September 12, 2025
We made a quick decision to go to Thailand. I am happy we did. We left ICN in the afternoon after HK got back from work. The flight was only half full and Mason sincerely enjoyed his in-flight meal. We played some Mario Kart and I watched Point Break, the sequel unfortunately.
We arrived in Phuket around 10:30pm and stayed near the airport at Sugar Marina Aviator. That night we grabbed some food from an outdoor street food spot and got to bed. The next day we were picked up (after a swim) and had planned to take a trip to the Kai Islands. As it turned out, if we’d went, we would not be able to get a boat to Phi Phi Island that evening, so we opted to just go to Phi Phi.
The hotel in Phi Phi (for the first 2 nights) was the Phi Phi at the Pier. One night I walked Mason down to the beach after dinner and he met another little Thai boy. They played on the beach chasing crabs and building a sand castle for almost 2 hours, and of course Mason jumped into the surf with his street clothes on. The breakfast was memorable at the Pier because of the cats. Mason could eat and then play with the cats while HK and I enjoyed post-breakfast morning coffee.
On the second day, we went snorkeling around Maya Bay (although that beach was closed and there was some trash in the water) we found two good snorkeling spots and Mason had no fear about the water or its depth. My snorkel did fall to the ocean’s floor and I was surprised how fast with fins I could get down there to grab it (12 meters deep?) and on my ascent quickly pondered if my descent was a bad idea (considering the bends) but turns out I survived with the help of a quick beer.
We next stayed at Phi Phi Resort for a night on Long Beach. A beautiful little cottage was our home there, that we needed to ride a van up and down to every time we wanted to get to the beach or pools. The water was a little rough in the ocean, but the pool they had was a classic, ranks in my top 5 personal favorites on the planet. The resort also had the meanest breakfast staff on the planet. When we left, we boarded another long boat to get back to the Pier with about 12 other guest and all our luggage. The boat sank deep down in the water when it was said and done. HK cut off circulation in my hand during the ride back to the pier, but we did not capsize. Dinso Resort was all about their incredible breakfast, their pool, the kid’s café (PS5) and that burger I ate. Since we had 8 hours to kill on our last day we booked a resort room near the airport. Well we thought it was a resort, turns out their pool was out of commission and the room smelled like mold. The place looked like a perfect place for a drug deal. I haven’t had a good laugh like that in a long time. Our check-out came within minutes of our check-in. Back to Sugar Marina we went, thanks to Bolt.
