The trip to Thailand was great. It started at 7 a.m. with a drive to the airport. After twelve and a half hour flight, two hour stop over and another hour flight we reached Phuket. Another 45 minutes and we were finally at the hotel. It actually was not that bad. We had something positive to look forward to. The hotel was exactly as the reviews suggested. It is old-fashioned, dated, and in need of modernisation. Food was average and heavily over-priced. The beach was fantastic, and so was the sea. The weather mostly cooperated. Even though it was still a monsoon, we only had two days of rain out of six.

I grew up near the sea. There weren't many swimming pools in my childhood either. So, I love the sea, waves, sand, the beach. Well, my kids grew up in a swimming pool. They haven't seen a sea much, and they had never swam in one. So, when they actually got to the sea - they were terrified. They were quite keen on sand-castle building, but not on swimming in the sea. They loved the pools though. The hotel had a system of swimming pools. Both Munchkins loved it.

The hotel also had a Penguin club - a creche for 3 to 12 year olds. We were not comfortable leaving Big Munchkin there, so most of the time one of us (mostly my DH) stayed there with both Munchkins while the other one went for massage or shopping.

I did not like Phuket much. I am sure it has great nature, but we could not do any adventure travel with two small kids. We were very close to Patong. The place is very touristic. It is very expensive. It felt very fake.

Tomorrow - Bangkok