Phuket

We set off for our Phuketian adventure with the traditional sea-sick-making lurchy taxi ride to the airport. Ross has recruited a friendly taxi driver Ah Tsun (Danny) who will take us there, and pick us up for a very reasonable fare (but he does drive like a maniac).

We stayed at Pacific Club Resort, in a 2 bedroom suite (as we took our helper with us). The hotel is just north of Karon beach, near the infamous Patong beach.

Mostly we spent lots of time in the gorgeous pool and tried to tech the boys to swim! We were very lucky that our friends Darryl and Karen were in Phuket at the same time, with their twins Isabella and Luke. They have an apartment in Palm Beach, which is in the Laguna area. The apartment and the pool were gorgeous.

Our boys are just little, only 1 year old, but here are a few of the things to do with kids in Phuket.

The Phuket Big Buddha - just about overtook the Big Buddha on Lantau as the Largest Seated Buddha in the World. There's not much there, as the buddha was only completed in 2010; there's no access to the dude himself, and not a lot around the (building) site - nothing to compare to Ngong Ping (home to the world's first 7 Eleven, if my brother is to be believed)

The Phuket Aquarium - hmm, well, I haven't been to many aquaria, but this was certainly not the best. A few of the inhabitants were dee ee ay dee, if you see what I mean. Several of the exhibits weren't working, and those that were were pretty lame. Basically it was a bit crap, but we really needed something to do inside with the boys in the middle of the day when the sun is so strong. On the plus side we had a nice lunch at the hotel just next to the aquarium, the Kantary Bay.  It's an isolated place though, so I'm not sure I'd want to stay there.

Phuket Old Town - a few streets in Old Phuket are really pretty, with lovely architecture. It took quite a long time to get there though, so not sure it was really worth it!

Karon Beach - it's a long, beautiful stretch of beach, which is mostly very clean and lovely. I think I am spoiled though, because I sort of expect all beaches to be like that....

We went to a couple of lovely restaurants, Bai Toey (where we went twice actually) and Oasis. In general Karon was a bit seedier than I hoped, but hey, things are different now that we have two little monkeys to take around with us.