March 2006 - Thailand Spring Break trip

Anette, Paul and Dawn enjoying one of  the many sunset "happy hours" we enjoyed together during our stay Bill and Kimberly waiting in the lounge for our return flight to Bangkok Phuket sunset from JW Marriott Resort and Spa Anette, Paul and Dawn at happy hour We spent Kimberly's 2006 School Spring Break in Thailand.  We started our trip with 4 nights in Bangkok and then continued on to Phuket for a further 4 nights before returning to Jakarta.  We've previously visited Bangkok on several occasions but this was our first trip to Phuket. How we got there We flew Thai Airways from Jakarta to Bangkok and then after a few days in Bangkok we continued onward to Phuket.  We have flown Thai Airways many times and they offer decent service at a reasonable price.  For shorter regional flights they are more than adequate, however, on some of their longer haul flights the business class seats have not been converted to the "industry standard" sleeper seats. Where we stayed In Bangkok we stayed at the JW Marriott Bangkok which we've stayed at many times in the past.  The JW Marriott Bangkok is our preferred hotel while staying in Bangkok.  It is conveniently located and the rooms and executive lounge are very good.  We would highly rate this hotel if staying in Bangkok. Our next stop was the JW Marriott Phuket Resort & Spa. (if it seems that we stay at the Marriott a lot that's because its one of our preferred hotels, we actually currently live in the apartments attached to the JW Marriott Jakarta).  The resort is located on the secluded, pristine shores of the Mai Khao Beach away from the hustle and bustle of the main touristy Phuket beach area.  Since the resort is relatively secluded we didn't leave the resort during our stay other than long walks along the beach and one day when Bill went to a nearby beach town to go scuba diving.  This trip was really about rest, relaxation and quality family time so not leaving the resort was not that big of a deal.  There were several different restaurants onsite so we had ample choices.  Our only real complaint related to the difficulty in getting dinner reservations.  The resort was not full during our stay (we estimate it was about 60% occupied) yet every night we had difficulty getting dinner reservations unless we ate very early or very late (which doesn't work when kids are involved).  We complained to resort management and they acknowledged that there were too few restaurants given the size of the resort.  The inconvenience is exacerbated by the fact that the resort is somewhat remote so dining offsite requires some effort (i.e. you can't simply walk outside the resort and find alternative dining choices).  Despite this complaint we enjoyed our stay at the resort.  The rooms were very nice, the pool was fantastic, and the beach was spectacular (the resort was set-back relatively far from the beach, supposedly because this area was part of a sanctuary and a turtle egg laying area). What we did - Bangkok In Bangkok we visited with friends (the Smith's) that previously lived in Jakarta and recently relocated to Bangkok.  Aside from visiting their home we had Sunday brunch together at a restaurant called Crepes & Co. which was very nice and we would recommend to anyone wanting a good crepe while in Bangkok. Bill had a few suits and shirts made at the tailor that he has been going for the past several years - Jesse & Victor Rajawongse tailors.  I'm sure that you could find tailors in Bangkok with cheaper prices but for the quality provided I can highly recommend this father and son We went to see the Disney on Ice show at the Impact Arena.  The show was very good but unfortunately the show we went to was in Thai language.  We knew this fact when booking the tickets but figured the song lyrics would at least be in English, but unfortunately the song lyrics was also in Thai.  In any event we recognized the melodies and enjoyed the show. One night we splurged and had dinner at the Sirocco restaurant on the top floor (200 meters up) of the State Tower building (see photo to the right).  Aside from the food being very good the views of the Bangkok skyline and river were out of this world.  We would highly recommend a visit to this restaurant if visiting Bangkok. What we did - Phuket We were joined in Phuket by family friends (the Rusch's) that we originally met when they lived in Jakarta several years ago.  We have kept in contact over the years and have taken previous family vacations together (see 2003 Komodo trip and 2004 Wakatobi trip).  It was good to reconnect and share old memories and create new ones.  The sunsets over happy hour were especially memorable. Aside from enjoying a swim in the pools and surf every after noon we went for a sail on a Hobie Cat sailboat.  An added benefit was that there was no charge for resort guests to use the sailboats. One day Bill went scuba diving with Nautica Divers which has a shop on the beach at the JW Marriott Phuket resort.  He originally wanted to do the Phi Phi island trip but there weren't enough divers for the shop to take this longer trip.  The dives he did were along the Phuket beach (site names were Tin Mine Wreck and Stone Coral Garden) and were generally not very good.  The visibility was poor and there was a lot of dead coral and a lack of fish.  My  expectations were not very high as I knew the Phuket diving would not compare to what I've seen in Indonesia and despite low expectations I was still disappointed.  As such I can not recommend diving in Phuket unless you happen to be there and simply want to get wet.  I'm sure a trip to the Phi Phi islands would have been much better but that wasn't in the cards for this trip. As for the dive operator, they had decent rental equipment (I didn't drag my own equipment along as it wasn't worth it for a couple of dives) but the level of service wasn't what I generally receive when diving in Indonesia.  As an example our dive guide was a girl traveling around the area from Europe and I had more dive experience than her.  In other words don't generally expect a dive guide that intimately knows the area and local marine life as I think they get a lot of transient dive guides looking to work for a while to replenish their funds.  In addition, not that I'm complaining but we needed to carry our tanks and equipment from the shop across the street to the boat waiting at the beach.  A short distance of about 50 meters but you get spoiled diving in Indonesia where there are generally porters to assist with carrying your equipment. Photo Slideshow Below you can view a slideshow of the photos taken on this trip or view the photo album here.