We got back from a short holiday in Phuket a few weeks back. It was the girls' second trip to Phuket in as many years. This time we went in a bigger group - 4 couples, 2 maids and 11 kids. We stayed at Holiday Inn where we had the Family Suite which is a standard room with an adjoining kid's room. The girls were absolutely thrilled with their room (and I was too) - it was a Treasure Island room with pirate ship beds, X-Box, DVDs.... and even the peep hole was child height. Unfortunately I forgot to take pictures of the room in the daytime so I only have lousy dark photos of it.
The hotel was near the girls' favourite beach - Patong which I don't think is great as the water is not clear but they just enjoy playing in the sand and having the waves crash on them. We did our nails on the beach and the girls also had their hair braided; it seems de rigueur for little girls to return from a holiday in Phuket with beads in their hair.
Unfortunately we didn't go jet skiing this time round. On our last trip, I brought Tai Pi out on a jet ski and she loved it. Pumpkin didn't want to try it as she was afraid she would fall off the jet ski "and the sharks will get me". She decided to give it a go this time but we didn't get round to it.
All too soon our holiday was over and I didn't even get a decent massage (the pathetic nudging and squeezing I got from the massage lady on Patong Beach doesn't count).
To anyone planning a Phuket trip, don't go to Khai Island and don't dine at Sabai Sabai Restaurant!!!
Khai Island is heavily promoted by tour agents in Phuket but I thought the place was quite pathetic - just a litttle stump of land, very hot because there are no trees lining the beach, lots of rocks along the shore, dead coral. We didn't go to any other islands so I can't say if there is some place better than Khai Island but I don't imagine they could be worse.
As for Sabai Sabai Restaurant, the lady there was grumbling and giving us such dirty looks when she saw that we had so many kids with us, we walked out of there.
I think I'm going to give Phuket a rest for now and consider Bali for our next beach holiday. In the meantime, here are some pics of our trip.
10 comments:
Why Phuket again? If you've been there once, it's enough to last a lifetime. Nothing much there to warrant a second visit really. Cha'am (pronounced CHA-ARM) is a much nicer beach and because it's located on the eastern side of the isthmus of Kra, (Phuket's on the western side) you get to catch the beautiful sun rise if you can weak up early enough in the morning.
Hi Fuzzoo,
A couple of trivial question: do you get bits of sand flying onto your nails before they dry when you have them done on the beach? How do you prevent this from happening?
Some other beach recommendations: Koh Samui, Hua Hin (near Cha-am) and I hear Bintan is not bad too (it seems their resorts have regular fumigation to combat the malaria problem).
I thought the starfish pix was artistic but hello, the lady in blue on extreme right looked positively pear-shaped!!! Very unflattering leh! Groan! I thot Khai Island was ok but I too, had nothing to compare it with. Hubby says we'll spend more and head for Club Med next time. The girls, as usual, looked radiant. And all the kids looked like they enjoyed themselves.
oops, lady on extreme left, I mean.
I suppose the island you went was too commercialised. I prefer the quieter beach but haven't been there awhile. Don't know how much the scene has changed.
Btw, nice hairdo on your girls.
Kong Kong: Actually we went to Phuket because Tiger was having a kids fly free promotion and Phuket is one of their destinations. Yes we should try another beach destination next time.
household name: That's the problem with doing your nails at the beach but this time round, perhaps there was something blocking the wind because I didn't get sand on my nails unlike on my last Phuket trip. I was looking at Koh Samui but only direct flight is on Bangkok Airways and it's pretty costly. Hua Hin I would like to visit altho' I'm not sure if it's good for kids. I've been to Bintan but there doesn't seem like much to do there and I don't remember the beach being anything to shout about.
aunty d: Don't you think the lady adds to the artistic value of the picture? Pear shape contrasting with star shape?
sesame: Actually there was nothing to do on that beach except feeding the fish and looking at dead coral. They didn't even have massage or manicure on the beach, no jet skiing, no parasailing, nothing, just a very very hot beach. I suspect the tour agents were promoting Khai Island heavily because fuel prices have risen so much and Khai Island is one of the closer islands to Phuket so the cost of fuel would not be such a major component of the package fee.
Yah, I like the hair braids. Next time I should get my hair done too.
Hi Fuzzoo
My son enjoyed the hotel's swimming pool very much. Apparently, their pool's slide is 'famous'. The beach is less crowded than Patong's.
But no direct flight there.
Actually, I've also heard that other beaches in Phuket are good -- cleaner, less crowded, etc.
Don't you think the lady adds to the artistic value of the picture? Pear shape contrasting with star shape?
Artistic value?? pear vs star?? Er, I don't think so, I don't think so...
Wow. I've never heard of a kids' room in a resort. What a good idea. Probably just spending the day in the resort is good enough for them.
tai pi's aunty: Holiday Inn hotels in many places have what they call Family Suites and Kids Suites. I wish more hotels had this kind of room for families. I thought the hotel room was the best part of our trip.
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