Phuket 2010

We were away on a vacation to Marriott Vacation Club, Phuket. A friend who took up the club membership referred us, and in exchange for a free stay, we had to attend a 90-min talk. Her experience was that the sales staff was not pushy - maybe cos she was attended by a Thai sales person. Ours was an American who could out-talk us anytime, and who turned somewhat nasty and sarcastic when we said we'd think about it. We were seriously going to give it some thoughts, but was put off by his attitude. Plus we figured we have better use for that amount of money at this stage in our lives, and definitely do not want to be tied down to a specific range of hotels albeit a good one.

On to the freebie. We stayed in a luxurious 2-bedroom suite with an attached dip pool. Free of charge. Damn nice. It was our first of such luxury. There was a king size bed in the master bedroom, and 2 twin beds in the other; flatscreen Sony TV in every room; dining area; a full-scale kitchen where I could wash conveniently and even do some light cooking; washing machine and dryer if I needed to do laundry. Nice.

The morning we left, I was worried to see Matt spotting a runny nose. By the time we landed, he was running a slight temperature. Sigh! I would normally let him fight it himself, but since we were on vacation, I Zyrtec-ed him right away. He was definitely not tip-top especially the first 2 days, but was a trooper through and through! The discomfort he felt never fazed him a single bit. Me? I was down by day 2. And I felt miserable but soldiered on, too.

We played in our private pool and at the playground which was usually empty since I felt we should be socially responsible with so many young children around. We hit the public pools when his runny nose stopped!

Sickish but still happy in dip pool




What I really love about vacations is the time that hubs get to spend with Matt without having to think about work too much. We don't have to do a lot. It's lovely just being together.

Hours in the office and work commitments take him away from Matt a lot. Like how he had to take off the next day after we landed to make an arduous business trip and will only be back Saturday night. I am miserable when he's away, but I imagine it must far worse and painful for him to be away from the family. So vacation time is the time he can somewhat switch off and just focus on some quality time with Matt.



One of the two highlights of the trip for Matt is the slide! We went again and again and again.



The other highlight is BUGGY! He really loved it, and we had several episodes of meltdown because each time we walked out of the room, he wanted to take the buggies parked there.



We were also surprised that Matt loves tomyum soup. Both times we had the soup, they were slightly watered down versions, but still the unmistakably spicy and sourish soup that tomyum is. I am happy that he likes one of my favourite soups.

We felt that Matt seemed to somewhat "mature" after each vacation. Maybe it is the exposure and how we take the time to explain everything to him. Whatever the case, it is always wonderful to get-away, although in all honesty, I am quite tired. But as with all trips, as long as my boys are happy, I am happy :-)