Easter Getaway

I am back, and got a painful sunburn! What surprises me is that I never get burn, even when everyone else is red, but this time round, I got quite a sunburn. Well, when age is catching up, everything starts breaking down!

In any case, the trip is great! Seriously! I will highly recommend Banyan Tree resorts for everyone! Alright, it seems so propaganda, but from personal experience as a guest, I really have nothing to complain about. So do my friends, whose standards and expectations are even higher than mine! We were all well taken care of and truly pampered! This is what world class service standard is!

Kind of makes me feel ashamed actually. After all the gripes about office politics, boredom in job and whatnot, this is what everyone is working for - to give the guests and customers a truly great time! I feel more renewed in my passion (whatever I have left) for my job now!

In any case, I woke up early on Friday morning to catch the flight. This time round, I took the local domestic airline to Phuket. Since there was still time, I waited a while in the departure lounge before going into the gate to board the plane.

View from the departure lounge at Terminal 2

The same kind of plane which I took

Indoor garden of the departure lounge

Taking off!

Phuket in the distance

Sights of Phuket

It took slightly more than an hour and a half to reach Phuket. Upon arriving, my friend and I met up with another friend, and we all took a cab to Phuket. One tip - go to the end after coming out of the arrival hall and get the taxi meter service instead. It is much cheaper than taking those solicited cabs outside the airport.

In any case, we reached the resort in about half an hour. The entire resort is built on an abandoned mine field around the western part of Phuket, along one of the beaches. It consists of all the Laguna properties (which we hold some stake in), Allamanda and finally the main resort around the end.

And here we are!

The moment we reached the main lobby, we were greeted with an orchid lei put around our wrists. Then we were ushered to a couch in the lobby, where we were given wet towels to wipe our hands as well as a welcome drink.

The lei of flowers

Display on the table in front of the couch

The wet towels

The welcome drink

The pond at the main lobby

The main lobby (overlooking the Watercourt Restaurant)

The signature tree (few in a row)

The reception counter

It was about eleven (local time) when we reached. Since we could only check in at three and I had to go for a working lunch with the Phuket colleagues, I talked to my colleague (from my office who was having a stint there) and he kindly allowed me friends to use his villa until it was time to check in. He is staying at the one bedroom deluxe villa next to the main lobby, so we went in to take a look.

The one-bedroom villa consists of a gate, then we passed by a small area where the jacuzzi is, before going in to the main door where the area is partitioned into a sitting room and bedroom, before finally leading to the end where the shower and bathroom is. Oh, and there is an outdoor shower and small tub too, to commune with nature so to speak!

Interior of the one bedroom deluxe villa

The jacuzzi of the one bedroom deluxe villa

Leading to the bathroom (shower on the left, toilet on the right)

Exterior of the one bedroom deluxe villa

Outside the one bedroom deluxe villa

Part of the grounds of the resort

I went for a lunch and discussion at Banyan Cafe at the Laguna Phuket Golf Club (just next to the resort). Lunch was great! I had a local dish which looks suspiciously like fried noodles, then coconut ice cream for dessert. The ice cream is really delicious! It consists of three scoops of coconut ice cream, black sticky rice and chestnuts. I then dropped by the office where that particular department is situated.

The coconut ice cream

Trying to enjoy the coconut ice cream

The office is further down the resort, facing a river which overlooks to the Sheraton Grande Laguna resort. The view is really good! How I wish my own office can be like this!

View in front of the Phuket office

The office building (the steps lead to the river)

Posing outside the Phuket office

Since it was about three when my colleague drove me back to the resort, I went to my villa immediately. It is a two-bedroom Pool villa, which, as the name implies, has a living room, dining room, kitchen, two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a swimming pool, sun decks, jacuzzi and our own massage hut which we never used in the end. We girls took the main bedroom of course (with the very comfortable king size bed), and the guys have to take the second bedroom (with the two big twin beds).

The pool of the villa with the massage hut at the end

The main bedroom (the doors open right into the pool)

The second bedroom

The living and dining room

The side of the villa where the pool is

The pool with the doors to the main bedroom

The jacuzzi

The massage hut at the end

The mattress for spa / massage

Reclining in the couch in the main bedroom

Posing at the basin (bathroom / showers behind me)

Posing on the couch in the living room

The end of the living room leading towards the bedrooms

The second bedroom

Opening into the pool from the main bedroom

After everyone has arrived, we went on to Canal Village to pay for the diving and snorkelling trip the next day, and wandered around the place a bit. Canal Village happens to be the small shopping alley for the staff and residents of the properties under the company. Then we went back to the resort for a dip in the pool!

Part of Canal Village

Edge of Canal Village facing Sheraton Grande Laguna

View of Sheraton Grande Laguna

The Allamanda Condominium

Having a dip in our own private pool!

We met my colleagues for dinner after that at Canal Village. I ate something that looks like fried thick noodles, with orange juice. My friends ate a variety of local fare, like banana blossom salad (which is quite spicy), tiger prawns, lobster, coconut drink. We then went back to the villa where we opened up some bottles of wine we brought and played cards.

The next morning we went out to sea! Before that, we had breakfast at the Watercourt Restaurant, where we had a variety of buffet dishes to choose from. The restaurant is at the main lobby and overlooks the small fountain in the main hall.

The Watercourt Restaurant

The fountain behind the main lobby (taken from the Watercourt)

What a spread!

Part of the golf course

We took the shuttle to the Laguna Beach Resort, where we were supposed to meet the dive master for a diving / snorkelling trip. The Laguna Beach Resort is also part of my company. The guide brought us along the long stretch of hotel rooms (rather confusing actually, I would have gotten lost myself!) and went to the dive center situated along the beach.

While my diving friends chose their suit and tanks, my friend and I who were snorkelling chose our fins and mask. We waited for our friend to finish her refresher pool before going out into the boat. Only thing was that the boat did not touch the shore, so we had to wade in the water before reaching it. I almost panicked as I could hardly touch the bottom!

We went out to sea after that. The diving / snorkelling spot is at this two rock islands called Wae Islands. While my friends started diving, I got myself kitted up for snorkelling. But the moment I went into the water, I panicked! It was the first time in my life I ever went so far out to sea before! I was so afraid of drowning!

Luckily my friend encouraged me and I managed to tread water a bit and just followed him around. I even mustered up the courage to put my head under water and saw divers and corals, with lots of fish! I put my hands out and the fish swam by me. The fish started s"sniffling" (if they have a nose, that is) my fingers and then just swum by. This is one of those experiences that make you go "Awww...." :-)

We finished the snorkelling after half an hour, as the sea water was getting into my mouth so much that I had to keep taking out the breathing tube. All in all, it was an unforgettable experience snorkelling! Perhaps I should really take up diving - it is really so beautiful under water!

We spent the rest of the time in the boat, feeding the fish and waiting for the divers. The aftermath of the water, with the hot sun, and being stuck in the middle of the sea, was what caused me to have a burn. In fact, my tan lines are still pretty obvious!

Part of the Laguna Beach Resort

The dive center

The Laguna Beach Resort hotel in the background

The dive pool

Statue in the grounds of Laguna Beach Resort

Mother elephant with baby elephant

Out to sea!

In the boat

Wae Islands in the distance

Aftermath of snorkelling

Rock structure on top of Wae Islands

The bigger of the Wae Islands

Fish scrambling for food!

Going back from sea

After coming back from sea, we went to one of the beach shacks for lunch, then a beach massage! Lunch was chicken with basil leaves with steamed rice and fried ice cream for dessert! The beach shack reminds me of the one in Malta, where we could see the Mediterranean sea while eating!

The beach shack for lunch

My lunch - chicken with basil

My friend's pandan leaves chicken

Tom Yam soup

What a crab!

We then went down to Canal Village again. This time, there was an elephant there, and it was so cute! It allowed us to stroke it, and shaked its trunk, and even gave a hi-fi to us!

Hi-fi-ing the elephant

After that, we went back to the villa to shower and change, as we went to my friend's boss's place for a sundowner. He has a villa around ten minutes from where we are, so we joined him for pre-dinner snacks and drinks. His place is around the stretch of Kamala, and from his place, we could see the sun set!

We went for dinner after that at Baan Rim Pa restaurant, which was highly recommended. It is situated at a cliff around the Patong Beach area. The resort hired a van for us to bring us to the restaurant. From where we were seated, we could see the waves crashing on the rocks, as well as a full moon in the sky! We ordered a la carte and shared a few dishes amongst everyone!

Waves crashing on the rocks in the moonlight

Part of the Patong Beach area

Appetizer Platter

Full moon in the sky

View of the back garden from the main toilet

View of the back garden from the main shower

View of the outdoor shower

The next morning, we rested a while in the villa while the divers made another round. Then we took a shuttle to Laguna Beach Resort and indulged in the Angsana Spa massage! Since it was going at a promotional price, we figured why not? How can we go there without any spa session?

The massage place opens onto a stretch of woods leading to the river. There is a bed and the place opens out into a balcony with a reclining sofa, that gives us some down time after the massage session. The entire massage place is in a small private villa of its own!

Laguna Phuket Golf Club

Angsana Spa

Restroom of the spa

The reclining couch at the balcony

The private room where I had the massage

Entrance to the spa room

Grounds of the spa

View of the exterior from inside the spa room

View of the river from inside the spa reception

The spa reception

We then went to Canal Village for lunch and took a boat ride to Sheraton Grande Laguna before taking the shuttle back to our resort.

View of Canal Village from the boat

Sheraton Grande Laguna

Part of the Sheraton Grande Laguna

The lobby of the Sheraton Grande Laguna

Fitness Center and spa of our resort

The communal pool of the resort

My friend's "cocktail" by the pool - Gin Tonic with apple

The back garden from the open shower

The open shower from the back garden

The open bath tub

We then went to the Silk Restaurant for dinner. Initially I wanted to book the Lotus Restaurant, highly recommended by my colleague, but in the end, we had to settle for Silk Restaurant instead since the Lotus was fully booked. It was okay, the ambience was fine, but it would be better if it was facing the sea instead. The food was not too bad though.

The Silk Restaurant

The interior of the Silk Restaurant - alfresco part

A structure in the restaurant

The next morning, we had to check out, so I woke up earlier to go and explore the beach. It was still dawn when I reached the beach, the sun was about to rise, but since we were on the western end, I could not really see the sun rise. I had a peaceful walk around the beach before going back to the resort for last minute packing and checking out. Hence, that concludes our short Easter trip!

Walkway to the beach

Some of the beach shacks

The deck chairs along the beach

The crashing waves

Foot (paw) prints in the sand

Sun rising in the distance

Our own beach!

The river along the resort where people can dine on boats