We were in Phuket over the most of this week.
Chris and Pa were there to attend a Plastic Surgery conference, while Ma, Geok, myself and the 2 kiddos tagged along for the holiday.
This was our first trip together with the 2 kids. There were 7 of us altogether so we booked a family suite and an extra room. Geok and Elizabeth were leaving a day earlier to meet Munhon in KL so the extra room was booked for a day less. We stayed in Movenpick Resort and Spa in Karon beach. The conference hotel was fully booked by the time we had finally decided on who was going to Phuket.
So.....we left on Tuesday afternoon at 630PM on a Silkair flight. The flight took just under 2 hours. The 2 kids were relatively well behaved during the flight, except that Madison started to whinge and cry just as we were landing.
We were greeted at the airport by hotel staff( which was a blessing!). Then it was an hour long car ride to the resort. By the time we arrived, we were exhausted and the 2 kids were asleep. It took some time for the front staff to check us in, and by the time we were settled the 2 kids woke up! Geok managed to put Elizabeth back to sleep but we allowed Madison to stay up and run around while we had some room service for supper.
On the first day, Chris and Pa attended the conference. Chris left first, after breakfast. Ma had realized she'd forgotten to bring her glucometer test strips so we had to go and buy some. We were told that there were pharmacies in the street just outside the hotel so we took a walk in
search of them after breakfast.
MY GOODNESS. The sun was blazing hot by mid morning and after 15minutes we were hot and thirsty. Most shops weren't even open at 10am and the pharmacies that were, didn't sell the strips. We ended up taking a taxi into Patong in search of a larger pharmacy.
By the time we'd found the strips, we'd also had to buy a stroller to pop Madison into while she napped . Then it was time to head back to the resort to sort out the kids' lunch. That took a while. Madison was terrible at mealtimes the entire trip... whingy and spitting out all the food. First 2 meals I got so mad I was losing my temper at her, but after that I'd become used to it so I let her be. Perhaps it was the hot weather, or that she'd gotten a viral fever on the day that we left for Phuket ( the fever went away after the first day or so )that made her appetite disappear.
In the evening we finally headed for the beach for the first ( AND ONLY ) time. Seriously, it was baking hot most of the day, and I don't know how sunbathers can stay under the sun the entire day! We had fresh coconuts too, but just as we were about to enjoy them, the weather suddenly changed and we had to run back to the resort to escape the lightning storm.
The rain did not abate by dinner time so we decided to stay in the resort and try out El Gaucho, the hotel's Brazilian Churrasco restaurant. The food was average, which explained why it was half empty. Madison didn't have much dinner ( as usual for the trip ).
The second day we went to the hotel pool pretty much after breakfast. The pool was definitely the highlight of the stay. The resort has 3 pools, the main one being the largest and most popular. It had a water slide, a pool bar and areas of different depths, the deepest section at 3 metres! Only downside? IT WAS SO SLIPPERY! I fell into the pool the minute I stepped into the shallow section, nearly dragging Madison down with me.
I was already having some nagging right sided back pain when we started the trip, but after the fall into the pool I could barely move! IT was agony, sharp shooting pains into the butt whenever I tried to put weight onto my right leg. It took pretty much the rest of the trip to recover some mobility in my back. Fortunately Pa and Ma were there to help with Madison.
After the swim we headed out to Chalong Bay for lunch at a seafood restaurant by a jetty. The place was recommended by the concierge and I would say it had the best food of all the places we ate at during this trip. We had fresh lobster, half done sashimi style and the other half cooked in butter and garlic. That set us back SGD $130 already. BUT it was sweet and succulent, and accompanied by freshly grated wasabi! In Phuket! There was also freshly grilled fish,mud crab in a curry sauce, tom yum seafood soup, Pad Thai, and some vegetable. The bill came to Baht7000. Almost SGD 300.
Well fed, we stumbled out of the restaurant in search of transport. Obviously tourists, we were soon approached by a guy who offered to take us around town for the rest of the afternoon.
First stop: elephant ride. Obviously touristy, but since none of us had ever ridden on one we stopped to try. Only 2 adults were allowed per elephant so Pa gallantly offered to wait while the rest of us went on the 30 minute ride.
It was quite an experience! Within 5 minutes of the ride our elephant decided to pee and poop,which greatly displeased our guide. Instead of waiting for it to finish he poked and prodded the beast to hurry. Of course the elephant was pissed off and started to lurch and protest. OMG.
Fortunately that passed and the rest of the trek it was fairly calm. Still, it was a rather slippery kind of ride, with the hot sun baking us and making the seats slightly sweaty and slippery. Each downhill traipse was a major exercise in clinging onto our seats for fear of slipping off our chairs.
Towards the end of the trek the guide pointed his thatched home out to us. Apparently he is paid Baht2000/ month for work, of which half went into feeding his 2 kids and wife. I guess he makes some more in tips, which was what a sign advised us to do at the end! I tipped him with Baht100. Another Baht100 went into buying 2 baskets of sugarcane to feed the elephants.
The rest of the tour was pretty much driving around Phuket, with a stop to buy some local foodstuff at a one-stop food speciality store. Typical tourist type shop. Still, we ended up with bags filled with cashew nuts, dried mango, freeze dried durian and mangosteen.
By the time we returned to the hotel it was time to give the kids dinner, then sort our dinner out. We took a walk along the beach in search of a decent place to eat. Karon beach had many restaurants and hotels, most of which seemed to cater to the European taste bud. There were influences from Germany, Netherlands and the UK. We ended up at another seafood place, but the food was not that great. It was also unpleasant trying to eat in the oppressive heat and humidity, being rather used to dining in air conditioned comfort. ( Yes, we are the stereotypically spoilt Singaporeans!) It was great getting back to the cool comfort of our rooms. Madison slept really well that night, having run and swum off all her energy during the course of the day. Oh, and she finally pooped after 3 days...
Friday came soon enough and Geok was off to Singapore, then to KL. The rest of us had breakfast as usual at the hotel, then Chris went off to attend more of the conference. The rest of us headed off to the pool... the water was fabulous as usual, warm and soothing. Chris came back in time for a drink with me at the pool bar, de rigeur in a place like that!
We'd arranged with our driver to take us out at lunch time and he arrived punctually to pick us up at 1130. It was a 20minute drive to Phuket bay for another seafood lunch by t. This time we had fish, mud crabs, tom yum soup, crab meat omelette and pineapple rice. Madison refused to eat lunch again, even refusing to eat any of the Pad Thai we'd ordered separately for her after we'd finished our lunch!ARGH.
I think in honesty we were probably just dying to go back to the cool comfort of our rooms to relax, but since we'd hired the driver for the day we had to plan some sort of itinerary. After lunch he took us to yet another tourist trap, this time the jewellery store. We refused to get out of the car and told him to take us to see Wat Chalong instead. ( that was at the spur of the moment, after see
ing the signs to it on the way to the store!)Wat Chalong is one of Phukets' most famed Buddhist temples, and there were quite a few tourists and locals alike when we were there. The midday sun was baking hot, and whenever we took our shoes/slippers off to walk around they were invariably burning hot after 5-10minutes!
After that we asked the driver to take us to a local market, but for some reason he drove us to a complex that sold clothing and shoes. He gave us 80minutes to wander around, but after 30 minutes we surrendered to the heat and called him to pick us up. Sat at a local noodle cafe nursing icy cold drinks while waiting for him to come.
We were pretty frustrated and worn out by the heat by then so we begged him to take us to a fruit stall and then pretty much back to the hotel. Even then he nearly took us somewhere else, were it not for Chris who noticed that we were heading towards the airport!
The fruits were pretty amazing though. 2 types of local mango ( which Madison adored ), Longkong ( a golf ball sized fruit ), mangosteen and pomelo. All of which were sweet and juicy. They were pretty expensive though, the mangoes costing slightly more than what they were in Singapore. Still, we'd been through so much travelling to get to the fruit shop so we had to buy some.
IT was fantastic to return to the hotel and immerse in the cool of the pool again. The clouds had come again so the heat had abated, and we spent another 40minutes or so enjoying the water.
Come dinner time, it was yet another lightning storm. We took a gamble and waited it out. Eventually it stopped enough for us to catch a taxi down to Patong for dinner.
What a world of difference Patong beach was to Karon beach! Shops lined the street, from seafood and pizza parlours to Starbucks, MacDonalds and Subway. We had dinner at Savoey restaurant, again another reccommendation from the concierge. Sashimi lobster, huge tiger prawns, mud crabs and seafood tom yum soup. We ended the meal with Ma's favourite dessert: mango with sticky rice, and an ice-cream sundae( which Madison gobbled down, of course )
After dinner, Pa and Ma took Madison back to the hotel while Chris and I wandered around Patong for a bit. Now I knew why it was a ghost town during the day. Come nightfall, bars, nightclubs and sleazy parlours spring open. Tourists and party-goers throng the street, together with transsexuals and prostitutes, openly canvassing for business. There were leaflets advertising "ping pong" shows every 10 metres, free "girly" shows and pole dancers strutting away on platforms for everyone to see.
Sadly the trip came to an end Saturday morning. Bright and early at 0630am we had to wake up, go for breakfast and take the hotel transport to the airport. The holiday seemed like a dream, we were just arriving in Phuket and now we were on the way back home. We arrived at the airport pretty early and after clearing immigration had to wait an hour to board the plane. The flight back was uneventful, with Madison whinging and then finally falling asleep just as the plane landed. A taxi ride later we were back in the comfort of the Novena house, with the 3 helpers to greet us and assist with the bags. What luxury!
It was a good trip, but we were glad to be home. The hotel was great but the island was just too hot and not much else for kids to do during the day. Food was a problem too, as it was mostly seafood and too salty or spicy for young tastebuds. But the Thai people were hospitable and generally honest, and were very accommodating of young children and families.
Sawadee Krap!
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