Phuket Phling

Well we thought we just loved Thailand for giving us pad thai (Thai Orchid in Dallas) and green curry chicken (Singha Thai in Chicago on Clark), but it's now passion at a whole new level. We just spent four days in Phuket and had a blast as a family. We booked travel on SilkAir (Singapore Air's discount airline) and arrived at the airport for our 9AM flight on the weekend with excitement!

We booked the trip with only a week's notice so we didn't know what to expect. I had used Trip Advisor for recommendations when we went to Portugal last year and relied on it for much of what we did here as well. We stayed at the Hilton Resort and from check-in (they gave Eli a teddy bear and us fruit drinks) to the shuttle drop off at the airport, we were pampered. We had a room on the top floor with beautiful views (Nathan enjoyed the feeling of freedom it gave us).

We spent mornings at the pool with a long, fast water slide for kids as well as the beach with crystal clear ocean water (not exactly the Gulf of Mexico). Eli must have slid on the that slide 30 times a day, her highlight of the trip. In the afternoons Jane and the kids took naps and I usually relaxed in the business lounge (JW Black and Chivas for free) and read. Nathan awoke early a couple of days and they served him large chocolate drinks which he could finish with one straw suck! In the early evening we went to the 'Kids Club' to play and feed the kids dinner.

EVENINGS

Each night we had a baby sitter (the hotel arranged the same woman for us each night - fees were $5 per hour for two kids) she popped in a child's DVD that the hotel provided. Jane and I took a 'tuk tuk' (open air taxi, you better hold on) and explored different areas of Phuket (local dinners, $8 hour-long Thai massages, Jane = $3 pedicure, $12 wax). The kids were always sound asleep when we came in as they had played in the sun the entire day.

CORAL ISLAND

My favorite day was when we went to the bay and rented a boat to take us to an island for an afternoon to swim and eat. It was a beautiful, wet ride and seeing nearly empty islands spotting the sea was just incredible. We had Singha to drink and fresh fish for lunch and spent the day swimming and collecting sea shells.

Not sure if we'll make it back to Phuket, Thailand again, but we are already looking for our next long weekend.