Phi Phi Island Hopping

Okay, you want Thailand posts?  Well here they are. This is first of, hopefully, several posts chronicling (sp?) our recent trip to Singapore and Thailand.  The following post describes one single day of our two week vacation.  Enjoy. 

We booked an island hopping tour through http://www.phuketsailtours.com/. They picked us up at our hotel at 7:45 AM and we arrived at the boat dock (after picking up a couple other people) around 9:00. As soon as we arrived we were welcomed wholeheartedly by the Captain, Sean, and his “first mate” Elise. They are from Australia and have essentially grown up doing this sort of stuff (boating, diving and such). They were extremely friendly from the very beginning and all three of the kids took them almost instantly (good for us, maybe not so for them). The rest of the group consisted of two brothers on vacation together, a couple and their 3 children, and another couple. I think they were all from India. Then there were, of course, Sean and Elise, and their crew (four gentleman from the local area).

First we had to get flippers. Never used them before.

 Soon after that we were on our way. Don’t forget the anti-nausea meds (conveniently provided free of charge).

Hop on the speedboat and off to the first island – a mere 50 km away. I was worried that Alex and Katya might fly out of the boat but Sean assured me that only one person has ever fallen out of the boat before: himself.

On the way to the first stop, we drank soda, water and chocolate milk to our heart’s content, along with nibbling a few bananas and mystery fruit (can’t remember the name, but like grapefruit yet not so sour).  After warning us about the locals (monkeys) we disembarked to get a quick snorkeling lesson.

Katya was a regular fish in the water.

 Then we hopped back on and ferried offshore about 100 yards to a good snorkeling spot by the cliff. There were so many exotic fish just on the surface. We’d drop a slice of bread in the water and immediately hordes of colorful fish would begin nibbling away at the treat. I could feel their scales rubbing against my arm as they thrashed about vying for a chance to snatch a morsel in their tiny mouths. Mark loved watching the chaos as he bobbed around in his lifejacket. 

We saw schools of colorful fish all around us, sea sponges, weird looking eel-like things just sitting on the ocean floor doing absolutely nothing (like I do at home most of the time), a bunch of “Finding Nemo” (mostly Marlin and Gil, though someone said they saw Dori), lots and lots of coral and all the stuff that grows on coral. I ventured close to the cliffside a bit as well as between some of the rocks, almost beaching myself a couple of times in the shallow tide. I should mention here that Sean and Elise tailored this trip specifically for our group. None of the 14 of us had any substantial snorkeling experience, so it worked out perfectly and everyone was happy.

 After snorkeling, off to lunch. P P island. Food included in the package. What kind of food you ask? Thai food. I liked the Massaman curry and chicken. Very spicy. After lunch, we waited for a brief downpour to blow through then we were off again. This was where I got to jump in the water with Mark and just throw rocks around. Never seen a happier kid.

 

Wind and waves picked up a little, but no worries -- just means a bumpier (and more fun) ride to the next stop. Pulled up alongside a cliff face and hopped out for another round of snorkeling. I was amazed at the life teeming just below the water’s surface. I’m addicted to snorkeling now.

Next stop, “The Beach” beach (yes, the beach from the movie “The Beach” which I have never seen (because it’s rated R and I tend to avoid those movies, but mostly because it features Di Caprio of the Leonardo variety). The beach: two thumbs up – absolutely breathtaking. The restrooms: one thumb down and the other pinching my nose along with the opposing index finger. But let’s not get too picky. What do you expect when hundreds of tourists flock to a single island every single day (and probably right after lunch like we did). 

 Here’s an example of how I knew we picked the right tour company. It’s hard to make out, but that’s Sean in the middle of that mess of children there. As every parent knows, you only have fun when your kids are happy. I’d venture to say that Sean was having a good time too.

 Time to head home. Made one last stop on the way at this privately owned island (one of a few in Thailand). Just walked around a bit, checked out the insanely expensive jewelry at the pearl shop, picked up a few shells for free, then we left.  

Arrived back at the dock around 5:00 PM.  Said goodbye (multiple times) to Sean and Elise and the crew.  Then we were off in the shuttle back to our hotel.  Best day of our whole two-week vacation.

On the tour’s website it says: “We want you to feel like you have had a day out with a group of friends.”  Well, Sean and Elise, you definitely succeeded and I hope I will have the privilege of taking a  trip again with you.  Maybe next time we can take the sailboat.

sawatdee,

Robert

Our Kids Are So Lucky

What kind of things did you do for fun when you were five years old? What places had you visited by the time you were seven? I cannot believe how much fun our children have experienced in the past few years. And I think they know that they are very lucky:)

One of the services that Thailand is famous for is massage. Thai massage is offered everywhere! And it is very inexpensive. You pay 300 Baht for 60 minutes. That is about $10. Seriously? How could I NOT get a massage. So I did. It was fantastic, but sort of strange because it was done in everyone’s plain view. Thankfully I was fully dressed:)

Alex was also asking for a massage, so I bought him a 30 minute one, thinking there is no way that he’d lie still. Oh, how was I wrong! He was in heaven:)

Katya got her hair braided instead. A rather inexpensive service as well. Plus I bargained with the ladies and they gave me a good deal on both.

I got to talk to one of these ladies who spoke good English. She was so surprised at how young I am and amazed at how fair my skin is:) (yes, I know I never tan...)

She told me about her life, her family, their country. It just made me think more about how blessed I am having such a great family, husband, kids, and freedoms.

Mini-Stars of Thailand

Remember how I told you Sunwing, the first resort at which we were staying for the first five nights, was all for Scandinavians and all for children? Almost every night there was a show/performance for kids. On Fridays, the Swedish performance group organizes a show called “Mini-Stars” for which kids sign up, pick a song which they want to learn to dance to. Alex really wanted to do that (doesn’t surprise us!). Katya was hesitant at first, but finally she decided she would like to try that as well. Both of them wanted to do a song from High School Musical, and Alex was determined to sing on the stage rather just dance.  When we saw the list though, we were a little disappointed. Most of the songs were in English but they were mostly popular in Sweden, some were by ABBA, and only one was from High School Musical. I had no choice but to sign them up for “You Are The Music In Me”—kind of a slower song, but the kids were okay with that.

Katya and Alex had one practice in the late afternoon and at 7 pm, it was show time! They got to pick out their outfits and got all the VIP privileges of sitting on the stage and going behind the curtain:) They were the only American kids in the group. It was not a problem at all, since all Swedish people are fluent in English.

Here are some pictures from their performance.   

Although this was such a small performance, I am so proud for both Katya and Alex for being brave enough to do it in front of lots people. This was a very exciting experience for them, the one they’ll remember for a very long time:)

Lyana

P.A. I am still working on getting a video uploaded to my posts. The files are just too big. Hopefully, I’ll work it out soon.

I love my life in Bang Tao

It is easy to summarize what we did in Bang Tao: 

We slept, we ate… 

We swam at the beach… 

We swam at the pool… 

(Mark wanted to wear those purple goggles on top of his head while in the pool). 

The beach again… 

The pool again… 

Then we would take a little break to eat… 

 

Swam some more…

(Although Katya was a bit apprehensive of the ocean after being stung by the jelly fish…twice). 

Ate some more… (it helped that kids received a free buffet with a paying adult during lunch and dinner at our resort) 

Danced at the mini-disco before bedtime… (still trying to figure out how to upload a video)

Repeat the cycle….. 

Big “Thank You” goes out to our regular sponsor who makes these adventures possible…. 

Once we ventured out to the local market in a tuk-tuk. Kids loved it! I felt like I was going to fall out:)  I bought some unknown to me fruits as well as tried dragon fruit for the first time.  

  

Alex enjoyed kicking the ball around with one of the locals….. 

And Mark wished he were a little bit bigger…   

Sunwing Resort, Bang Tao, Thailand

What is your ideal vacation? Is it a sightseeing tour? A day full of outdoor adventures? Shopping?

Mine is lying on the beach while reading a good book.

That is the reason why after two nights in Singapore we took another flight over to Phuket, Thailand. Phuket, itself is an island off the west of mainland Thailand. Some of the best beaches in Thailand are located in this area.  We carefully researched each beach on the West coast of the island, trying to find the most family friendly and less crowded beach. We definitely succeeded.

(roundtrip airfare for all 5 of us, bought a day before departure was merely $614. I have only good things to say about JetStar.)

The first hotel where we stayed was Sunwing Resort in Bang Tao Bay. It is located about 25 minutes away from the airport. On the way to the resort from the airport, the driver took us through some of the poor parts of town, possibly intentionally. I was shocked at how horrible the road infrastructure is and at some of the living conditions that people have to endure.  And also trash…..lots and lots of trash everywhere…..

When we pulled in to our hotel, I couldn’t believe that such nice places existed right next to such poverty. I guess I had never been to a third world country before (unless you consider Ukraine a third world country, of course:)).

All right, enough with the sad part! Sunwing turned out to be a fantastic place to stay IF you have kids. It was a Swedish resort (I know what you are thinking). Ninety percent of people who stayed there were from Scandinavia, primarily Sweden. Almost all the people had kids. I believe we were the only Americans there. I guess, Sunwing is owned by a Swedish company that has hotels all over Europe as well. Swedes just hop on a chartered flight from Stockholm to Phuket and stay at this place for weeks.

Our room was great—a very large living room with a king bed and a trundle twin couch, plus a bedroom with two twin beds and a second bedroom. Needless to say, we all fit just great. Mark was able to take his regular naps in the middle of the day, and everyone slept through the night.

We had four big pools on property and two smaller kiddie pools. The resort was right on the beach, so we could run over from the pool to the beach and back as we wished.

Alex is showing you the view from our balcony—mainly palm trees and a sports pool.

Like I mentioned before, this was a place for families with children. Everything was done with kids in mind. Besides a ton of activities through their kids’ club every day, they had shows on the stage in the late afternoon at 4:30, after dinner at 7 pm and later a family show at 9 pm. Kids were never bored and looked forward to each performance although all of the stories and songs were in….Swedish:) The resort revolves around Lolo and Bernie as their theme characters. There are times during the day when we could see them walking around the hotel’s property giving hugs, dancing at mini-discos (that was interesting:)), singing songs during the performances and so on. Their song and moves are stuck in our minds till this day…. :)

Alex is loving it!

Giving Lolo hugs.  

The group of two young men and two young women that performed every night was fantastic! By the end of our stay there, they all knew Alex and Katya by name and sang lots of songs in English just for them:)  During family shows, they performed hundreds of songs by all the famous world artists. These guys sang  as well or better, in some cases, than the originals. 

The best part was, of course, the beach. Beautiful sand. Beautiful palm trees. Amazing warm water.

 

After a stormy day. This is the view we enjoyed eating at the many beachfront cafes.

Taking a stroll in the evening.

   

But this is not all….oh, this is not all.