Thailand 2008

How many of us had been anywhere aside from our comfort zone? Well, one thing I do perhaps will definitely suggest – go on a trip with your family and with your most trusted friends or close family relations.

This year 3 families went on a most awaited trip to Phuket and Bangkok namely: Cooper family (Ian/Debbie with children Lauren, Brendan, Matthew, and Nicole), Pomeroy family (Colin/Karen with daughter Simone), and yours truly Tamowicz family (Alex/Myself with sons Alexander and Taylor). As I can recall it was all out of the blue came up with the idea to go to Thailand last July 2007.

We went together before to Vanuatu in January 2006 (plus the Francis family: Rob and Jane with twins Brett and Megan), stayed at Le Lagon for a week. It had kids club and the kids enjoyed themselves as well as the adults got together. There was kayaking, tennis, golf, table tennis, sailing, etc.

On 29 March 2008 (Saturday) at around 7:30pm Debbie together with Brendan and Matthew picked us up, Ian with Lauren and Nicole, Colin with Karen and Simone, drove to Brisbane International Airport. Colin and Debbie drove their cars to Eagle Farm then went back to the airport with Ian while he parked his car at the airport. We flew to Phuket at midnight. Since it was early morning we all went to sleep which I believe except for Debbie who was unsure of flying (mind you, she’s been on the plane several times in her life).

We arrived at Bangkok early morning of Sunday and met Alex (he flew from Guinea) and caught another flight for Phuket. Since Alex had a business class ticket we swapped so he can stay with the boys. We arrived at around lunchtime.

We stayed at Phuket Hilton Arcadia Resort with free buffet breakfast. The Pomeroys stayed in 1 room, Coopers in 3 rooms, while we had 2 rooms. All of us had a wonderful view of the ocean in Kerong Beach. The children were so delighted when they saw the waterfall slide at the pool and in fact the hotel had 3 pools all in all. The resort also had steam spa, spa and massage in which we ladies and the girls indulged ourselves, games room, tennis, kids club, etc.

We just lazed around the pool on this day while we planned the tours we wanted to do. We had buffet dinner and watched the traditional dance after dinner.

Monday morning, had our first buffet breakfast which they catered for everyone: Japanese, Korean, Continental Breakfast, Thais, you name it! We hired a van and took us to Festival Mall. We thought we could buy something at a bargain price but in disappointment so we decided to go to Patong Beach instead. The beach was so busy and shops everywhere. You can buy Billabong, Ripcurl shirts for BHT199 equivalent to around AU$8, and also imitation watches.

It was a very tiring and a hot day. Back to the resort and plunged into the pool until we met at 6:30pm for dinner together (which we did every night except for one night as we were exhausted).

We went to Phi Phi Island. It was an all day trip to the 3 islands. We snorkelled and saw lots of beautiful fishes. We went to Monkey Island where the tour guide fed them with bananas. Came back to the resort and met up for dinner again.

We watched 2 shows: Fantasea where they had show elephants and traditional dances. It also had a story about a little boy with a magic elephant who saved the kingdom. We had buffet dinner and the dining room I believe can accommodate around 4000 people.

The other show was called Simon Cabaret. The performers here were transvestite. They were so lovely and wouldn’t be able to tell the difference until they opened their mouths. They sang and danced beautifully and lipsang singers like Tine Turner, Both shows were entertaining.

We also went to James Bond Island where Roger Moore in 1982 apparently filmed his movie, The Man with the Golden Gun. On the way to the island, we went kayaking first at Newfern Island. It was only during low tide that you can access these beautiful caves and inside was like another room. We had lunch at a floating village of Newfern before headed off to James Bond Island.

On 7 April 2008 (Monday), left very early at around 5:00am for Bangkok. We arrived Bangkok at around 9:00am. We stayed at Royal Orchid Sheraton and those of us who had several rooms had adjoining rooms and a view of the Bangkok river. We also had free buffet breakfast.

We went to Phantik, a mall with several floors selling electronics, and MBK jewelries, clothings, bags, electronics, etc at a bargain price.

We went to tour The Grand Palace where the royalties lived. It was magnificent and a huge place. The paintings on the wall depicted a legend believed by Thais were exquisite.

We also got on the ferry serviced by Hilton then caught the Skytrain and walked a few kilometers to MBK. The Skytrain cost BHT30 one way and airconditioned.

As always, dined together for dinner and on our last night we all boarded the ferry to watch Bangkok river at night after our dinner at the Italian Restaurant.

On early Thursday morning of 10 April at around 4am, we got up as we flew back to Brisbane at 8:30am. We arrived Brisbane at around midnight and home in bed early morning of Friday. Poor Debbie had to drive us back home!

On the first 2-3 days, for some reason Taylor and Nicole were not well. Taylor threw up and Nicole had tummy pain.

But above all, it was an exhausting though exhilarating and memorable trip.

PS: Once at home, had all these videos and photos to convert into a movie. Quite interesting! Took me a week and thanks to Windows which gave me a nightmare anything over 20 minutes o f videos. Never trust Windows Moviemaker!