Phuket, Thailand Revisited

 

When I was four, my daddy asked me what kind of man I wanted to marry. Without batting an eye, I reportedly said, "Somebody who likes to travel." Even then, traveling was in my blood. 

I don't generally like going to the same place twice, not even restaurants. I kind of feel like with all the options out there, why revisit something you've already done. Right? I also want to do every, single, cool thing available in whatever spot we visit because - as I said - I don't want to retrace my footprints. This ticks Tom off to no end. He thinks my obsession with trying new things is ridiculous. Even so, he generally humors me. I do the research and the planning and he happily tags along. He's like a good cooler. I can take him anywhere - to slop pigs or to the opera. I obviously married the man of my dreams.

Of course, it goes both ways. Every other year, we go to our fancy timeshare in Cabo San Lucas in Mexico. I've gone to St. Maarten with him twice. This weekend? We took our second trip to Phuket, Thailand. Why not? Flights from Singapore to Phuket are cheap and short. 

The first trip was for our honeymoon 11 years ago. Since we both started new jobs the same month we got married, the trip to Thailand was actually to celebrate our one year anniversary, but we called it our honeymoon nevertheless.

That trip we did a whole range of activites. We stayed at the Amanpuri, the most expensive single night for which we've ever paid. We were rocked to sleep on a floating raft hotel in the River Kwai only to be awakened by elephants who'd gotten loose and were raiding the stash of pineapples. We spent a restless night on a palette in a "cabin" with a dirt floor, giant bugs and a birthday candle for a light. It was the perfect trip. We were mostly travelers and not tourists. While we did some touristy things, we mostly stayed off the beaten path.

As I feared, revisiting Phuket kind of spoiled some of those memories. This time we stayed on the other side of the island at The Westin. Tom had enough Starwood points to earn us two free nights and who am I to sneeze at free nights? While the hotel was an absolutely splendid, 5-star resort, I felt more like a tourist this go around. Of course, when you travel with kids, there isn't much of a choice. It's not like two toddlers can camp in yurt. It's just that I often feel like most resorts are a world of their own. Your time is spent with other tourists with very little of the true flavor of the country seeping through the secluded walls.

Maybe I need to find volunteer work here that visits the "real" country, whatever that means. I guess the part of me that wanted to be a foreign correspondent, dodging gunfire is the part who wants to get my hands dirty when I travel. I think the things that make me most happy when I travel are seeing wildlife, meeting native people and true handicraft finds. This was not that trip, but fabulous all the same.

This resort sits perched high above the ocean with beautiful views, all quite high end, definitely not a kids' resort. Yes, there is a great Kids Club and plenty of kid-friendly food, but I measure kid resorts by the pool. This place has a spectacular infinity pool a cliff and the smallest wading pool I have ever seen. No matter. The kids still had a ball paddling around with us and riding the tuk tuks (Thai, open-air vehicles) up and down the cliffs. 

Because of Tom's Starwood status, the kids ate for free so they tried all sorts of new things, even using chopsticks. I love that they are eating more and more things. Hudson is downright adventurous these days when it comes to food though there is plenty he doesn't like once he tries it.

The food at the resort was absolutely fabulous! Breakfast was a giant buffet with both breakfast and dinner-type food from Thailand, China, the US - you name it. I've never seen such variety in a spread! Yum!!

Phuket is really best known for its beaches and islands that dot the coast so we  took a 15-minute boat ride to this tiny island called Koh Khai Nok. This was pure and simple an excursion for the kids.

We bought these colorful, ball-shaped "puffs" to feed the fish. I'm not talking about one or two fish. No, when we dropped  a puff into the water, hundreds of fish swarmed.

The kids loved it, laughing and giggling up a storm - once they got over the initial freak-out factor. Hudson was very possessive of the fish food loving the whole process of digging a ball out of the bag and dropping it into the water.

Tom tried to catch a fish with his bare hands and got a barb in his hand. His finger swelled up for a few hours and the guide had to put some kind of medicine on it. Obviously, he's not the first to try. Men!

Almost as popular as feeding the fish was taking a picture of our kids. 95% of the tourists that PACKED the waters and sliver of sand not covered up with beach chairs were Asian.

They loved our kids! Usually Hudson with his blond, curly locks is the star, but he was cranky and wanted nothing to do with the paparazzi. Maisie, on the other hand, ate it up, posing with tourist after tourist, voguing up a storm. One man even wanted a picture of himself with Tom and then had Tom take a picture of him holding Maisie. I keep wondering if perhaps some of those folks have better pictures of our family vacation than I do. My kids hardly ever smile for our camera!

On Sunday, we put the kids in the Kids Club (to their delight!) and took a second boat trip. This time Tom and I headed out for some couple time to Koh Coral to snorkel - without my camera. Darn! Let's just say it wasn't Koh Phi Phi, the fabled island off Phuket. I loved Phi Phi all those years ago with turquoise waters and long boats moored off the beach. Tiny huts with TV antennas dotted the shore at the time. I'm sure it was all washed away by the tsunami. Phi Phi was stunning back then, the true definition of idyllic. Now I fear it's too commercial. Somehow, I didn't want to know for sure. Plus, the trip to Phi Phi was a full day and we didn't want to leave the kids that long.

Coral Island? It was beautiful probably 20 years ago before tourism hit it, but now? Well, sadly, it sucked. There were very few fish to see, probably scared off by the constant roar of the speed boats pulling banana boats and para sailers. The coral on Coral Island was mostly dead though I did see some really cool purple critters - perhaps even a kind of coral - that made me think of a Venus Flytrap, opening and closing it's "jaws." Like Khai, Coral had local residents living in squalor only steps away from the beach. Poverty looks the same in most countries. I found it hard to enjoy my splurge while folks 30 feet behind me were obviously struggling for survival.

We did venture into the town of Phuket twice. Unlike my memories of cool restaurants, bars and ladyboys in nearby Patong, Phuket is an ugly city with not much redeeming value. We found a few cool trinkets in some bad shops across from McDonalds.

We had dinner  in Phuket without the kids with a nice couple we met at the Kids Club. Heather is an Aussie, James a Brit. Their son William is Hudson's age. We plan to get them together back in Singapore, where they also just moved. We ate at a place called Raya. The food was great (isn't all Thai food?), but the ambience was terrible - as in none at all. Still, it was the least touristy thing we did. In retrospect, I found myself wishing we had ventured back to Patong.

Truth is, our family had a lovely time, but it just didn't compare to our adventure there more than a decade ago. Maybe - dare I say it - we should go back yet one more time and stay at a super, child-friendly place like the Marriott and revisit the rebuilt Patong area to see how things there have changed since the tsunami. Hey, if we move to Singapore for good, that's a highly probable scenario. Flights are really inexpensive and toddlers can easily tolerate the 1.5 hour hop. I wonder if our kids have any idea how good they have it. Wow.

Truth is, we all have it pretty good. One of the nicest things about coming home from our vacation? Cheryl had packed the frig with food and made lunch. Now? She's working on dinner while she starts yet another load of vacation laundry.