Our trip to Phuket March 2009

Just back from a lovely 5 day trip to Phuket. Had a very lazy time - spend most of it swimming in the lovely hotel pool or eating or sleeping - bliss!!!

We stayed at the Naithonburi Beach Resort Hotel www.naithonburi.com which was in the north of the island - only 10 minutes drive from the airport which was an added bonus. I'd read lots of reviews on Tripadvisor when searching for a hotel and the Naithonburi always got good reviews. Its in a quiet part of the island though - so definitely not for those looking for a wild holiday (head to Patong for that!)

Naithon Beach is very quiet and peaceful but unfortunately the sea at this part of the island is very rough and has a really strong undertow (its like this at lots of the beaches in Phuket apparently) so we couldn't take the kids in even for a paddle.

James was also very unimpressed with the dogs that roamed the beach. They seemed friendly enough but as he's scared of dogs to begin with - when four of them chased him along the beach (wanting to play) - he was petrified. We tried to go to the beach just to play the next day but he cried the whole time and just didn't want to be there because of the dogs so we just headed back to the pool instead.

We didn't venture out all that much during our stay. We visited Phuket Town on the Sunday which was a bit of a waste of time - not much there apart from shops (see enough of them in Singapore!) They did have a Swensons though so after wandering around we headed there for some lovely ice cream. I'm not usually a big ice cream fan but I'm addicted to Swensons Macademia Mania!! We also went on a short trip with one of the tourist hustlers. He offered to take us to a Buddhist temple and a couple of other stops - all for 60 Baht (around $3 or £1.50). He asked us to wait while he went to get his Dad who drove the car. When it arrived it was like a hearse!!! The back part was like a pick up truck so we all piled in there and off we went. (You have to do these things on holiday!)

He took us to a Buddhist Temple which wasn't particularly impressive - but did have the biggest Buddha on the island. It was right next to a Chinese Taoist Temple too.

We went to the infamous Patong on the Tuesday. What can I say? I've been to some busy tourist resorts in my time (Ayia Napa in Cyprus being the busiest) but this was like Ayia Napa on speed!! It was all a bit tacky for my liking but great for people watching and the beach was good fun. It was absolutely heaving with people but James loved watching the guys going out on the jetskis and people parasailing (I'd love to do this but I'm a big chicken!!)

In keeping with our new found tradition we headed to Swensons for some ice cream just before the taxi came back for us. Gabriel's face was a picture as we walked in as here was a whole table of 8 lovely ladyboys!!! My only comment was that I wished I could do my make-up that well!!

Had a great time in Phuket and would like to go back one day to explore it a bit more but after us all being ill with various colds, flus and chest infections - a lazy holiday was just what we needed. Its very picturesque - lots of dense mangrove forest and lots of hills - a joy to the eye after Singapore. Much as I love Singapore its not exactly the prettiest place in the world!