Back from Phuket

We arrived home almost 2 weeks ago!! I should have posted this sooner, but it has taken that long for all of us to digest our wonderful holiday. Firstly we stayed at the Horizan Beach Resort in Patong, absolutley wonderful. We, 2 adults and 2 Kids 11 and 13 shared a family suite, more than enough room, with all the ammenities for all. The staff were extremely friendly, the restaurants great, the room clean, close to everything, this would also suit most couples. When we checked in we told them we didnt have a credit card and they asked for a 2000 baht deposit, which wasn%26#39;t a problem as we took baht with us, and used this for our departure tax. After reading the forum we decided not to use the credit card and found no problems with this, we used the ATM%26#39;s and some travellers chqs. On our first full day, the most wonderful Richard picked us up and took us to the Rehab centre. This is a must!!!! I%26#39;m not too good at putting my feelings into words, but I must say this is an experience I will never forget. I can%26#39;t thank Richard enough, he is a wealth of local knowledge and this made it all the more special. If you%26#39;re going to Phuket, you should do yourself a huge favaour and contact him, something you wont regret, I cannot recommend this highly enough. We also went to the Fantasea, a must for first timers, just amazing, the Simon Cabaret a great night, a real eye opener and we did an ATV tour (not the one Richard suggested, because we felt 1hr would be enough and it was) brilliant...We ate at the Horizon itself ( 2 restaraunts ),Molly Malones on the beach rd , Orchids, S%26amp;G and Napoli down one of the side streets off the beach rd, and Shakers near the O Top, all were excellent and had both Western and Thai food. You can buy DVD%26#39;s for between 60 ant 70 baht, copy Roxy, Billabong etc for about 200 baht and all are great quality, the kids had a ball!!! We (the adults) did ourselves a favour and had a Thai massage and this also is a must, cost 200 baht. We also found the ';Supermarket'; close by on the beach rd (going towards the Merlin) from the Horizan just the best, you can buy everything you need there. Water is 35 baht for 6 litres, beer, soft drink, chips, icecream for the kids, personall needs, etc, just like at home, in fact you don%26#39;t need to take anything you can buy it all there, and, its soooo much cheaper. So if your a family travelling and forget something, dont stress, you can get it there. One of my worries was the kids, I shouldn%26#39;t have!!!. The kids went parasailing on the beach for 800 baht each ( not really cheap but had a ball ) and there is a cost to hire a beach banana lounge. We were advised not to hire jetski%26#39;s as any accident is your fault and you are expected to pay for it. All in all we had a great time but ran out of time to do some of the things we had on our adults list. If we can be of any help to anyone please dont hesitate to contact us...For all of you who are going to Phuket you will have a great time and Tripadvisor is a great Forum, the information on this site is invaulable. We would like to thank all those on this forum.

Col and Deb

Back from Phuket

Wow! Fantastic!! Thanks so much!

We%26#39;re heading to Horizon Karon on Friday (tomorrow!) very excited!

Back from Phuket

thank you for just back report, i really enjoyed reading it, glad you added the prices of things, i am going next week and am not the best at bartering.

Hi Col %26amp; Deb, welcome back.Enjoyed reading your report %26amp; very happy your family had a great time in Phuket. CJ

Hi Deb and Col, sounds like you had a wonderful time... We (my husband %26amp; 13 yr daughter) are returning to Phuket in a weeks time. We were there just prior to the tsunami so we are expecting things to be a little different this time. We stayed at laguna beach last time which was just the best. We will be returning there this time too, but we will also be staying at the Blue marine Resort just near Patong for our first week. One of our favourite things is having a massage each day, but it is always pricey at resorts. Can you tell me where in Patong is good and cheap to get a massage.

We also went to the rehab centre. I%26#39;m assuming you mean the Gibbons. Is Richard the Aussie guy that runs the centre and how do we get in touch with him. We are lucky enough to have the same driver we had on our last trip as we kept his email and have been in contact with him. he is delighted we are returning and can%26#39;t wait to catch up. Hopefully he will take us off the beaten track this time as we did all the usual tours last time. What is an AVT tour.

Also did you get any tailoring done and where?

Regards lizg1313

Hi Col %26amp; Deb, That was a great read, thanks heaps, really glad you all had such a good holiday.

For LizG. The Gibbon Rehab place is not the same place that Richard (a Canadian) volunteers at and takes people to free of charge. Its the Elephant Rehab Centre and I have lots of info prices %26amp; photos on it on my pages below.

Theres also lots of info on the ATV (All Terrain Vehicles) I also happen to have some info re massages with prices and photos, so hopefully that will answer some of your questions.

If you want to contact Richard his email is: richard@phuket-scuba-diving.com and the link to my Phuket pages is:

members.virtualtourist.com/m/b3082/160bcd/

Cathy

Thanks Cathy for supplying Richards contact details. Im pleased you all enjoyed our report, there was so much to say I didnt want to babble on too much. In response to where to get a massage, we just found a place around the corner from the Horizan, actually there were two, opposite each other, we actually tossed a coin in the middle of the street, that got a laugh... we paid there asking price which was about 400 baht each for 1 hr. The ATV tour is (four wheel motor bike) and what fun!!!There are brochures everwhere, and Richard can also give you information.

Cheers Deb

These forums are invaluable, i have to agree with you. We are going on honeymoon to the ';Grand Tropicana Hotel'; in Patong beach on the 8th October, do you know anything about this place or did you see it. How much of there currency (Baht) would you recommend i take with for 10 days to have a really really good time. my hotel fees are already paid - can you give me a rough estimate please. I would also appreciate some recent photos of Patong beach etc if you can help - my email address is klasen.david@columbus.co.za

Thanks for your help

David

Dear Cathy, your website is fantastic and we have been able to get heaps out of it. Thank you soooo much. We have also made contact with Richard so we are all organised. Thanks again

Liz

We are going to phuket with 8 other friends and I was wondering how to get in touch with richard. We all want to go to the the

elephant rehab. Could you please let me know.

Thank you georgia

Richards email for booking Rehab centre is prodive_2@phuket-scuba-diving.com