Cape Panwar, Phuket

What a perfect way to finish our travels alongside Matthew, Rachael, Andrew and Kaytie when they joined us for a week in Cape Panwar, Phuket. Thanks to cyclone Nathan we reached Phuket a day sooner than planned so we were able to surprise the 'kids' when they arrived at the hotel travel weary but happy in the sunshine!

The hotel is fabulous and spreads out to enclose a beautiful palm fringed beach with fine white sand and a crystal clear aquamarine sea. The ocean is so warm and allows access to the coral reef where we were able to snorkel and get to view some marine life and magnificent shoals of fish. We were also blessed with glorious sunshine each day and it wasn't long before we were all thoroughly chilled out. However for those of you who have ever had any form of holiday with Tom you will know that that the six of us were never destined for a sunbed holiday and it wasn't long before he had an itinerary planned and set in action!

We got to do some wonderful things together including a speed boat trip to the Pi Pi islands: location of the film 'The Beach' and home to the guarded caves from where the exotic 'birds nest soup' is sourced. During the day we had opportunity to dive from the boat for a swim in the lagoon and later we were able to snorkel over the coral reef. It was Kayties first time snorkelling; she did so well and was soon swimming and snorkelling around confidently.

Pi Pi island itself is tourist magnet and we had the impression that we would find the iconic Mala beach quite deserted ……. we found the beach alright but with about 70 other tourist boats! Although beautiful it was all a bit too frantic and we were glad to be taken to an alternative island for lunch where we more or less had the beach to ourselves.

One of our highlights was a trip to an elephant sanctuary high in the hills where we took an elephant ride. The trail went through the jungle to a clearing where we got some truly fantastic views down and across the ocean. Another highlight was when the six of us had a Thai cookery lesson; it was so much fun, we learnt loads and the bonus was that we all got to eat the products of our labour.

We couldn't go to Thailand without visiting the market and this we did in true style both in the local village and in Phuket's main market. We also thought that our boy's education would be incomplete without a visit to Patong's 'Lady Boy Show' …….they thought it really weird that their parents were even thinking of taking them to such a show! Never the less we went and had a fun evening and finished off by walking through the vibrant and somewhat scary, main bar/night life area where our menfolk were constantly being propositioned for a game of table tennis?!

Talking of night life we had some great nights out; apart from the infamous Lady boy Show we were treated to some really good live entertainment from local displays of dance and music to talented musicians. Most nights we ended up in 'the Lighthouse', the hotel bar where we got to meet some really nice people including Barry and Jo and our lovely barman, Simon. We had fun times there and on occasion Simon would lock up and leave us with a candle and a supply of popcorn so that we could carry on - think you could call it a 'lockout'!

We ate mainly in local restaurants where we got to sample a whole variety of Thai food; delicious and so cheap! Most nights we made time to watch the amazing sunsets, none more so than on our last night at the Cloud 19 hotel, a location reputed to have some of the best sunsets. That night the hotel proprietor took a picture of Matthew and Rachael silhouetted against the sunset and it is so stunning that he asked permission to use it on their website!

Unbeknown to us, for our last weekend the 'kids' had arranged an upgrade to the ' Panwar Lodge', a 3 bedroomed villa right on the beach with its own pool - we were totally bowled over and now we had a holiday within a holiday! The villa, once the lodge to the main plantation house (resort was originally a coconut plantation) is very quirky and full of charm and character from the 1930's. It was so homely and what's more it was Easter weekend and Rachael had even festooned the main room with decoration! It was the perfect way to end our perfect holiday together.

All too soon our week was over, we were to start our journey home, Matthew and Rachael were transferring to another resort in Phuket for a few days and Andrew and Kaytie were off to Bangkok. So we had a few farewell tears but we have many more memories that will last a lifetime.