Monday, February 18, 2008

#52 Phuket w/ Pics

Believe it or not, after my initial despair over the lost pictures, I discovered that the memory card from the sunken camera still held my Phuket pictures.

Now I am in a better mood to write a summary of our second R&R trip since moving to China. Phuket is an island province located on the west coast of Thailand in the Andaman Sea. From Shanghai, it was a five hour direct flight on China Eastern Airlines. Unfortunately the flight is a red-eye in both directions !

Phuket is a beautiful beach locale and the main activity, particularly with small children, is swimming. We spent every day on the beach or at the pool. The kids prefer the pool and it is easy on the parents.

We stayed at a five star resort called the Meridien. It had a fantastic breakfast and many activities included in the deal. We did snorkeling, miniature golf, rock climbing, archery, bocce, and lots of sailing. The had Hobie Cats to loan out and Juliana and I went sailing on three different days.

On several evenings, we visited different nearby beach towns on the west coast of Phuket - these included Karon, Kata, and Patong Beach. Each beach town was a crowded enclave of guesthouses, restaurants, and shopping vendors. Patong was the king of them all with nightclubs and and the busiest nightlife scene than I have seen in my life.

On Thursday we took a speed boat charter to Phi Phi Island, about 30 miles off the east coast of Phuket. The boat ride itself was far from pleasant because we travelled at breakneck speed over a rough sea. The bumby ride left all of us with sore backs and I suffered a bloody toe. The sights we saw, however, were just remarkable. These islands were truly what you picture in a Robinson Crusoe epic - except that they were crawling with tourists and hucksters renting beach chairs. The scenery was fantastic and we did some more snorkeling which was also spectacular.

Again, we are counting our blessings at the benefits of being on this assignment in China. The R&R trips are one of the perks of our expat package and the places that we all are getting to see and experience are amazing.

A more complete set of photos has been uploaded to Snapfish for your enjoyment. Thanks for tuning in !

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