Phuket

---

We left Dubai about 8.30 in the evening and flew to Hong Kong, arriving around 6am the next morning. We had a three hour stopover so we spent the time in the Qantas Club and read our first Australian newspapers for nearly 9 months. We then flew to Singapore where we spent a night at Changi Village (which is not far from the airport) as we couldn't get a flight to Phuket until the next day. On Wednesday we flew Thai Air Asia to Phuket.

We spent three nights in Patong Beach before heading a couple of kilometres out of town to the Le Meridian Resort for a couple of weeks of R&R. I mean after being on holidays for 8 and a half months it was just we needed. This resort is definitely the place for R&R - it has the biggest pool we have ever seen and Phuket in general has a very laid back atmosphere. If you don't leave this place feeling totally relaxed and rejuvenated then you never will.

We spent the time in Phuket doing not a lot. We layed around the pool or on the private beach during the day having coffee, beers and lunch bought to us and occassionally, when we could muster up the required amount of effort, caught a Tuk Tuk into Patong Beach for a bit of shopping. The shopping was an experience in itself. The people working in the stalls were all so friendly and we had lots of fun bartering with them but there were also more department stores and coffee chains than when we had visited Phuket a few years before and there is more to come with lots of development going on in Patong.

---

Photos

The hotel's baby elephant
The highlight of Sharon's day was when this baby elephant came around to visit the guests and go for a swim in the ocean.