The Family Adventure in Thailand (and a little wedding)

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We set off on January 18^thwith the kids in tow and stayed the night in Melbourne for an early morning flight the next day. We met up with one of our friends Chris (from our home town) and also my son Trent and his girlfriend Vic who flew in that morning from Adelaide at the airport. The trip over was pretty uneventful with a small stop in the Kuala Lumpur airport. The kids were amazing on the way over on the long flight, both desperate to be the one to sit next to Trent. They were made to swap halfway! We met up with my parents in the KL airport for a quick meal before Mum and Dad flew out to Bangkok for a few days and once we headed for Phuket. It was after midnight our time by this stage, so had been a massive massive day!

We arrived to find John waiting for us and it was a relatively quick trip to the hotel. It had been a huge day of travel so we were all straight to bed upon arriving to the hotel. Our first day was spent looking around Phuket with some wedding preparation thrown in... I went to Lisa Allen's house for a makeup and hair trial. I was so happy to have secured Lisa as she was amazing. The rest of the crew came to pick me up and we headed to the Kata Viewpoint for lunch. After lunch we went to Katathani where the Trent, Vic, Chris, Mitchell and Maya crashed the Katathani Pool for a swim and Todd and I went to meet with the wedding planner and meet our celebrant. Afterwards we went back to the hotel. Everyone spent the afternoon lazing in the pool and tanning before having a quiet dinner across the road from the hotel at a small restaurant.

Our guests for the wedding were arriving over the coming few days.

Day 2 we wandered around Patong, and along the beach in search of food. We ended up eating at a restaurant on the beach ..... sadly both Chris and I had the same cocktail and spent the next couple of days pretty sick! From that we can probably assume that the ice in our coconut cocktail was not good or the coconuts perhaps had been washed in dirty water... it was the only thing that we both had the same and I was surprised as it was a popular tourist seafood restaurant on the beach. We wandered back doing some shopping along Rat u Thit Rd before again spending afternoon by the pool.



Day 3 we jumped in a minivan with the Gartsides (our besties from Mount Gambier) who had now arrived with three of their kids in tow. Mitchell and Maya were so excited to have their besties along for the ride (and so were we!). Up until this point, the kids had been slightly challenging.... They are fussy eaters so being in Thailand where it was all new to them, became a food nightmare. I can still remember the tantrum Mitchell had over the bread he ate for breakfast not tasting the same as 'at home' despite having eaten the same bread the day before no problems! LOL you can always look back and laugh! I can certainly say that after 10 years on the road in South East Asia, suddenly having the children along was an eye opener and presenting a whole new set of challenges!



After breakfast, we headed up to the Kok Chang elephant safari and rode the elephants. I was a little torn about doing this as the kids and Todd really wanted to do it and with no rescue park yet open in Phuket it did not leave me many options! I decided that since Kok Chang had a good reputation I could compromise my values for ONE ride. The kids loved it and Todd was freaking out once he was on the elephants neck. It was very funny...



Just prior to leaving Kok Chang my tummy troubles set in. Chris had piked on the day already as he was already woken up sick however mine was just starting. I had a vomit in the toilets and we set off. I decided that I was not going to make the day out so John dropped me back to the hotel and I crawled into bed sick as a dog. The rest of the gang went out for an afternoon at the Trick Eye Musuem and the Upside down house. They had an amazing time and came back full of stories and photos.



By Friday, all our guests had arrived so we had a beautiful welcome dinner on the top of our hotel roof. The hotel had turned the rooftop into a private function for us and it was unbelievable. Everyone paid 500 baht per head from memory ($20) and the spread they put on was amazing. I almost regretted not having our wedding reception there as it was STUNNING. They did such a great job.... big thumbs up to Deevana Plaza Phuket for their hospitality, amazing food and great service! They had decorated all our tables with flowers and there were lights everywhere and with the sunset in the background, we ate BBQ meats, salads, vegetables, spring rolls, rice and desserts (and more I cant even remember) till we were all full. It was so special to see the people that had made such a huge effort to be there for our special day. My two besties from Queensland that I did Cambodia and Thailand with in 2011 (Jakki and Narelle) were there, as were Casey and Rob from Perth. Casey and I have been friends for as long as I can remember growing up together in NSW. We had Chris and the Gartside family from home. My son and his girlfriend had joined us from Adelaide, as had Deb and John (my parents best friends). It was just such a special time in our lives to finally be sharing South East Asia with those closest to us.



After dinner, a group of people decided they were going to head out to one of the 'ping pong' shows. Jade and I gave the husbands the night off and my bestie, Casey promised to look after Todd and not get him in any trouble. We all had an early day the next day so we told the boys to be home early.... well by 1am I was in a complete panic... Jade and I were messaging each other both unable to sleep wondering where the hell the boys were... both stumbled in the door at 2am. I expected Todd to be drunk, but thankfully he wasn't. It was only much later that I got the story of everyone (including my son) encouraging the ping pong ladies by telling them it was Todd's bucks show.... He ended up on stage, tied up being whipped and right at the end they dacked him before the lights went out! Ahem!!!! LOL



The following day was the REAL Bucks/Hens days... It shows how old I have got when the thought of actually doing anything 'party' like was just not even on the radar... the boys headed off for a day on the ATV's and the girls set off for a spa day and lunch. My Dad and his mate, John volunteered to baby sit the kids... I am guessing it will be the last time they ever do so.... they survived but I think that it was JUST! LOL They spent the day poolside watching the kids in the pool and giving them free reign on the pool bar menu!



The girls and I went to MOOKDA SPA, a local spa a 20 min drive from Patong . It was recommended by our driver John and it was perfection. A little overlooking the river with your massage only interrupted by the occasional girly scream coming from the nearby Bungy Jump. We all initially got to sit and choose our 'package' before stripping off to towels and sitting in a sauna. After the sauna it was a quick plunge in a cold spa before all going our seperate ways for our individual wraps, facials and massages! After 3 hours we all met back up and headed to Kata beach for lunch. We ate at the Boathouse which was gorgeous. A little pricey but everyone loved it and the cocktails were great!



The day before our wedding was my son's 23rd birthday! Happy birthday TRENT!!! We headed out for a day with Captain Mark from Phuket Sail Tours on a PP Island and snorkelling trip. It was the best day out as all our guests joined us so it had a great party atmosphere. It was so amazing to see the kids get into the snorkelling and even both of the kids jumped from the front of the boat into the open ocean once we were in a beautiful bay (with lifejackets firmly strapped on of course!).



We visited Maya Bay (Maya loved this) and had lunch on Phi Phi Island. We then spent the afternoon lazing away on a beautiful beach with some drinks. Mitchell did amazing at the snorkelling and it was such a great day out.. Best memories ever and one of my favourite days overseas ever! When do you ever find yourself with 20+ of your family and friends experiencing such amazing beauty! God I so wish we could go back to that day! It is funny that after the fact, when you look back you just wish you could go back and freeze a moment in time, or appreciate it more.



After dinner that night, Maya and I went and found a fancy beauty salon at Jung Ceylon where we got our toenails and fingernails painted for the wedding the following day. The boys did some shopping and wandering around before they headed back to the hotel. On the way home we managed to find a Hello Kitty tuktuk much to Maya's delight and got a lift back to the hotel!

Our wedding day finally arrived and went to way quick. See the next blog for our wedding and photos!

The day after our wedding we decided to celebrate with tattoos! Jade and Adam decided to join us. I got a coverup on my foot (goodbye bad 'trane' tattoo from the full moon party 2008) and Todd and I got matching tattoos (added to our engagement tattoo). It was also time for Maya to get her hair braided along with her little bestie Lara. so cute! Later that night, Jade and I settled in for massages while the boys wandered Jungceylon. The rest of the day/night was spent shopping up a storm for the kids. Maya was IN LOVE with the Hello Kitty store but even she was surprised how expensive some of the stuff was. That is probably the most disappointing part of Phuket now. I found that the prices of everything have gone up so much that most things are pretty much on par with Australian pricing now, and that applies to shopping food and drinks



The very last day came around too soon and we did another tour that we invited everyone to join us for . John took us around to all the popular sites; we visited Wat Chalong, the Big Buddha, The Chalong Rum Factory and we finished with lunch at Nikita's Rawai Beach! The Rum Factory was awesome and well worth a visit if you are in Phuket. If we did not have the kids, it would have maybe been a boozy lunch/afternoon there. You can try lots of different flavoured cocktails made with their white rum and they have platters of food you can share. Great afternoon out for couples or friends. We chose not to hang around to do a tour of the factory as the kids were getting hungry as were we.



Sadly the day ended too soon and it was time to start saying our goodbyes to everyone... time to head back to reality.... the kids had an amazing time on their first of many to come overseas adventures! Stay tuned for the next blog which is specifically on our wedding in Phuket and may be a good resource for anyone planning a wedding in Thailand!



I want to say a huge thankyou to all our family and friends who took the time out of their busy lives and invested financially to come along for the week to help us celebrate our wedding. I am sorry to those that we didn't get a lot of quality one on one time together (Trent, Vic, Casey, Jakki, Narelle, Mum specifically) but I want you to all know how much we loved having you there with us and it truly meant more than the world that you were there for me. I honestly can't thank you all enough and your friendship means everything to me (even though we all get lost in the busy-ness of life).



Love you so much

Marita (and Todd)

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Photos

The boys on the bucks show!
Photo by Chris