Phuket: Day 4 - Karon Beach, Spa Cenvaree

Today was a really relaxing day for all of us.

I woke up early at 6am because I wanted to catch the sunrise. Unfortunately, the sunrise was behind our villa. But I tried to get a photo or two of the sunrise from the pool area. After that, I went back to my villa to get another hour of sleep lol. :P



We went for our buffet breakfast at The Cliff around 9am. After breakfast at 10am, the girls, my parents and I took the free one-way shuttle service to Karon beach to do a bit of shopping. The girls' father opted to stay behind at the hotel. I think he had some work to do and more importantly, he can't stand the heat! Lol.


Within 10 minutes, we were at Karon beach. :) My parents went ahead to shop first while I took the girls to the beach to walk around and to look for more seashells. We took more photos on the beach and we also saw more of the tiny sand crabs scuttling around. :) Almost 30 minutes later, we joined their grandparents in shopping. :P My father bought the most among all of us and us being girls too! Lol. He bought the wooden handicrafts. :) The girls got paper crafts such as notebooks and I got myself 2 tube tops and a tube dress lol. Who knows, they may come in handy when I go to a beach place again for holiday haha. :P

The dragon on Karon Beach







We returned to the hotel around 12pm. My mother and I went for lunch at Bayview Restaurant while my father took the girls back to my spa villa. We had a simple lunch as we were having our spa treatment at 2:30pm. My mother had a Pineapple Blended and a Club Sandwich and I had a lime soda and a Caesar Salad. Simple meals but delicious.

My mother's Pineapple Blended

My mother's Club Sandwich

My Caesar Salad

I went to Spa Cenvaree earlier than my 2:30pm appointment to take some photos of the beautiful ocean view. By 2:15pm, my mother and I were relaxing before our 2:30pm appointment. We were served with a cup of cold Lemongrass Ginger drink with a ice cold towel. We were in the couple room, Aruna for our Head to Toe spa package (4.30 hours) which began with an exotic Sea & Tea Body polish, followed by a Tranquility Massage, a Jurlique Cleansing Facial and the finishing details of a manicure and pedicure. :) We both felt so pampered hahaha. :P The whole spa experience was really soothing, relaxing and rejuvenating. :) The oceanfront-facing location of Spa Cenvaree certainly helped too in relaxing us, being able to hear the lull of the waves on the rocks, to see the waves. Ahhh... so peaceful and relaxing. :)






Our cold refreshing Lemongrass Ginger drink and cold towel

The couple spa room, Aruna where we had our spa treatments. See the outdoor shower and tub? :)


Sunset as seen at Spa Cenvaree


We went to dinner at The Cliff around 7:30pm. By now, the staff knew us very well lol. :) My parents and the girls' father all ordered Kao Phad (B160): fried rice with seafood haha. Marieann was full with the fries I brought back from my lunch so she just drank the complimentary soup: Pumpkin Soup. Juliane ordered a Crabmeat and Corn Soup (B150) while I had a Pork Medallions (B490) which was wrapped in pancetta with port wine cherry sauce, served with risotto and vegetables. The corn soup and my pork medallions were really tasty. :)

Complimentary Soup of the Day: Pumpkin Soup

Crabmeat and Corn Soup

My Pork Medallions

We went back to our respective villas after dinner. I started to pack our luggages as we were leaving tomorrow. The girls seemed a little reluctant to leave lol. Oh well, we can always go away to another resort holiday. :) In the midst of my packing close to 10:30pm, we heard fireworks going off at Karon town area. The girls were so excited that they called their grandparents to tell them about it. The girls finally fell asleep close to 11:30pm. Phew.



I should be sleeping soon too. I have to be at the lobby by 7am to process the check out for my parents.

Phuket: Day 2 - Phang Nga Bay

Today we went for our 4-in-1 Phang Nga Bay canoe trip.

We were at The Cliff Restaurant for our American Breakfast Buffet by 7am as the mini-bus was coming to pick us up at 8am. We had a really good breakfast. :)

Waiting at the lobby for our transport to Ao Por Pier

We were at Ao Por Pier just after 9am. We boarded our cruiser boat around 9:30am and left for our first destination - Panak (Phanak) Island or Koh Phanak. The girls were excited as this is their first boat ride. :) Thank goodness, none of us were doing the Merlion (suffered from seasickness) haha. :P The girls were moving about on the boat as were my mother and I as we took photos of the beautiful scenery along the way.

Waiting for our cruiser boat to set off







We arrived at Panak Island around 10:30am. We were going to visit and explore the caves and inland lagoon at Panak on canoes! Initially the girls' father and my parents were against the girls going as they deemed it dangerous. However as I wanted to go on the canoe ride, the girls insisted on tagging along. Finally my parents came along on the canoe ride while the girls' father opted to stay on board as he had no interest in nature at all and much prefer to sleep instead lol. Each canoe had a staff to man it. My father, Juliane and I were on one canoe while my mother and Marieann on another canoe. It was MOST FUN being on the canoe!! :) It is the first canoe ride for all of us. The girls were most giggly and so was I hahaha. We went through the partially underwater caves in order to get to the inland lagoon. With torch lights, we saw rock formations and stalactites and bats too in the caves! The girls went "ah" and "wah" lol. There were mangrove trees in the lagoon. It was a pretty awesome experience: canoeing in silence and marvelling at the beautiful greenery surrounding us in the inland lagoon. It is definitely a wonderful memory for all of us. :)

All of us in our canoes! :) My mom and Marieann in the background


The cave entrance



Light at the end of the cave into the inland lagoon in the middle of Panak Island












Out of the cave

Going back to our cruiser boat

We returned to the cruiser boat all smiles and the girls talked non-stop about their first canoe ride. :) We arrived at the second destination, Hong Island. The girls were most game to go for the canoe ride to Hong Island. But it started to rain. We opted out of it as the sea had become choppy, we had no extra change of clothes and we didn't want to get sick! While waiting for the others to come back, we all had a little snooze lol. When the others returned, we had lunch while the cruiser boat proceeded to James Bond Island and Khao Ping-Kan.




Raining in the distance amidst the islands


We took the small boat over to visit James Bond Island or Koh Tapu and Khao Ping-Kan. Of course we all know James Bond Island where one of the James Bond movies, "The Man with The Golden Gun" was filmed. Khao Ping-Kan, also known as "Leaning Island" is named because of its peculiar arrangement of a smooth rock slab resting some 50 metres high on other rocks. We took plenty of photos during our 30 minutes stop here.

James Bond Island and Khao Ping-Kan in the distance

The long boat we rode over to the islands

Khao Ping-Kan or Leaning Island

James Bond Island or Koh Tapu


Soon, we went to our last destination, Naka Island where we could either swim in the sea or feel free to try our hand in canoeing. We decided to take it easy and stay on board the cruiser ship eating fruits and drinking tea. :) By 4:30pm, we made our way back to Ao Por Pier where we took the mini-bus back to our hotel.





The girls enjoying fruits before returning to Phuket Island

After arriving back at our hotel, my mother and I freshened up and we went to Spa Cenvaree for our 1.5 hour spa treatments. I had the Sun Lovers package which included a Pre-Sun Body Glow: a body polish of my choice - Tropical Papaya and Coconut Glow (45 mins) and a After-Sun Soother (45 mins): a cooling wrap followed by a yoghurt splash and included my choice of scalp massage. My mother had a Therapeutic Head & Shoulder Massage (30 mins) and a Jurlique OPC Anti-Oxidant Rejuvenating Facial (60 mins). We both felt really relaxed and revived after our spa treatments lol. :) We joined the rest of the family at The Cliff for dinner. We all had an early night after an exhausting but exciting day! :)

Our guide, Sam is taking us round Phuket tomorrow.