Phuket Part 2 - more adventures

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We traveled a bit south on Phuket Island and reached our second hotel, Laguna Beach Resort. It's an older hotel, but was well reviewed on Tripadvisor.com and I got also got the thumbs up from my Orbitz.com advisers (I used to work there and still tap the network for travel tips whenever possible!).

As I mentioned in my previous post, we were looking forward to a hotel with more families and more kids. It's amazing how the priorities change when you travel with kids. I personally could have moved into the Indigo Pearl. It is heaven on earth. But the serenity was less enticing with two boisterous (and LOUD) kids.

Laguna is a great family hotel. We arrived at the room and could see the lagoon right outside our door. The resort is on a lagoon shared by several large hotels and there is a boat shuttle and a bus shuttle that runs between the properties. As much as we thought that sounded appealing, we never visited the other resorts during our stay. Our hotel had a great pool with a slide, beach access and a large number of free activities. We were set for our three days there.

We could see the marine center from our room and took full advantage of it. We borrowed kayaks, and snorkeling gear (all included with our stay). They offered intro lessons for wind-sailing (which we took with Nathan) and then followed up with about 30 minutes of sailing. Nathan loved being the captain and did a great job maneuvering the boat. The hotel is also right on the beach, and we loved going shell collecting and exploring. We also enjoyed Lulu's beach side bar. It's decor is classic Bob Marley Rastafarian. The beach has a few restaurants as well which we tried for dinner on our second night as an alternative to the rather pricey hotel options. Interestingly, the beach, which was adjacent to the resort's property, was lined with shanty-type storefronts and bars that were privately owned. We found it strange but enjoyable that there were these cheaper alternatives to the resort steps from the property's own cafe and poolside bar. While the view of the ocean is somewhat marred by the shacks, I liked it. The salespeople were friendly and not overly aggressive.

The resort is gigantic, but since it not a peak season, it was not full. We got to know a few other families and enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere with kids squealing and laughing and splashing in the pool. We met other expat families from Australia and England who were living in Singapore, Beijing and, of course, Shanghai. We also met a lot of Australians who were in fact living in their home country.

Of course, we had to do the much talked about boat trip to Phi Phi Island (pronounced "pee pee"). We have heard, and made, all the relevant jokes about Poo-ket and Pee Pee island. Trust me. We have a 7 and 10 year old with us. Phi Phi Island is where the movie "The Beach" was filmed.

After some online research and price comparison at various tour vendors on the beach, we booked a tour. Booking at the beach vendor saved us some money. The prices in the brochures were not indicative of our final price--and the two vendors we spoke with both offered reduced prices. Not sure if it's the fact that it's low season, or it's just the usual sales tactic of reducing an inflated price, but we were glad to see the prices go down regardless. For an entire day trip, including lunch and snorkeling gear, snacks and drinks throughout the day, we paid 5,000 THB (about $150). Of course, there were additional expenses at each stop on the tour since our pictures were snapped as we got off the boat and souvenirs with those very pictures were offered before we got back on the boat. Very clever (and very effective) marketing tactics.

Our tour guide's name was Leonardo (like the star of "The Beach" movie, Leonardo DiCaprio). Coincidence? I think not. He was extremely enthusiastic and friendly, but ran a tight ship. The deal was we would stop at various places, have time there, and then move on to the next place. He gave us a meeting time and expected the group of 16 to be punctual. At one stop, the first one actually, a couple was not back at the appointed time. Leonardo, our friendly guide, turned into Leo the Terrible. He yelled at the tardy couple and we were all back to the boat early after that. To Leonardo's credit, he was focused on our safety and getting us out of any rough waters before they got rougher. The water was quite choppy and we were glad that we took the complimentary motion sickness pills before we embarked on the voyage.

The first stop, Phi Phi Ley was pretty, but very crowded with other tour groups. I expected as much, but it was disappointing to see the trash on the beach. I have been disturbed throughout our time in Thailand, by the amount of garbage--mostly plastic trash from food containers and water bottles--washed ashore. One thing I did not see on Phi Phi was a trash can. There was a sign that said "Please take your trash with you." This was clearly not doing the trick. I had the brilliant idea that for every tour boat to the island, they should require the boat operators to take full bags back with them. Even if it's not the tour group's garbage. Maybe I'll write to the mayor of Phuket. Dirty beaches make me sad.

Next we motored a bit and stopped in a calmer area for snorkeling. We wore our life vests but Emily did not like being in the ocean and so she was back on the boat pretty quickly. Nathan, Mark and I had fun snorkeling. I freaked out when I saw some jellyfish and accidentally kicked Nathan. He was okay. I felt bad, but it was also a good snorkeling 101 lesson on keeping clear of other snorkelers.

After the snorkeling stop, we went to Monkey Beach and saw many cute monkeys and some extra cute baby monkeys. Our guide threw them bananas. There were a group of other tourists in the water hand-feeding the monkeys. Our group stuck with watching and photographing the monkeys.

We took a quick ride to another island and had a buffet lunch which was much tastier than we expected. We had some rest time, and then were back on the boat to head to our final stop, Khai Nai Island. This ride was really rough. We were all sleepy from lunch, so somehow we managed to dose off as the boat slammed time after time into the water. My back was sore the next day from being slammed over and over. One passenger on the boat seemed to be on the verge of motion sickness the entire tour. I watched her warily because I was afraid if she threw up, it might cause a chain reaction and we could be in for a smelly and messy ride. Fortunately, she kept sniffing this magic stick that seemed to do the trick. She had a series of barf-begone rituals that apparently worked.

Khai Nai Island had nice white sandy beaches and we did some more snorkeling. Mark and I rented chairs on the beach and I enjoyed a mojito (how could I not?) while the kids collected shells and ate ice cream. Good times. The beach had a lot of coral. We wished we had water shoes. Nathan and another little boy both got some bad coral cuts on their feet. The good news is, our tour guide rushed to their aid and cleaned and dressed the wounds with great care. Nathan's foot seems to be healing fine.

We ended up back at the hotel at about 5pm and got the kids and ourselves cleaned up so we could get them to the kids club and Mark and I could have a date night. We asked the kids and they agreed to go to movie night so we could do a grown up night out for a change.

We went into town, near Patong -- the wild and crazy party area of Phuket-- for dinner. We went to a place a friend recommended called Joe's Downtown. I called ahead and reserved a table. We were seated at a great table with an amazing view of the ocean and the sunset. We had delicious food and yummy drinks and enjoyed some kid-free time. We hired a driver for the evening and he waited for us at dinner and took us back to the hotel. We liked the driver so much (Mr. A) that we hired him to take us to the next hotel the following day. He had a great car--Toyota something with lots of luggage room and space for all of us.

The childcare ended at 9pm so we stopped in Patong for a quick 15 minutes of seeing what the hype was all about and then headed back to the hotel. I have to say that after a year of living in Shanghai, the hawkers lining the streets asking me to shop for watches and bags had no effect on me. I found it amusing that when I said "no thanks" that was enough and I was left alone. In China, saying no does not usually make a difference and we are followed tugged at and begged to go take a look at the item of the moment being sold with zeal. Also, we bought nothing. The stuff was nothing so different from what we can buy in China and we are trying to avoid buying things we will have to get back home to the US. So for this trip, our souvenirs are the memories, the pictures and the stories we will be telling for years to come.

The last morning at Laguna Beach, the kids opted to go to the kids club and Mark and I did a few more activities. We tried archery (I sucked, he sucked less), and then played a couple games of ping pong. He won, but we had 2 great games. It was nice to have some time to play on our own. Those little breaks make all the difference.

Next stop: Marriott Resort and Spa. We are heading north again, near the aiport for our early flight home Sunday morning.

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