of hot and cold mains, salads and puds, and then you feast on a three-course a la carte dinner with wine - you can even have steak and chips!

Prices start from €100 for a spa day and €160 per person per night for a spa break. ragdalehal­l.co.uk

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