Off To Phuket, Thailand!

 With the passport fiasco behind us, we all boarded a plane at the gorgeous Shanghai Pudong Airport and headed for the next leg of our amazing adventure - Phuket Thailand.  You can not fly directly from Shanghai to Phuket, a small island off the coast of Thailand, so our flight from Shanghai (5.5 hours) involved a transfer to a smaller plane for another hour before arriving at around 2 AM in Phuket.  We were taken by van to the J. W. Marriott lobby to check in to temporary rooms until they could have ours ready later that morning.  By that time we were all ready for a little sleep and settled in for a snooze until breakfast.  The lobby of the J. W. Marriott was impressive, with a huge reflection pool off to one side.  It wasn't air conditioned as the temperature there is very moderate and there area always ocean breezes to cool you.

Our rooms were lovely.  The Thai people are humble, genteel and amazing!  After a lovely breakfast at the hotel Cafe, Charles and Jon were escorted to their Suite of rooms and Melanie and I were treated to the lovely room where we were first escorted.  Each room has a private courtyard and the landscaping is extraordinary.  Our rooms were right next to a huge swimming pool with incredible views of the beach.  Oh my! The pool you see above is actually our "private pool" area and the gates are open so that we might see the baby elephant when it arrived for the day.  Yep, I said baby elephant!

Lucky is one of two elephants whose Mahut brings to the resort daily to be coddled and fed by guests.  Young and old alike enjoy the antics of this friendly guy and we got in on the act too!  Lucky is well cared for by his trainer (Mahut) who talks and sings to him like he is a human baby!  Lucky loves bananas and seems to have an endless appetite.  He hugs and kisses guests to earn their favor and their treats! He is a darling little show off and loves to "kiss" anyone who will feed him a banana! Here he is planting a big one on Melanie!  Aww, and she liked it!  Such a sweet baby! 

  We spent most of our first day just relaxing around the infinity pool and enjoying the magnificent views available in Phuket.  The views are amazing all around and there is a swim up bar in the pool serving drinks all day- delicious tropical Pina Coladas and exotic local drinks....yum.   There are also employees ready to take your order for food poolside.  I ordered a Thai Salad and Basil spring rolls which were absolutely delicious as I reclined and enjoyed the view.  The beach and view are amazing in Phuket, and we all decided to make it a point to spend time each evening watching the gorgeous sunsets as we enjoyed our time together!  Phuket is truly a paradise with amazing views, warm tropical water and friendly people.  This was going to be a hard place to leave.  We really wanted to make the most of our time here, and decided to eat at one of the restaurants on the property the first night...Japanese!  Sushi, Teppanyaki and more were served up and we loved every bite...so much for trying to stay on my diet!
Gorgeous sunset...aaaahhhh.

Charles had met some people at the pool that afternoon who were also visiting Phuket for the first time.  We invited them to join us for dinner at the restaurant and all had a great time of laughs as they outfitted each of us with our own personal apron and showed off the talents of the chef as he prepared the food in front of us.  Dessert was Mango Sticky rice which was a concoction of very sticky sugary white rice with sliced mango and a coconut milk kind of syrup poured over the top...I don't think it was low cal! LOL   Melanie and I called it a night early as we planned an Elephant Trek in the morning at 7:30. So much to cram into our three days in Phuket...and had to get some relaxing in too!  This was still only the beginning of what would prove to be a lifetime adventure in the Far East.

More on Phuket to follow...



GOD BLESS.... Peace, Love and Joy!