{"id":2032,"date":"2012-07-06T00:10:19","date_gmt":"2012-07-05T16:10:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mayl.id.au\/?page_id=2032"},"modified":"2013-08-02T21:09:15","modified_gmt":"2013-08-02T13:09:15","slug":"phuket-pg-4","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.mayl.id.au\/?page_id=2032","title":{"rendered":"Phuket Pg 4"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sun 24th Continued\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

Strange as it seems after the exciting and full day that we\u2019d already had there was still plenty of time to play and we decided to try once more to have a look around outside the gate, so we threw a few of our things, including my camera, into our room and off we went. We saw many, *many* ladies outside all the massage places asking if we wanted massages. They happily accepted our \u2018no thank you\u2019 though and always exchanged beautiful smiles with us. The tailors, however, were another matter. They would engage us in conversation first and then get around to their persuasive, but futile, efforts to get David to buy some shirts or a suit. David quickly decided that if we went out of the Club Med gate again he would wear torn and dirty clothing so that he definitely did not look like a tailoring candidate LOL<\/p>\n

We walked up and down a few streets and looked at the shops. There was nothing of interest to us but we enjoyed the warmth, the walk and the new sights and sounds and eventually decided that we would walk to the Starbucks that I\u2019d noticed \u2018just up the road\u2019 when we\u2019d first arrived. So off we went up a side street that David thought could be The One. Needless to say (you can tell can\u2019t you?) that was not The One, nor was the next street that we came back down. I was positive it was on a corner of the main road anyway and that we did not need to take these side streets at all so we continued on, dodging and failing-to-dodge more tailors. Who does the sewing if these guys are hanging around outside their shops all the time anyway???<\/p>\n

We eventually reached a fork in the road \u2013 we were standing on a tine, not the handle, but we took note for the journey home! We\u2019d walked quite a long way and the time was getting on and David suggested turning back but I said \u201cJust *one* more block!\u201d And we did. And there was Starbucks. There was a guy mopping down the floor of the outside area and we couldn\u2019t see lights on inside but he assured us it was open. It was also welcomingly cool inside after our walk and we ordered an iced coffee each and sat by the window to enjoy it. I suppose that, staying in Club Med where there were always so many people around, this was the first time we\u2019d just sat, alone, to gaze at our surroundings and it was really nice to do so.<\/p>\n

After a while David had finished his drink and suggested that we should be walking back soon before it got dark and I told him I was most skilled and could walk and drink at the same time and was very happy to do that. Starbucks comes in plastic cups anyway!<\/p>\n

The footpath outside was quite narrow and we had to step over the large sleeping dog that filled it. He had not moved since we\u2019d stepped over him on the way in. Obviously content with where he was, next to the fairly busy road, and saw it to be as good a bed as any.<\/p>\n

We arrived back to Club Med just as I was finishing my drink and the light was just beginning to dim and we had a chance to grab a shower before dinner.<\/p>\n

This was the room we liked to eat in best of all. We always sat to the left of this where there wasn\u2019t a solid ceiling, just some sail cloth, but the sides were open and, both to the right of this shot and behind me, the walls were open from waist height to the weather and looked over the road to the beach.<\/p>\n

\"One

One of the Dining Rooms<\/p><\/div>\n

Now, I have not mentioned the charming and very friendly Manager of Dining (the title I\u2019ve nominated for him, lacking the knowledge of his real one). An Indian man, who David insisted on calling Hogwart to start with because he couldn\u2019t begin to dream how to say the real name on his badge. Hogwart just seemed to take a shine to David and seemed to take better care of him than anyone else around, plying him with drinks, taking his plate (when there were waiters and waitresses to do that) and insisting that he sit down to be brought his coffee instead of making it himself as was more usual. Siddhath, for that was his real name, was just gorgeous and very relaxed and happy about his job which is such a lovely thing to witness. In fact all of the Club Med staff seemed very happy and that helps so much for the guests to enjoy themselves as well.<\/p>\n

The wait-staff were all local Thai people and so very friendly and polite. They had varying levels of English skills but I always said hello and thank you to them in Thai anyway. Try as I may I could *not* get David to do the same. He said he makes enough of a mess of English and I\u2019m afraid I can only agree.<\/p>\n

During this evening we had a chat with Siddhath about the tsunami \u2013 not a subject I would have chosen to discuss over a meal, but I\u2019m so glad we did. It seems that they had had a 2 hour warning before the 2004 tsunami had hit and had had no trouble at all evacuating everyone. I suppose I hadn\u2019t taken it in that there was so much warning time, I\u2019d thought it could just be sudden; that those sirens would blare and everyone would be running and fighting each other to get away, so I felt a lot more relaxed after that. It certainly hadn\u2019t been foremost in my mind, but it had crossed it a couple of times. It seems that Club Med had been hit by the 2004 wave and all the rooms had been filled with mud but they had been able to open for business again after 6 weeks. That\u2019s not a bad effort!<\/p>\n

After dinner we went over to the bar and I felt like something different so looked down the cocktails list. Whiskey, lemon juice and sugar \u2013 that sounded nice! So I ordered one. It\u2019s a whiskey sour for anyone like me who would not have recognised it from the ingredients. Phoar!!! Sour!?!?!? My cheeks met in the middle of my tongue!!! David rushed back to the bar and got me a pina colada \u2013 stat! ROFL<\/p>\n

There was one thing that was a major disappointment to us at this Club Med and this was that smoking seemed to be allowed everywhere except actually inside the covered eating areas. But in the open-air dining room (that we preferred), all around the pool, in and around the bar and theatre \u2013 well, anywhere they pleased! \u2013 people were smoking. It spoiled the taste of our food, it spoiled the taste of our drinks and just downright took our breath away every time it was unexpected. A great shame – in our opinion anyway.<\/p>\n

On to cheerier things, the show tonight was named Greatest Hits (or something similar) and there was the most amazing array of songs. Each one had either a most convincing \u2018body double\u2019 or a humorous take and we really enjoyed ourselves. There were artists such as Dire Straits, Beatles, Queen, Beach Boys, Bee Gees, Joan Jett, Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, AC DC, Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber, Offspring\u2026 And all accompanied by the genuine music and lots of lighting and smoke effects – a really great night.<\/p>\n

\"Lady

Lady Club Med Gaga<\/p><\/div>\n

And straight after the show, at 10:30, we went to bed. It had been a fairly long, but very happy day.<\/p>\n

Monday 25th<\/strong><\/p>\n

Obviously we woke full of beans because we got dressed in our jogging gear and went for another run. This time we set off jogging from the crosswalk and didn\u2019t stop, or even want to, until we reached the very far south end of the beach. It was such a wonderful feeling! Had the beach continued I\u2019d have run further but we stopped for a drink in the shade of the big tree there before jog\/walking the full length of the beach and then back to Club Med again. When we went to breakfast our darling Zelie came along and asked if she could sit with us \u2013 oh my word, yes!!! We had a lovely chat with her and found out that she had now worked in the job for 10 days. She really had been wonderful when we\u2019d booked our trips and we\u2019d had no idea she was still so new!<\/p>\n

She couldn\u2019t linger and soon had to go to work so we decided on some time in the quiet pool. The pool was beautiful and we got our favourite loungers off to the left in the lower grassed area and read until we got hot and then dipped in the water and then read again. Does it get any better than that? Actually yes, David went to ask for drinks and came back with a small can of mango juice each mmmmmmmmmmm.<\/p>\n

\"Phuket

Phuket Flower<\/p><\/div>\n

Going back to our room we were very surprised to see that it had been made up already. This usually happened much later in the day so of course we\u2019d left it messy with every confidence we would have time later to tidy it *blush*. I was in the shower and David had stripped off in the main room ready for the change of shift under the water when the room door started to open. It was the maid and she had probably knocked, but with his hearing he wouldn\u2019t hear her over the water running. He quickly yelled \u201cHello!?\u201d and fortunately the maid didn\u2019t push the door any further open but just handed some bottles of drinking water around the side of it. Phew!<\/p>\n

After this we just meandered around, asked at reception as to where to buy David some thongs (that we\u2019d first left the gates for on Friday but never got) and they suggested the market that didn\u2019t start until 3pm \u2013 it wasn\u2019t even lunch time yet. David slowed down his walking as we went back to our room so that I could take some flower photos that I may as well dot through the wordy parts of today\u2019s story.<\/p>\n

\"Phuket

Phuket Flowers<\/p><\/div>\n

After the photo shoot we sat on the bed and looked through the photos that we\u2019d taken to date. It was just so nice not to have places to be for a change and we just took this as a day off from everything!<\/p>\n

We ate a very late lunch \u2013 in fact we\u2019d missed the buffet hours so ate a la carte in the restaurant next to the quiet pool which was so close to our room. I had a vegetarian club sandwich and David asked for a Caesar salad with chicken and was amused to receive a Caesar salad on one plate and a chicken dish on another ROFL For dessert he chose a strawberry ice cream and I chose \u2018cake of the day\u2019. Perhaps they had plenty, or perhaps it was my turn to be the \u2018favoured one\u2019 but my plate was a very long, narrow dish such as you could fit an entire garlic bread loaf on, and it had 5 tiny assorted cakes on it. David tried to convince me that he was my best friend but I would have none of it. I did actually give him some of 4 of the cakes, but not the chocolate one. He\u2019s known for a very long time not to get between me and chocolate \ud83d\ude1b And before we left we made reservations (as were needed) to eat dinner here on Wednesday evening \u2013 we were even asked to choose which table we wanted.<\/p>\n

\"Phuket

Phuket Flowers<\/p><\/div>\n

It was already time that if we walked the short distance to the markets they would be open so we changed into walking shoes and off we went. I saw some beautifully cool, white cheesecloth shirts that would have looked really nice on David and been cool for him but no \u2013 if there\u2019s no price on something he won\u2019t even ask. I also saw some t.shirts that would have made good gifts for our 2 sons, but the same was true. For quite a few stalls, they were still setting up, yet others had a very large stock and were all set to go. There were places in the market where there was some smell or another that just took our breath away. It was very close to causing a gag reflex at times but we tried to smile and look normal so as not to offend. I\u2019ve tried Professor Google since coming home but can only discover that it could possibly have been dried fish so I still don\u2019t really know what it was. Downright stinky is what it was, but the details remain a mystery. So we bought nothing and I was feeling a bit fed up about still not having gifts for the family to bring home. David says you shouldn\u2019t *have* to buy people things, but you just do don\u2019t you? It\u2019s nice to bring home presents for the poor unfortunately who haven\u2019t had a holiday \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n

\"Phuket

Phuket Flowers<\/p><\/div>\n

We went back to Club Med for a nice leisurely drink at the bar and David ordered himself a whiskey sour \u2013 wow! And then we went back to the quiet pool again. Except it wasn\u2019t, it was not only noisy, with people laughing and talking loudly in the water, but a family with 2 children came in as well. The signs clearly, and in pictures not words, say to whisper and adults only but we decided not to be cross and to just accept that there was noise of vehicles on the road and people over the wall anyway. We didn\u2019t stay long though.<\/p>\n

On our way up the stairs away from the pool David realised that a canvas covered \u2018thing\u2019 that we\u2019d noticed but not thought about was actually a stair lift to help disabled people down the steps. Goodness knows there were many, many steps around the Club and none of the others (bar 2 with concrete ramps) had any assistance! In fact this pool was at the furthest back point of the Club and you would definitely have to negotiate at least a few steps to have got here. The only way into the pool was a vertical 4-rung ladder so I said to David \u201cAnd how do they propose to get someone in a wheelchair into the water anyway?\u201d And he put his hands out in front of him as if pushing a wheelchair and then lifted them slightly whilst saying \u201cTip!!!!\u201d I was giggling for ages.<\/p>\n

\"Phuket

Phuket Flowers<\/p><\/div>\n

We showered and went to dinner early ready for our next adventure.<\/p>\n

This was our third of the 3 trips we\u2019d booked and was apparently the \u2018Show To End All Shows!\u2019 Bigger than Ben Hur or anything else you could imagine. We gathered at reception and met up with the other people coming along and Eddine, our Dutch G.O. tour guide for the night. Edine was incredible with names and recited everyone\u2019s names from memory by the time we were all seated ready to go. And he used the names again through the evening, it wasn\u2019t a 2-minute wonder.<\/p>\n

He faced backwards, kneeling on the front passenger seat for the whole journey, telling us things of interest, explaining the show that we were about to see, and answering any questions about anything that we cared to ask. I\u2019m pretty sure he said he\u2019d worked for Club Med for 22 years and worked in a similar number of their resorts. Incredibly impressive stats anyway! By default with this kind of history he spoke many languages and switched easily into German for the couple in the seat in front of David and myself.<\/p>\n

Eddine took great care of us all, giving sensible advice along with making us all laugh, and guided us through the metal detectors at the gate \u2013 truly!!! And if that doesn\u2019t shock you check out this sign\u2026<\/p>\n

\"Really???\"

Really???<\/p><\/div>\n

Weapons???<\/p>\n

Eddine ushered us fairly promptly towards a huge stone (it probably wasn\u2019t stone, but who can tell) castle with a lake around it and huge elephant statues trumpeting water into the lake. This was the main theatre and named \u2018Palace of the Elephants\u2019. We went in the doors and were each given a sticker for our chest and our tickets and then had to form lines to go through security. Ladies there were wearing gloves and honestly patted down the men\u2019s pockets to make sure there was nothing camera shaped or mobile phone shaped in there. **Anything** that could possibly take a photo had to be handed in and was not allowed in the show. David had a computer hard-drive in his pocket \u2013 if I was having to leave my camera back at the Club then I was going to have backups of the photos with us \u2013 and showed it to the lady and she was fine with that. Then she checked my handbag thoroughly. I felt like a criminal \u2013 but I\u2019d better not tell you why.<\/p>\n

Then we joined another queue but everything ran like clockwork and was incredibly well organised. Once around some more corners we were in a large room and there were opportunities for a photo shoot with some blah blah blah, I can\u2019t remember because\u2026. the first item mentioned had been a tiger cub. I\u2019ve always dreamed of hugging a lion and this was the closest I was ever likely to get to that dream, I was so excited! The tiger hugging queue wasn\u2019t too long at all and before I knew it I was being seated on a fur covered rock with David by my side \u2013 he hadn\u2019t wanted to intrude on my dream but it was nice to get a photo of us both. One of the attendants draped a leopard skin rug over our laps and plonked the darling tiger cub on top. I just wanted to love it and took very little notice as the attendant pulled our hands to where he wanted them to be and gave me the milk bottle to feed the cub. It was a very, very precious moment to me. And \u2018moment\u2019 it was because we were all too soon being ushered away so that the next couple could sit. Another attendant passed by me with another tiger cub so I managed to get a stroke of that one as well and the man seemed to linger a little for me before rushing away. Thank you!!!! The tigers were incredibly soft and it was definitely one of those times in life that you would like to freeze and never move on from.<\/p>\n

\"Tiger

Tiger Cub Heavenly Bliss<\/p><\/div>\n

And I think I will save telling you about the show until another night or I won\u2019t get this uploaded before David comes home from work. We have a busy weekend coming up and 2 grandchildren staying for the next week but I\u2019ll do my best to keep the story coming once they\u2019re in bed.<\/p>\n

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\"Granny

Granny May Crafts<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sun 24th Continued\u2026 Strange as it seems after the exciting and full day that we\u2019d already had there was still plenty of time to play and we decided to try once more to have a look around outside the gate, … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":1980,"menu_order":4,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2032","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mayl.id.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2032","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mayl.id.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mayl.id.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mayl.id.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mayl.id.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2032"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/www.mayl.id.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2032\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2070,"href":"https:\/\/www.mayl.id.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2032\/revisions\/2070"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mayl.id.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1980"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mayl.id.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2032"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}