Phuket Trip - 8 to 12 June 08

Rolling good fun - bubble ball in a pool. My hubby and I called them lab rats.

The water slide that provided a lot of splashing good fun for the princes.

At the hotel room balcony, overlooking the pool. Saved me much trouble - I just watched the kids in the comfort of my hotel room balcony while doing my reading and avoiding the sun.

Mini terrorists?! Getting ready for paintball gun fight. Arrgh!!

James Bond Island.

One of the caves.

Being canoed.

The princes enjoying some bonding time with dad aboard the speed boat.

Phuket is more expensive than Bangkok or Chiang Mai. That's my summary of Phuket. There weren't many Asians there, even though it's the off-peak season. Mostly ang-mohs or what the Thais call 'farangs'.

We were there for 5 days but stayed mostly at the hotel (Centara Kata Resort) pool, which had a cool water slide that the princes loved. They practiaclly lived in that pool. We only went to the town area on the first day and the fourth day because the cab fare was about S$20 per trip. But the princes had a lot of fun on the first day in town as they played with the bubble ball that rolled around in a pool right in the middle of the big mall. They charged $100b (about S$4) for each person and because they weren't many customers, the princes played for about 30 min. I think the New Zealand version where they roll the bubble ball downhill is more fun.

On the second day, we went to James Bond Island where we took a speed boat that was equipped with lots of fruits, biscuits and bottles of coke and Fanta Orange. All free flow and complimentary. The princes had a blast taking the soft drinks and the littler prince developed an obsession with Fanta Orange. The day trip cost abt $6,600 b (about S$280) for four of us. It included taking us to 3 or 4 islands, where a staff would do the canoeing while we enjoyed the view and took pictures; visits to caves with hanging bats, buffet lunch was in the boat and we were given about 1 hour to do whatever we wanted at one of the beaches. Most people swam or canoed. My three majesties did the latter. I just laid under a shady spot waiting for the 1-hour to be up. I'm not exactly a sunshine girl. I'm more a sit-in-a-cafe-and-chill girl.

We also played paintball guns where the king and the littler prince fought against the queen and the elder prince. I am proud to inform that the queen hit the king four times and won. We also visited a cashew nut factory and did a spot of shopping for the elder prince as his clothes (being a pre-teen) is very expensive in s'pore. We managed to get him three cool t-shirts for about S$6 per piece. The princes also tried some light Thai massage and liked it so much they requested for another one the next day.

The princes had a chance to eat some street food such as chicken noodles (S$1.80 per bowl) and sweet pancakes (S$1.80 per piece) and witness some working children selling flowers. They were of course not spared the chance of a teachable moment by their mom on how fortunate they are compared to children elsewhere.

On the whole, the princes liked Phuket. Actually, they just liked being on a holiday and hogging their parents, especially their dad, who are not in s'pore half the time. He played with them throughout the entire stay in Phuket and allowed me some time to get a pedicure and do some reading. On the day of departure, the littler prince was a little sad and reluctant to leave, so I told him we would return to Thailand again, not necessarily Phuket, though.