Nyan Thomas L's Blog

In our last post, we looked at our time at the beach and the resort during our trip to Phuket, Thailand in late December 2016. Here, we take a look at some specific things we got up to.

We stayed in the town of Karon, which was a short drive away from the tourist hub of Patong, which is jam-packed and overcrowded, and is also home to a red-light district. We popped over to Patong one evening for some dinner and sightseeing.

First, Nyan and Daddy found an Irish pub – complete with American craft beers on tap – and had some dinner while Mommy had a massage. The pub was quite empty but had a stage area that was set up for a singer later in the evening. Nyan took advantage of it being empty and hopped on the stage.

He also tried his hand at some free dancing on the dance floor.

We also took a family stroll up Bangla Road, the heart of the red light district. It was still early, so not too rowdy. Nyan got some attention from some of the ladies of the night, but it was all innocent. We think.

We got to drive in an open-air tuk-tuk on the way back to the resort.

One of our favorite activities on Phuket was an afternoon spent at Dino Golf. It’s a miniature golf course with a dinosaur theme. Lots of fiberglass dinos poking their heads out of the jungle foliage, plus holes that went through volcanos or over fallen logs. Pretty fun!

One thing we learned: none of us are very good at mini golf. Oh well.

Another day we went to visit the Big Buddha, which is – you guessed it – a Buddha statue, high on a ridge overlooking the entire island, that is quite big. Impressive.

The views are pretty amazing as well.

Underneath the statue are a lot of shrines you can pray to. Here’s Nyan, trying his hand at it.

It’s still under construction, and to raise money, they let you write your name on a tile that will one day be installed on the site, in exchange for a donation.

Those are the highlights from our trip to Phuket. It’s a fine enough place, though to be honest, not one we’re likely to rush back to. A bit crowded, and nothing really special enough to make it worth a return visit, we felt. Still, a good time, and a nice way to cap off 2016.

During the week between Christmas and New Year’s, we flew a couple hours north to Phuket, the resort island off the mainland of Thailand. It was crowded, packed with tourists from Russia and elsewhere, but we stayed out of the heart of the tourist zone so managed to enjoy ourselves. Here’s a look at what we got up to.

We spent a great deal of time on the beach – specifically Karon Beach, right across the road from our hotel. It was lovely and pretty clean, with great sunset views and sand that was perfect for building things in.

Here are some random shots from around the island, including Nyan riding in the back of a tuk-tuk  and getting some love from one of the Burmese girls working at a seafront restaurant that we frequented

The resort we stayed at had several swimming pools – one with a water slide – plus a kid’s club area, rock paths that a curious five year old liked to examine using his new night-vision goggles, and more. Let’s take a look.

Here’s the young man, bouncing around inside the kid’s club

Finally, some shots from the traveling. Hanging out with Pikachu at the airport, waiting in line for passport control, and passed out on the bed after flights and car rides to the hotel.

Next up: More pictures and videos from around Phuket .