[Travel Tuesday] Clubmed Phuket December 2015: Day 3

I We survived the first day of school on Monday, it was a first of many things for us.

New school, new environment, new learning journey, and first time Adam will be away from home for the whole day.

We enrolled him into a Student care, as I seriously doubt my helper will be able to cope with her chores plus supervise Adam in his school work.

She's a domestic worker, not a teacher, so I shouldn't even be thinking of this as an option too.

With Adam in Student Care, it will also mean no more couple dates out after work for us, we have to cheong back to the East to fetch the kids! (Not looking forward to that.)

Anyway, it is off to school Day 2 and parents are not allowed to hover around from Day 2 onwards so here is my last instalment of our December Phuket trip.

Arranged a dinner date with my cousins and uncle on one of the nights while we were all still in Phuket.

It's a small world after all :P

Horror faces on my boys #whytheysolikethat

My Ashton doesn't like water but every time go pool also must full body kit including goggles. As if his head ever goes under water LOL.

We didn't stay in Clubmed on the last day.

We checked out and booked a day tour around the area, which includes Go-Karting.

We took the double-seaters so the kids could play too.

We also went to the Tiger Zoo.

It was expensive, and not really worth it if you ask me.

The tigers were all kept in enclosures alike cages, unlike the Tiger Temple ones, and we had to queue very long just to go into the enclosure for a mere 10 minutes.

The tigers did nothing but lounge around looking pretty.

And soon the little ones got bored, including the furry one as you can see below:

A sleepyhead who was oblivious to everything going on. It just slept and slept!

We even suspected it was sedated on purpose! though the zoo claimed otherwise. Hmmmmm,

It was a teeny tiny zoo, with only a handful of tigers which visitors can take photos with.

But still, there were other cages with "off limits" tigers like the Siberian tigers.

I kinda felt duped because I had expected a free-range safari-like experience akin to the famous Tiger Temple.

Anyway, I think it is better to take your tourism dollar elsewhere.

We then went to take the buggy rides from the foot of a hill all the way up to the Big Buddha temple.

My virgin experience operating this machine and it was fun!

Andy took Adam while I took Ashton.

When we finally rode back down, the kids wanted to buy a basket of bananas to feed this young elephant.

The elephant roped the Birthday Boy in for a kiss!

Happy Birthday Hon!

Thank you for always being there for the boys and me.

We have been through so many years of ups and downs, challenges and celebrations, failures and victories, and I am looking forward to spending the rest of my life with you.

We make a great team if I may say so myself :)

Merry Christmas from the Tan-meisters!

Bye bye Clubmed and Phuket! The kids enjoyed their vacation :)

Phuket trip Day 1 and Day 2 are also up :)

Club Med Phuket December 2015 - Day 2.

{Phuket Day 2}

 

With the kids enjoying themselves at the Mini Club, Hubby & I went ahead and booked a full day excursion to island-hop around Phi Phi.

Thetrip is from 0730am (bus pick-up) - 6pm (reach resort), which meant that we had to hire a babysitter from 0730am - 0830am before the Mini Club opens, and subsequently from 4:30PM - 6PM till we got back.

 

 

Beware of people touting prices for Phi Phi island excursions as they mark up about double of the intended prices.

If possible, book your excursion directly from the tour agencies (those small pop-up agencies or counters) around your resort and you can bargain to 1400 baht per pax, instead of 3000 baht per pax.

The full-day excursion includes 2 snorkeling sessions, with lunch and drinks provided.

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The day started off beautifully with bright sun and calm seas.

 

On this trip, we saw lots of sea urchins. They were littered everywhere on the sea bed!

Hubby enjoying ice-cream in the warm sun after the snorkel :)

When we got back to our resort, the kids were waiting in our room with their babysitter.
They were both bathed and changed and eating on the bed, and according to them, they both had fun at the Mini Club. Nothing is more relieving that your children telling you they had fun while you were away!

 

If you liked this post, be sure to check out Day 1 and Day 3  of our trip!

[Travel Tuesday] Clubmed Phuket December 2015 - Day 1

We just came back from Phuket this morning and I thought it would be ideal to do a "Travel Tuesday" post!

 

We put up at Club Med during our stay and the kids enjoyed themselves at the Mini Club and Petite Club so much!

Kids 4-7 go to Mini Club (Free)

Children below 4 go to Petite Club (chargeable at 1900 baht per full day)

Club opening hours are 0830am - 4:45pm.

Additional hours that you require after the Club closes will be charged at 100 baht/ hour for a babysitter.

 

Club Med Phuket

Checking out the Mini Club was the first thing we did after dumping our suitcases in the room!

After Adam and Ashton went to the Mini Club, we went around the resort and to nearby Kata beach to recce our surroundings.

 

 

Did pretty awesome things on the first day like climb a tree.....

 

and Parasailing...

 

 

 

 

After hanging out at the beach, we went back to the resort at 4pm for the Mini Club kids party.

 

 

The water slide was fun! Both boys went for it for 2 rounds.

Our kids more happening than us - having a swell time at their foam party while parents could only stay on the outside of the foam pit to watch.. LOL

Adam made a new friend, Hayden, a fellow Singaporean boy from Opera Estate Primary :)

 

 

 We have been to many holidays with the kids the past several years and I can tell you, anywhere with sun, sand, and copious amounts of water are the perfect ingredients for a Happy Family Vacation recipe!

 

As a sidenote, however, the service at Club Med Phuket falls short of some of the resorts and hotels we have been to, for eg. Shangri-La Cebu, W and Westin hotels.

For an instance, check out timing is at 11:00am instead of the largely universal 12noon, and requests for late check-outs are charged at 300 baht per hour per room (Club Med charges per pax instead of per room, so for a family of 4 like us, we were given 2 rooms)

 

Other than that, we were quite happy with everything else - 3 square meals provided in the resort, free alcohol and drinks. Yay to all you alcoholic anonymous out there! :)

 

Their rooms also do not come with toiletries and terry cloth slippers, and I understand it is part of their committment to reduce environmental waste, so if you are a first-time guest to Club Med, please bring along toiletries.

 

 

 

Do check back soon for our Day 2 and Day 3 photo installment :)