Thailand - the "land of smiles"
For October 2016 we decided to rebook - and spend half-term in Phuket as a family. Phuket is an island about an hour's flight south of Bangkok. Having never visited Phuket before, I wasn't quite sure what to expect. I knew it would be far more commercialised than the quieter Hua Hin that I visited all those years before, & I knew with only a week to cram in a holiday we didn't have time for a Bangkok stopover (I would have loved to revisit the capital city again) so I kept it simple with a week's stay just at Phuket. This is a destination that I do sell, but also one that I was inquisitive to find out more detail and one that I also wanted make my own up-to-date opinions about.
I chose a hotel - (of course on our TC books!) - Because of its location in a quieter part of the island. Probably one the quietest parts & least commercialised of the resorts along the Phuket's busy west coast.
What we found on arrival, was a resort or should I say smallish village that ticked all of our boxes. A handful of lovely restaurants - many who laid their plastic tables and chairs on the beach each evening, with the lighting being little lanterns hanging from the trees above. Food was both delicious and extremely reasonable - an evening meal of 2 courses with drinks for a family of four persons about £25 ish.
This resort also had a sprinkling of shops and plenty of places offering to give you a traditional Thai massage. I opted for a massage on day three; the head, shoulder & back massage. Although I wondered at the time if I was asking to suffer with a bad back for the rest of my stay (!) - The next day my poorly shoulder had never felt more agile & before the week was over I was even contemplating if I should go back for seconds....!
The village's beach was beautiful. Picture postcard to be exact. A long stretch of yellow sand, with gently shelving waters and palm trees galore.
Our first two days were overcast and without sunshine, so we decided to hire a car but with its own guide / driver. We ended up doing this for two days of our trip; first visit (a whole afternoon) we saw Phuket Town, The Big Buddha, Wat Chalong (temple of Chalong) and also the TRICKEYE Museum (good fun for children) The second outing; (by now the sun was shining!) Our own little west coast 'tour' to so I could see the coastal resorts of Kata beach, Karon Beach, Patong beach and Surin. Our driver even found us a nice little restaurant for our lunch on the front at Chalong Bay.
The last few days we spent pottering around our resort/village. Walked and walked along the beach as far as we could go, ate lunch at the local restaurants and meandered in & out of the little shops. We even had our laundry done in the village to save a job when we got home.
All in all I would wholly recommend Thailand & Phuket for families & couples; the beaches won't disappoint you, the people are friendly & you'll enjoy exploring and learning lots about a different culture and a world far from home!