Phuket

As a last hurrah while Mom and Dad Ball were here, we spent a long weekend in the South of Thailand on the island of Phuket.  Mom and Dad went down earlier in the day and we left after I finished work.

To be honest, the kids weren’t too thrilled with the idea of flying down there.  I guess like most kids, they take some warming up to the idea of getting out of their routine.  Once we got to the airport and some food in them, they realized this was going to be a lot more fun than staying home (even though we still heard frequently that their friends were having fun at home without them…).

The flight was just a bit over an hour. It was definitely warmer down South, and reminded me more of the Philippines.  Things were a little bit more crazy and dirty than what we see up North.  Our driver from the airport to the hotel was INSANE.  Absolutely INSANE.  We’re lucky to be alive to blog about this…

Candace, true to form, had booked us a great location on the South part of the island: Friendship Beach Resort.  It was literally right on the beach and had a great pool and view. 

We got a great night’s sleep and then spent the next day just enjoying the beach, sand, waves, and pool.  It was a leisurely day of reading and relaxing.  Very nice.  We had a nice lunch by the pool, which turned out to be our downfall…later that evening, our youngest and 2nd boy, as well as myself, all got food poisoning from the nachos we shared.  Blah.  No way to put a happy face on that.

The next morning Candace decided to stay with the 2 sick boys and I went with everyone else on an excursion we had booked.  We went to James Bond island (Khao Phing Kan) on an all day cruise.  The scenery was absolutely amazing.  These tiny islands had the most interesting lava drip stalactites things hanging from them, and then monkeys, eagles, and tropical vegetation hanging off of them.  Wow.

After seeing James Bond island, we ferried to a place for sea kayaking.  This was amazing!  The water is a greenish blue and the formations just unreal.

The final stop was a little ways away where we were allowed to jump from the top of the boat into the warm ocean, fight the strong current, and swim back to the boat for more.  My daughter and Mom joined me to swim to a private beach about 50 meters away.  It was great.  The kids could have jumped off the boat all day…

For most of the day, the weather was cloudy and threatening to rain, but as “luck” would have it, the heavy rain held off until we were heading back to the dock.

The next day, everyone was feeling better, so we enjoyed more sandcastle time, exploring the tide pools, and pool time.  After grabbing a nice lunch, we took our 1 hour drive back to the airport for our evening flight (together this time) to Bangkok’s smaller international airport, Don Mueang (much closer to our house).

We really enjoyed the beauty of Phuket and surrounding islands. Great last trip with Mom and Dad Ball!