I returned to the island of Phuket in southern Thailand for a family trip after 28 years. The last time I visited Phuket was back in 1994 (when I was 10 years old) together with my parents and younger brother. This time around we came to Phuket with the family, parents and kids on a promotional package by The Anantara Resort. The offer was a 4 days 3 nights stay for 6 person inclusive of breakfast and airport transfers for RM1599 in their Mai Khao Resort which we thought was a good deal for a short and convenient vacation not too far away from home. We got to know about this promotional package through my Malaysian Airlines Enrich privilege membership. However, there was a condition though. Part of the deal was for us to allocate an hour of our time to hear out Anantara's vacation club membership offer.
At the Mai Khao Beach, a long stretch of golden sand in the northwestern corner of Phuket Island.
Arriving in Phuket brought back lots of memories from childhood. Back then we were still living in Kerteh, Terengganu. I recalled that during our first trip in 1994, Phuket was already a very popular tourist destination handling boatloads of foreign tourists. These days, it is still heavily touristed but apparently they are facing a bit of a tourism slowdown throughout Thailand, partly due to the strengthening Thai baht and also stiffer competition from other regional destinations such as Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia. That explains why many resorts are under pressure to bring in the tourists as the economy here primarily relies on tourism. Having promotional packages like the ones we got certainly helps entice tourists to the island even during the low season.
The Anantara Mai Khao grounds and its centerpiece kids pool
The Anantara Mai Khao Resort is located on the northwestern corner of the island, along a long stretch of coastline facing the Andaman Sea called the Mai Khao beach. This is a more secluded part of the island and relatively further away from the happening party places (ie: Patong, Karon, Kata etc.) in the southern half of the island. We arrived at the resort relatively late as our flight got delayed. The check in also took some time as there were many tourists groups that the reception counter had to attend to before us. It seemed like they were understaffed given the number of guests that they had to handle. Perhaps staffing got affected due to the overall slowdown? As the kids were already very hungry, we headed off to the Tiffin Indian Restaurant (Michellin rated) in Anantara upon settling check in. They ferried us with buggies throughout the resort as the resort compound covers vast grounds. Trying to walk your way through the resort and its many villas is like walking through a maze. This Indian restaurant is the highest rated in Anantara. The food was indeed good but I thought that they could have been slightly more generous with the portions given the top dollar prices we paid.
Dining at the Tiffin Indian Restaurant in Anantara Mai Khao Resort
The kids pool at Anantara. The kids can spend all day long at this pool area!
The highlight of the Anantara Mai Khao resort for the kids was certainly their kids pool area. The pool was well equiped with many types of interesting water slides, floats, inflated tub boats which fascinated the kids. For them, that was all they cared about throughout their Phuket trip. Even till today, that's all they remembered of Phuket. The resort cleverly caters for young families with kids as seen with the pool area facilities, the indoor play area (equiped with a kids rock climbing wall, slides, video games, a kids cinema and many other stuff to keep the kids occupied). They even staffed the play area with carers who will oversee the kids while they played. Very thoughtful indeed.
While not directly fronting the sea, the Anantara Mai Khao is located not too far away from the beach. The beach can be accessed through the JW Mariott resort (which neighbors Anantara). A short 5 buggy ride or a 15 minute walk will get you to the beach. The Mai Khao coastline draws quite a lot of similarities to the Telok Mok Nik beach in Kemaman, Terengganu. Golden sands lined with casuarina trees. The waves of the Andaman Sea can be quite rough though and at high tide, the beach is closed to visitors as it can be quite dangerous.
One of my fondest memories of Thailand was the good Thai food. When I was a child, family night outs were to Thai restaurants like Thai Kitchen, Thai Corner where they served up deep fried seabass, thai fishcakes, sing kong taufu, thai omelette and of course tom yum goong. We were recomended to try out Wansuk, a beachside restaurant located on the Mai Khao beach (walkable from Anantara resort). They certainly did not disappoint as they served up the best Thai dishes of our trip! I would personnaly rate this restaurant better than the Michelin rated ones in Anantara.
Dining at the Wansuk beachside Thai restaurant. Certainly the best Thai dishes of our trip!
Phuket Town has grown over the years, but it still had that old rural town feel to it with electric cables dangling all over the place and old rustic Chinese shophouses everywhere. Getting to the Phuket Town from Mai Khao was a bit of a drive (an hour plus) as we had to travel from the northern part of the island all the way to the south. The traffic was also heavy in some stretches of the main trunk road, proving that the island's population had grown throughout the years. There were new sights which didnt exist back then such as the Big Buddha on the hill which we could not access due to a major landslide around that area (authorities have closed off the attraction on fears of slope and structure destabilization).
At Big Buddha viewpoint
The one attraction that I remembered visiting from my first trip as a 10 year old kid was the Wat Chalong (Phuket's biggest and most important Buddhist temple). The temple is still as fascinating as before but with renovated grounds (ample parking space and tourist facilities) to cater for mass tourism. This temple is said to contain a splinter of Lord Buddha's bone hence the protective powers and blessings it bestows on devotees. Manouovering to the top chamber of the temple where the Buddha's bones is said to be kept was challenging as there were crowds of devotees and tourists crowding the entire area, which is not a spacious area to start of with.
Wat Chalong, Phuket's most revered Buddhist temple
Wat Chalong back then, during my first trip to Phuket as a child.
The Phuket old town area is basically several streets of old Chinese shophouses that reminded me of Jonker Street in Malacca (it had the same exact feel). The facade of these shophouses were of colonial architecture (Portuguese, Dutch, British and the likes) as Phuket was a strategic trading stopover point back in the days. Large crowds of tourists are drawn to the area for the food, for shopping and simply for soaking up the vibes of the place. But dont be fooled by the old facade of the shops, most of the food, goods or services rendered come at a steep price simply because it's a tourist area!
In Phuket Old Town
The trip back to Phuket certainly brought back memories from my first trip here as a child. The island seemed like it had grown much more crowded over the years (which is expected) but it still retained that rustic and chaotic vibe typical of Thailand. Prices of everything here (goods and services) were noticeably steeper which is not surprising for a popular international tourist destination. Tourism is the most important industry here afterall as many people from the southern provinces come to Phuket to earn their livelihood. The trip to Phuket was an eye opener on how the island tries to navigate the competitive future by capitalizing on the name it has made for itself.
At the Phi Phi Islands with my younger brother during our first Phuket trip 28 years ago.
