Paul & Libby's World of Travel » Thailand

Day #10: Exploring Phuket

Paul — Mon, 01 Jul 2013 15:18:21 +0000

~~Busy day, not a lot of sleep last night, and an early check-out tomorrow. Sooo… you’ll have to wait another 12-24 hours to read about our exciting Day #10.~~

Stay tuned…

Shortly after finishing my Day #9 post, Libby emerged from the bedroom with complaints of a fever. She’d started suffering from cold symptoms earlier on Sunday. Not good. An hour or so after returning to bed, she emerged again with Emerson, who also now had a fever. Even less good.

After getting the girls sorted out, I went to bed around 1:30am. For whatever reason, I started reading about visiting Australia and discovered that Australia requires an entry visa that ISN’T available on arrival! So, if the impending arrival of the plague weren’t enough, this certainly seemed to portend the demise of our happy expedition. I shot out of bed to explore our options and assumed the best case scenario would be wasting the better part of a day in Singapore while I expedited our visas through the Australian consulate office.

This is what happens during travel. Plans get disrupted. Weather turns bad. People get sick. Luggage is lost. But, these things also have a way of working themselves out too. The sunshine returns. People start to feel better. The luggage is returned. And, even if those things don’t happen, you make it work anyway.

Fortunately, the sun came out for us. It turns out Australia allows citizen of certain countries (including the United States) to procure their visa immediately online. Thus 60 minutes and dollars later, I had our visas procured and was back in bed by 3:00. We awoke at 6:30 for our private tour of the island, and Libby and Emerson were both feeling fine and fever free. Situation: normal.

Our tour left at 8:00 — just the three of us, a guide, and a driver. We drove south along the west coast through Patong and Kata Beach to Karon Viewpoint. We then drove on to a place offering elephant rides (which are very popular in Phuket for tourists – like mini golf in Florida). Libby and Emerson went together on a male elephant. I rode on the back of a female one. The journey was fairly short (10-15 minutes), but it was a mildly thrilling, unique experience.

Western coastline of Phuket

Libby and Emerson riding an elephant

After the elephants, we went see “The Big Buddha” (which is Thailand’s largest Buddha statue, though it’s still under construction), (an impressive Buddhist temple complex), a cashew plantation/factory (yummy), and a jewelry shop (which subsidizes the cost of our driver… I’d rather have just paid the difference as the tour was only $120 for the three of us). We then drove on to Phuket Town that has fabulous British colonial style inspired architecture and visited Chinpracha House.

Grand Pagoda @ Wat Chalong

We returned to the Marriott around 3pm after which evidence of the “rainy season” finally arrived. Fortunately, our pool was partially covered, enabling us to have outdoor fun. The remainder of the day was spent relaxing and getting ready for our morning flight to Singapore.

One other big highlight today: Emerson started reading in earnest today. We’d construct sentences for her, such as “we ride in a big black car,” and she’d read them back to us. It was an interesting thing to witness. You could see that it just sort of ‘clicked’ for her: individual words became sentences, a set of words that comprised a complete thought or idea.

Day #9, Fun in Phuket

Paul — Sun, 30 Jun 2013 16:19:47 +0000

Today’s plan was to relax and enjoy the resort. We woke up to blue skies and started the day with breakfast and coffee at the Coffee Club in Turtle Village. After getting back from the coffee shop, we met the resort’s baby elephant on the way to the pool. That’s right. A baby elephant. I don’t know what the animal rights folks say about such things, but I know little kids love baby elephants! So, Emerson fed the elephant, took a picture with her, and sat on her back.

Emerson sitting on the elephant at the Marriott Mai Khao Beach Resort

After the elephant, Emerson played in the kid’s pool and made friends with kids from other countries. It was interesting to watch her interact with the other children. In particular, she befriended a couple of older Australian girls, Sophia and Jessica, who were very welcoming to her. I found two things particularly fascinating: 1) Emerson is quite happy to play the part of band leader (“I have an idea,” “you do ,” etc.) even with older kids, and 2) the way in which kids—as complete strangers—can make fast friends and demonstrate kindness to each other (as the Australian girls did in considering Emerson’s limitations as a younger, preschooler—helping her to do things with them and agreeing to avoid other activities that were beyond her capacity). Good stuff.

We returned to our villa and spent time in our private pool and having lunch. After lunch, we headed over to the JW Marriott and MVC Phuket Beach Resort (Marriott has a number of related properties within a short jaunt of each other here) to visit the beach again. Indeed, we’d almost stayed at the JW (which would have been great too), but this resort was a much better deal for a villa with a private pool. Here are a few snapshots from the beach (no swimming—red flags up again— due to high surf):

Mai Khao Beach, Phuket, Thailand

Libby and Emerson on Mai Khao Beach

And, here are a few pictures of our villa:

Living Room

Dining Room and Kitchen

Master Suite

Villa Pool

We spent the late afternoon in our pool, ordered in dinner, and did some laundry. Emerson and I also walked to the near market for a few supplies—Emerson said she likes to “go on adbentures with Daddy” (she’s still working on the “v” I certain words… though, I miss hearing of her desire to watch “bideos” on the iPhone).

Tomorrow, we’re off to explore the island via a private tour that I’ve arranged.

Day #8: Arriving in Thailand (and Malaysia)

Paul — Sat, 29 Jun 2013 16:46:09 +0000

We landed on time in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The airport is a pretty nice, modern facility. Changing planes / gates was very easy (only one security checkpoint at the outbound gate). Since our flight to Phuket was a bit delayed, we spent a little extra time enjoying a morning cappuccino. We ended up leaving about an hour late for our one hour long flight to Phuket.

Arrival in Phuket was seamless. We were greeted by a Marriott representative. We were then whisked to our resort—the Marriott Vacation Club, Mai Khao Beach—via a private sedan that I’d pre-arranged through the hotel (I’m sure it’s not the cheapest transport option. But, it was great value for money relative to transport costs in major cities and the stress-free bliss of it all.) Upon arrival, we were given flower necklaces (leis, I suppose), cool towels, and glasses of a refreshing watermelon punch.

As our room wasn’t quite ready, we headed off to lunch at “Zest,” which is this resort’s main restaurant. While Emerson had food from the international kid’s menu, Libby and I indulged in Thai food, which was very good (I especially loved the spicy, sweet/sour beef salad w/ onions). We don’t often eat Thai food at home—it’s not Libby’s favorite flavor profile (which I sometimes understand). However, it’s an amazing cuisine if done properly, especially (for me anyway) when I go with spicy/hot dishes.

After lunch, we checked into our 2 bedroom villa (awesome – we post a full photo tour tomorrow). We then promptly took a nap for a couple of hours before changing into our swim suits for a dip in our private pool. Just before sunset, we walked to the beach and watched the sun dip below the horizon of the Andaman Sea. We then returned via “Turtle Village,” which is a retail complex just off of the Marriott’s property, which is really helpful because it has a food market.

Emerson enjoying the sunset...

Sunset at Mai Khao Beach

Evening at the Marriott Mai Khao Beach

We ordered room service for dinner and then relaxed for the remainder of our evening.

Today’s box score: +2 countries (Malaysia, Thailand)

Day #7: Leaving London…

Paul — Sat, 29 Jun 2013 16:25:59 +0000

Today, we left London for Phuket, Thailand.

Basically, it was a day of travel. We left the Allen House a little after 8am for our noon flight on a Malaysia Airlines A380 to Kuala Lumpur. Check-in, security, and boarding were all a breeze and ran as expected (early boarding of small children, gate check of ‘push chairs’ (strollers), recognition of FF status, etc.). The 12.5 hour flight was pleasant enough – the A380 is a really comfortable airplane, even in economy. Emerson was as good as always, watching videos and playing quietly for about 8 hours before falling asleep around her London bedtime.

Our Malaysia Airlines A380...

Libby and Emerson ready to fly Asia...

We flew from the day, through the night, and back into morning…