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10 April 2008 - Heat Rash

Well we have all been coping well with the heat considering that April is probably the hottest month here in Thailand. Gavin and Tehya both have mild heat rash on their chests and the backs of their necks.

We went to a chemist yesterday and bought some mild antihistamine gel which we keep cool in the fridge, it seems to help a lot and with a swim in the evening when it's a little cooler. They both seem to be doing OK. More annoyingly I also found some little critters in Tehya's hair - I did a quick check online with NHS direct. Thank heavens for the internet. I was able to double check the best way to deal with them.

Kaeng Krachan National Park

We went out and bought a wide tooth comb and some conditioner and then proceeded to cover her head and brush through the conditioner. Luckily when I was packing the medi kit before leaving the UK I came across a nit comb and thought to myself: "That might well come in handy." I did not think for one minute I would be delousing two weeks into the holiday.

So as I have also had a very itchy head these last few days…. thought I would do myself and Gavin too….. and what do you know we all have them. It's so annoying…I thought we were scratching away because it’s so hot and we are so sweaty all the time…but NO!

Still it could be worse and NHS direct seem to think it is a very common thing if you have children aged 3 - 11 years. Still itching and rather tedious...

12 April 2008 - Kaeng Krachan National Park

We had previously spent the day before chatting and swimming with a family from England/Thailand (Dave, Ben and Archie) and they asked us if we would like to go and see a waterfall called Pala-U in Kaeng Krachan National Park about 60km west of Hua Hin.

We enthusiastically decided it would be an excellent experience and snapped up the chance to go and do a little sight seeing, as we are reasonably limited to what we can do on a moped (certainly wouldn't travel 120km round trip on it).

We set off to the park around midday and as we travelled out of Hua Hin the country side around us turned into green lush hills, with the mountains on our right leading to Burma (the boarder to which Ben explained was very close).

The journey was around an hour and took us into an amazing national park of woodland, which has been dated as over 1000 years old. We walked as far as the third tier (level) of the waterfall and that was far enough with the humidity and slipperiness underfoot with Tehya. It was wonderful.

Tehya relaxes after her walk

Tehya was excited about being with other children and insisted on walking all the way there and back - even when it was physically quite taxing. The pool when we got there was lovely, full of huge Carp and the kids saw a little fresh water crab which they thought was great.

They spent about an hour and a half paddling in the cold water (which was so refreshing after the climb) feeding the fish and smashing the soft rocks to make their own mud. As we headed back towards Ben and the picnic area we suddenly noticed that all the other visitors had gone - we walked back down the rocky waterfall we were surrounded by multi coloured butterflies, it was really magical.

Then a huge thunder crack boomed through the sky and the biggest rain drops began to fall. It was wonderful, the air around us changed so dramatically, a grey rain mist appeared and the rain drops fell on us through the trees.

We sat and ate a wonderful lunch with our friends, we tried various Thai foods supplied by Ben. While eating lunch Gavin spotted a huge Monitor Lizard which had us all excited, then Archie spotted a large wild Gibbon off in the trees.

It was too far away to really appreciate or photograph, but that did not matter it still added another real bonus to the day.

Read more diaries from the Holcrofts by clicking on the links below: