We knew we were moving to the Philippines in August 2018. Towards the end of that month our friends (living in Indonesia) posted on Facebook that they would be spending Christmas in Phuket, Thailand and asked if anyone wanted to join them. Matt & I saw the post and quickly said, YES! We met Derek & Cathy in the Philippines in 2012 and became fast friends. Our kids got along well with each other and the parents too six years ago and still today. They booked the hotel, Horizon Karon Beach Resort, and once we got to Phuket we came up with an itinerary for our duration there.
We are so excited to travel to Phuket, Thailand to see our friends!
Day 1
We rented a “Party Van” to take us to and from churchNormally this small branch in Phuket has 40 people in attendance. But because of all of the visitors and tourists during the Christmas season, there were nearly 100 people at church. One couple visiting from the states actually knows my uncle!If we are going to stay walking distance from a beach, you better believe we were going to visitThere is a three year difference between these girls, and they hadn’t seen each other in five years. But, they never ran out of things to say.Double Date Night for the adults inside another “Party Van”. Using the Grab app in Phuket was fun because you never knew what type of car was going to pick you up!
Day 2
View of Phuket at the start of our Half-Day Island Tour + Elephant TrekkingMason and Blake got to hold this Sea Eagle…but we liked to call it a “Seagull-Eagle”We got to visit the Big Buddha. Mason was pouting and didn’t want to be in the photo.We stopped to visit Chalong TempleOur “white monkey” getting a photo with another monkey after a showElephant rides for everyoneMason getting some elephant love after our ride with other elephantsThe resort had a Christmas Eve party for all of the guests and the kids got their face painted
Day 3
Christmas morning with the gifts we brought from the PhilippinesWe got to spend Christmas evening at FantaSea togetherThe evening show at FantaSea was just behind us. They make everyone turn in their phones, so there are no photos from the showA few more mannequins at this store
Day 4
Bathing an elephant…trying NOT to think about what’s in the waterMatt trying to get the monkey to climb on him outside of Wat Suwan Khuha (Cave Temple) Inside Wat Suwan Khuha is Buddha laying down. To show respect, all women have to cover their legsWe had a quiet bamboo river raft rideCooling off at a small waterfall
Day 5
Island hopping tour to Phi Phi Island and othersThe kids enjoyed each other company on the boat ride and did a good job of not getting sunburnedWhile on a short stay on Rang Yai Island we ran into some good friends of ours. They use to live in the Philippines with us (their daughter was in Mason’s kinder and 1st grade class) and now are in Hong Kong. We had no idea each other was in Phuket for Christmas
Day 6
The “Dab” kids saying good-byeThe oldest two were glad to reconnect in PhuketThe dads that work hard to make these fun vacations possible for usThe moms who had a great time catching up…maybe we will visit them on their next assignment
