I'm looking for a great place to spend a few days with my husband and 9 year old daughter. It will be in August. Is the FS or the MO better for a child...mostly meaning where might she have the biggest chance of meeting other kids? Last year in Chiang Mai we stayed at Yaang Come Village, but this year I'm thinking of a splurge if it will be excellent for all of us.

We were at the MO last November and it was pretty deserted - almost no other adults, let alone children! I dont think there were ever more than 6 of us at breakfast at any one time.

It will be busier now that more of it is open, I assume, but it is a big site and during the day people tend to be out in the mountains or in their private pools. I honestly can't decide if it is pro-children (in that there are private pools in many of the villas, oxen walking around) or anti-children (in that it is a very quiet place). There is certainly no kids club!

No view on the FS as we've never been.

Interesting that there is no kids club as their website indicates there is one and they make it sound pretty extensive with lots of activities. We don't necessarily need a club, but it would not be good for our daughter if she were the only child amongst mostly honeymooners...we'd feel out of place I think.

For sure, the hotel will be kid-friendly, the staff is exceedingly nice. I'm not too sure the other guests (myself included) will be, though. It struck me as a kind of quiet, monastic place, its aura could be easily disrupted by screaming kids. I really enjoyed it.

Ah, OK - the kids club could be part of the second phase which opened this year. I take it all back!

All kids aren't disruptive and noisy. Rude ones might be. People who might be really bothered by the presense of children should take care to stay in places where there are not kids clubs and/or children are not welcome (FS Tented Camp for example). And people who bring their children to nice hotels and resorts should take care to teach their children how to behave properly so they do not bother the other guests. We've been traveling with our daughter since she was 9 weeks old, and I can assure you that she would not disrupt your aura.

I knew I'd get a rise out of you. You were asking for an opinion, or for approval on what you intend to inflict on others? My opinion is that the common areas at the MO aren't kid-friendly, not because of the layout or the staff, but because of the kind of guest you may find there. Go ahead, it isn't illegal, but it isn't the kind of place where children won't be out of place, "kids club" or whatever notwithstanding.

Having said that, the place is huge and lots of people keep to their villas (I know I did much of the time), so the chances of bothering others aren't as numerous.

Well, I do thank you for pointing out that the other guests may think along the same lines you do.

Totally off topic...I'm from Princeton, MA, and I went to junior high school with a boy whose nickname was "pickles."

If you go, you'll realise what Pickles means. The silence in the resort is almost total, apart from the birds. Your whole pace of life drops whilst you are there. You feel your space is being invaded if you can see more than five other humans in your field of vision at any time. If your child can cope with that, then great, go - its a superb place.

Sorry, my nickname in HS was "peewee". The girl who gave me that nickname is now a world-famous epidemiologist, and I actually got taller towards the end of HS.

I visited the FS and the MO in Chiang Mai last year in addition to the FS Tented Camp. Of the three, the FS in Chiang Mai was the most 'kid friendly'. And by that I mean it was the resort that had the most kids staying there with parents. Of course, the Tents does not allow children and during my time at the MO, I saw no children at all.

I was at the MO in August and saw several kids about in the pool and wandering the rice paddies. Also the Elephant tours have lots of kids. That is a "must do" no matter what hotel you stay at.

The villas at the MO means your child can comfortably and securely sleep downstairs and you can have the master bedroom upstairs.

While I suspect the MO would be the best choice for you, I thought I'd offer up a 'somewhere else', just in case...

The Chedi, Chiang Mai (http://www.ghmhotels.com/hotels/hote...5&section=home) opened quite recently - it's a conversion of the old British Consulate, located by the river, very near the old town.

I stayed there a little while ago, and loved the place. Rooms and service were first-class. The design is much more contemporary than the FS or MO - but (just as at the Chedi property in Phuket) there were quite a few families there.

The design of the resort (rooms and suites are clustered in several buildings, rather than being spread out over many acres of land) is also much more conducive to meeting people - so if you are looking to mingle, then it might well be the best place.

http://www.srcf.ucam.org/~emdr2/chiangmai1.jpg
http://www.srcf.ucam.org/~emdr2/chiangmai2.jpg

I had looked at the Chedi as an option, but there is no kids club, and the big attraction of both the FS and MO is that both say they have a kids clubs, and both seem to offer very good activities like dancing, crafts and outdoor adventures.