chiang mai with small children?

[MirandaG]

I have just found out that my cousin is getting married in Chiang Mai next year and we would love to go. Our girls will be five and 18 months/two, depending on the time of year, but they have mentioned June. Anyone travelled to Chiang Mai with children this age? I'm not so concerned about the flight (although I know it won't be fun...), more having to get them vaccinated and risks of them getting ill over there, particularly the younger one. Would love to hear your experiences/tips. Have to log off now, but will be back again later.
Thanks!

Hello,

I worked in Chiang Mai for about 5 months when DD was around 15 months old.

I was very worried before I went but when we got there it was very easy. Chiang Mai is a tourist town and as such has a very good hospital, a Boots and well stocked pharmacists.

At 18 months be careful of the water, don't let your DDs drink bath water or ice. Take insect repellent, rehydralyte, calpol and sunscreen.

I didn't have too many problems with food for DD, I used to give her a lot of rice and vegetables (we lived in hotels for the whole time). There are well-stocked supermarkets there if you need to buy extra food if your older DD is more fussy.

After Chiang Mai we ended up much farther south in a very un-touristy town (and the airline lost our luggage/nappies/wipes/food etc) but we were still fine.

Don't worry, and have a fabulous trip (and the flight isn't even that bad).

Apologies, I can't remember about any injections. I do recall having one or two, but as we travelled a lot I'm not sure if they were Thailand specific. DD (at around 13 months) didn't need any extra because she was already inocculated IIRC.

Best to check with a GP though as I'm sure things might well have changed in the last 5 years.

Hi Arfishy
Thanks - good to know that it is well serviced with pharmacies medical care etc. We've been to Koh Samiu (pre-babies!) so it sounds a bit like that facilities wise. Great tip about the bathwater - the baby's sole aim in the bath is to drink as much water as possible and my four year old is now following suit! Will have a word with GP about injections - I know it's not a malaria zone so feel quite resassured about that
Thanks again

Is the Hep shot given at birth in the UK? Hepatitis is endemic in Asia so they do it in the delivery room here, so arrange for that if your kids haven't had it.

Take the usual precautions: stick to good restaurants where they haven't been keeping the rice warm for days (old steamed rice can carry REALLY nasty bugs), long sleeves and trousers for the mozzies (no vaccine or treatment is available for dengue, so you just have to avoid it), blah blah blah.

I would have no hesitation about doing it, in your place. As my drinking buddy Arfishy (hi! ) says, tourist Thailand is very civilised.

Forgot to say, don't go without top-drawer travel insurance. Private hospitals in Thailand are world-class but they are profitable listed entities and therefore expensive.

Just a quick reminder, I think ninedragons refers to hep A (hep B already routinely given in the UK).

We live in Asia and travel everywhere with DS (4) and now baby DD. Strongly recommend hep A. Even if you stick to hotel food, you do not know who is preparing it and some meats might be undercooked.

Other than that, you have the full gist above.

Enjoy!

Sorry, slim is right, I should have said hep A.

[waves to NineD's & proffers large glass of Chablis]

Yes, agree about the medical insurance, I did end up taking DD to a hospital there after a very nasty bout of gastro (she was very prone to it up until about 2.5), after having a doctor come out to the hotel for several visits.

We really need a "bottoms up, glug glug" smiley.