Phuket,
Thailand
Thursday, April 21, 2005
We are in the airport waiting to return to Penang after a few days here in Phuket. The island was hit hard by the tsunami in December but it did not hamper our stay. A small percentage of the shops in Patong are still rebuilding. The island is beautiful and has some unbelievable resorts. We stayed at
Twin Palms Resort which is in Surin about 2 beaches or 20 minutes north of Patong ($7-10 each way by cab). The resort is VERY nice and has excellent decor and styling. Although it is not directly on the beach, the beach is easily walking distance (but during the 3 days we never actually made it there). Instead we took an island hopping trip to the Phi Phi and Khai islands which was great. One hour by speedboat to PhiPhi (the islands where the movie "The Beach" were filmed) for some snorkeling and laying on the beach. Better yet was a small island named Khai where we stopped on the way back that looked like a lump of sand in the ocean. The shallow clear water is like a swimming pool. Once back in Phuket we rented a moped for about $6 a day and rode around the island a bit. April was freaking out on the back seat as always and telling me her next husband would have a yacht instead of a moped... but she warmed up eventually. It is HOT so the breeze while on the moped is pretty refreshing. They also have a cable ski park on the island about half way between Patong and PhuketTown so of course I went there "TWICE"--April's comment. Hopefully we'll get back here again.
Hope to see you soon in one of these countries or at our favorite place, home in the USA with our family and friends. Alex and April
