Family beach holiday at Phuket
We kickstarted the September holidays (yay for an extra Teacher's Day holiday) with a beach holiday to Phuket.
It was our first family trip, just us with no extra help. Jo (19 months) is at the best age now. He is pretty easy to care - he just needs one nap in the afternoon and loves nothing more than running around and playing with his brothers. So glad we got to spend 3-4 wholesome days together and I didn't feel like I left a part of my heart at home ;)
We stayed at the quiet Bang Tao beach in Phuket. It was a bit far out from everything else but that was just how we liked it.
We had a cushy room with a cozy sleeping nook with a gorgeous view of the beach just for the boys. Jo slept in a cot. The kids were usually wiped out from playing all day they slept very well the whole time we were there.
There was also a Kids' Club - Sean and Ryan spent one morning there and decided they preferred the beach and the pool better so we couldn't get rid of them after that ;)
We spent most of our waking hours at the beach and the pool.
My ragamuffin Sean loved playing in the sea - we really had to watch him like a hawk because the waves were very strong. Ryan wasn't too crazy about the sand - but he did eventually warm up and played for hours in the sea with Papa and Sean on our last 2 days.
Jo stuck to me like a barnacle most of the time - he loved swimming in the pool and had this false impression that he could swim too and would keep trying to wriggle away to play on his own. There was a big slide at the pool - everytime I would ask him, 'Jo, you want to go down the slide?' and he would answer softly in his sweet sing-song voice, 'I want' without quite knowing what he was getting himself into. Haha, I love him!
This trip, we finally tried out our GoPro camera - we took tons of videos and I thought the underwater shots turned out very good!
On our third day, we ventured out to Patong. We were not prepared to brave the chaotic Patong streets with three not always-cooperative kids in tow so we just hung around the mall Jung Ceylon.
Sean and Ryan went to watch Pixels with Foops while I hung around the mall with Jo. We bought some Thai snacks to bring home and shared a chocolate banana pancake while watching the world go by :)
The movie ended very late and the boys got back waaaaaaay past their bedtime (almost 10pm Thailand time).
We ate very well for the few days we were there. We visited a few family-run eateries - Tawai, Sugarcane, Tony's - and they were all very good. We had tom yum goong, pomelo salad, Thai green curry, fresh fish, fresh coconut and the sweetest Thai mangoes at every meal. So good (though we thought our meals were a bit pricy for Thai standards)!
No massages or cooking class for us this time sadly, but at least I managed to finish a book and a half!
Most of all, I enjoyed seeing the children try out many things for the first time on the trip. Playing with their coconut leaf 'snake', sitting at the back of a 'song thaew' (pickup truck with wooden benches) enjoying the breeze (and trying not to stand up or risk falling out of the truck), seeing a tiny kitten being fed with a syringe, sipping on coconut juice, running along dirt tracks, playing in the waves taller than your head. Just simple, pure, unadulterated fun.
That's the reason I love travelling with the kids :)
It was a good, restful trip for us. Till the next holiday!
It was our first family trip, just us with no extra help. Jo (19 months) is at the best age now. He is pretty easy to care - he just needs one nap in the afternoon and loves nothing more than running around and playing with his brothers. So glad we got to spend 3-4 wholesome days together and I didn't feel like I left a part of my heart at home ;)
We stayed at the quiet Bang Tao beach in Phuket. It was a bit far out from everything else but that was just how we liked it.
We had a cushy room with a cozy sleeping nook with a gorgeous view of the beach just for the boys. Jo slept in a cot. The kids were usually wiped out from playing all day they slept very well the whole time we were there.
There was also a Kids' Club - Sean and Ryan spent one morning there and decided they preferred the beach and the pool better so we couldn't get rid of them after that ;)
We spent most of our waking hours at the beach and the pool.
My ragamuffin Sean loved playing in the sea - we really had to watch him like a hawk because the waves were very strong. Ryan wasn't too crazy about the sand - but he did eventually warm up and played for hours in the sea with Papa and Sean on our last 2 days.
Jo stuck to me like a barnacle most of the time - he loved swimming in the pool and had this false impression that he could swim too and would keep trying to wriggle away to play on his own. There was a big slide at the pool - everytime I would ask him, 'Jo, you want to go down the slide?' and he would answer softly in his sweet sing-song voice, 'I want' without quite knowing what he was getting himself into. Haha, I love him!
This trip, we finally tried out our GoPro camera - we took tons of videos and I thought the underwater shots turned out very good!
On our third day, we ventured out to Patong. We were not prepared to brave the chaotic Patong streets with three not always-cooperative kids in tow so we just hung around the mall Jung Ceylon.
Sean and Ryan went to watch Pixels with Foops while I hung around the mall with Jo. We bought some Thai snacks to bring home and shared a chocolate banana pancake while watching the world go by :)
The movie ended very late and the boys got back waaaaaaay past their bedtime (almost 10pm Thailand time).
We ate very well for the few days we were there. We visited a few family-run eateries - Tawai, Sugarcane, Tony's - and they were all very good. We had tom yum goong, pomelo salad, Thai green curry, fresh fish, fresh coconut and the sweetest Thai mangoes at every meal. So good (though we thought our meals were a bit pricy for Thai standards)!
No massages or cooking class for us this time sadly, but at least I managed to finish a book and a half!
Most of all, I enjoyed seeing the children try out many things for the first time on the trip. Playing with their coconut leaf 'snake', sitting at the back of a 'song thaew' (pickup truck with wooden benches) enjoying the breeze (and trying not to stand up or risk falling out of the truck), seeing a tiny kitten being fed with a syringe, sipping on coconut juice, running along dirt tracks, playing in the waves taller than your head. Just simple, pure, unadulterated fun.
That's the reason I love travelling with the kids :)
It was a good, restful trip for us. Till the next holiday!