Phuket, Thailand

Hi family,I expect you're all preparing for Easter and many of you are off on Spring Break. Happy Easter!! Tia and Sara's school's vacation was last week and we went to Phuket, Thailand. Burasari Resort was on Patong beach (the busiest place on the island) and every time we traveled the 170 steps from the lobby to the beach, we were surrounded by new sights and experiences. Most of our wanderings were in search of the best Pad Thai cooked at one of the small street stalls. The food vendors transport their wok, serving dishes, numerous ingredients, on small kitchen attached to their bicycle.

I think the girls' favorite time was running and cartwheeling in the soft sand in the evenings after dinner. We watched several lanterns being lit and floating into the night. Vendors offered ones for us to purchase and launch ourselves but Tia's keen observation was "what a waste of money Dad! they just float away."

Sara's goal for the trip was to go snorkeling and we accomplished it on a cruise to the Phi Phi Islands. Maya beach is the most beautiful beach you'd ever see- if you could just figure a way to get rid of all those jillions of tourists and cruise boats. :-) We ended up snorkeled with LOTS of brightly colored fish but the coral was still pretty devestated from the tsunami. Tia decided her goal for the trip was to try parasailing. "Oh no" was Mom and Dad's initial response but on the last day both Tia and Sara took a turn. One fellow climbed into the parachute lines for every trip to help guide it. They went pretty HIGH but each girl was thrilled and landed safely in the soft sand.

Several days we just relaxed on the beach, played in the sand and swam in the warm sea. Beach food from the vendors was good but for one meal Quyen walked the girls across the street for BurgerKing. They were still barefoot in their swimsuits! - What a life. :-)Phuket is a very international vacation destination so we recreated with people of many nationalities. Tia and Sara learned how to say banana in Australian "nana" and thank you in Thai "cap cuhn cah" (cap cuhn cap" if you're a boy). They also kept us posted on what direction to avert our eyes to avoid seeing the topless European sunbathing ladies. Most were 50plus years old. Quyen observed that the super-model topless sunbathers must've been at another beach.

The highlight of our trip was sea canoeing through the limestone caves and Hongs (lagoons). What interesting landscape! I've created a separate blog entry for the "Hong by Starlight" tour.

Now we're home and the kitty is happy to have her girls back to provide limitless attention.

Love ya, Paula