Phuket Holiday: Karon Beach and the Upside Down House

I'm not writing according to days now, because hey, this is Phuket... and we did mostly the same relaxing stuff everyday - eat, play, swim, just hanging around.  Like I said, there wasn't a fixed itinerary but just a list of to-do stuff like shopping and visiting certain places.

One of the reasons for staying in Karon was because of the beach.  We thought that Patong beach could be too overcrowded, hence Karon and yet its not being too far away from the night life and shops.  The two setbacks are that Karon town has nothing much to offer, but the massages there are plentiful and so, so cheap!  I think it's THB300 for a full hour massage - and you can choose either foot or Thai body massage.  The prices are definitely higher in Patong because it's a tourist crowd.  Secondly, it's impossible to walk from Karon to Patong along the windy roads where vehicles zip past quite fast.

Karon Beach

So from where we stayed, it was just 5 minutes walk from the quiet Karon beach, literally across the road.  The cars can be quite fast along the windy, two way road, but the hotel guard is kind enough to hold traffic for all hotel guests.

Cross this wooden bridge...

... to reach this!  Someone commented on the internet that the sand squeaks as you walk on it... and another person verified that it's true, and now I'm going to confirm those claims that the sand DOES squeak!  Victoria is my witness.

Placed our hotel umbrellas next to this flag.  We took umbrellas as the clouds looked dark but God held the rain from falling so we had a relaxing half hour without the harsh, hot sun

Young man showing off his muscles.  It's his idea to take off this top because it was wet and sticky, and he wanted to be just like daddy.

Made himself comfortable on the beach, and threw sand balls towards the ocean

Our dinner in Karon town

Noodles for the one craving (not me!)

Prawns for the one craving (yes, this is for me!)

Little fler gave in to his fatigue whilst waiting for the food to arrive.  When Vic and I finished our meal, he was still sleeping so we headed nearby for foot massage.  Daddy ate as slow as he could as he waited for the Sleeping Handsome to wake

Very nice!  I love the fresh peppercorns.  

Tom yam seafood soup (my favourite) and steam fish in sweet lime sauce (note to self - I wanna try mimicking this sauce at home)

The Upside Down House (Baan Teelanka)

We went to the Premium Outlet which was just a stone's throw away but we didn't get much things from here since the prices were such a bargain and the items offered were not suitable to us.

This place is officially known as Baan Teelanka, as some maps do not label it as the Upside Down House

                           
I was personally excited about the Upside Down House because this was my first time (in fact, the first for both kids too) to such a place.  I was quite disappointed though, as there was only two floors minus the basement, and not airconditioned so it was stuffy and hot inside.  The place was not spacious and makes it difficult to snap good pictures without someone photobombing or giving the secret away in the background.

The objective was to give the children their (and mummy's) first time experience in this sort of place.

Hanging on to the roof top

Look out honey!!  Don't drop your Samsung A5 into the toilet bowl

The new way of riding a bike?

Whoa!  Where's the gravity?

Pulling onto the tuk tuk... wait for uuusssss!!

William!  Stop hanging around!  Get back to work!

Let's do some vacuuming from up here, boy boy.

Phew! Finally, it's not him who's upside down now.

That's all folks!  One final post on the markets we visited and that'll wrap up our Phuket holiday posts.

Phuket Holiday: Pool and Patong!

Day 2 

4th June 2015

Today we had our first buffet breakfast in the hotel... food selection was slightly above average but service was very good.  We became regulars at the egg station from this day onwards (until our check out).  William enjoys his omelette with extra cheese most!  This egg alone can almost fill one's tummy up!  

We love how generous they were with the cheese and ingredients.  William was intrigued to see how long he can pull the cheese

This is the adult pool view as we walk down to have our breakfast

 We had nothing on our agenda today, so after breakfast we headed to Kid's World again where we each found something to do... either on the table futsal, or a video game, or fooling around with some toys, or a football match on the PS3.  I picked up the "Maleficient" book (I have watched the movie and wanted to see if it's as good as the movie) and was allowed to borrow it out.

Kid's World was not crowded so our family kinda monopolized the whole place.

Didn't know this table futsal can be so addictive.  We took turns to compete against each other.  

Having a complimentary session on puppet making with the staff called Anne whom Vic grew quite fond of towards the end of this trip. 

Entered Patong town in the evening. 

Walked around and found this full house place.  Many mainland chinese here.  We checked the menu out before deciding, and liked the varieties and price!  

For very reasonable price, the quality or quantity was not compromised.  

Many tables ordered this, so we ordered a small dish as well. 

There's a little competition between these two....

Sawadeeka. Mimicking what Ronald does.

We walked around the shopping mall

Excited to sit on one of these tuk tuks. We asked around for the price we had in mind, got turned down a couple of times then finally found one who was willing to accept our offer.

The ride on the tuk tuk back was a fun experience for all of us.   The driver immediately put on a party dance song over the loud speaker, and Daddy went into his auto-dance mode, moving William along!  Driving quite fast, along the windy road from Patong back to Karon where our hotel was located, we enjoyed the cool breeze whilst hanging on to dear life as there was no seat belts or doors or windows.

The little boy was thrilled, but I think Jie Jie preferred a classical anytime!  Hahah... (that's for now)

Phuket Holiday: 5D4N in June

A month back during the mid term school holiday, we went for a 5 day holiday to Phuket, Thailand.  This is our second time here, the first being in November 2010 Since we did most of the tourist stuff in November, having watched the Phuket Fantasea show, had a little fun watching Simon Cabaret, did Patong shopping one evening, etc...

So this time, I decided we will have no itinerary.  Did a mental note that we only want to visit two places - Upside Down House and Trickeye Museum.

Our hotel this time, was Novotel Karon which was a very new (less than 1 year) hotel.  It was formerly another hotel, then refurbished.  So being guests here means two extremes - either we get really lousy service from inexperience staff or extremely good service to boost their review.  We were blessed, because we got the latter!

We booked a family room that came with a king sized bed, two bunk beds for the kids and a balcony!  During check in, we were given the standard Thai welcome of a cold drink and a cold towel.  In addition to that, both children were given a treasure hunt list to complete.

Pleasantly surprised by this welcome sign on our door.  Kids found a note on each of their bed leading them to a stash of gold chocolates!

Kids were elated to find toys and a castle-tent in the room

Our big king sized bed, and two bunk beds for the kids

Study table, sofa and TV

We headed out to complete the treasure hunt list first, which was really to get us oriented with the amenities in the hotel.  Once completed, we headed to the Kids' World next to the children's pool to redeem their gift.  Each child were allowed to choose a toy of their choice from a bag of different toys.

Then we spent sometime at the Kids' World... even hubby and I made ourselves comfortable.

Capsule holes for games

A library tree of books you can help yourself to!

PS3 games area and a thoughtful water dispenser at the side

Cartoons and chill area

Ample table and chairs for kids to play and do their activities

I guess the highlight of the whole holiday would be this place where the Vic and Will not only got to play and hang out, but also sign up for their in house activities like Magic Show, Origami, Puppet Making throughout our stay.

Hubby also brought the kids for a swim.  The slide was too inviting and reminded me of the one at Hard Rock Hotel in Bali, only this was a milder version.

The boy still fits in his toddler life jacket

Vic hanging onto a hotel float

Mummy enjoys the me-time watching my loved ones swim, laugh and play... 

In the evening, hubby arranged for dinner in the hotel so we need not go out hunting for food.  I didn't expect him to also arrange for a 5 day early birthday celebration for me!  We ate at the restaurant called, TAI serving Asian and Thai food.

William's rice in soup - from the kid's menu

Vic's all-time favourite choice - fried rice - also from the kid's menu

Steam fish in lime and fish sauce.  Very delicious.  Made mental note to find out recipe online

Our happy family!

My first birthday cake from the hotel, getting a birthday kiss from my prince and hugging my firstborn

Hubby ordered minced pork with basil, curry soft shell crab (because he knows I love soft shell crab) and another dish which I forgotten

And a special non-alcoholic drink on the house for the birthday girl

It was definitely a memorable celebration.  Our waitress was pleasant and sporting.  As there were no other customers at the time when she brought out the cake, she turned off some of the lights and sang a solo birthday song, at first to William (mis-q) then turning over to me!  : )

After dinner, we took a walk out to Karon town to help with digestion and also check out what's around us.  Ended up with an hour's foot massage for only THB300 (equivalent to RM35)... how blissful!