March 2017 holiday - Phuket

As with our previous Phuket trips, we looked for a hotel with a nice pool with slides. This time, we found Phuket Marriott Resort & Spa, Merlin Beach. The address said Patong, so we thought it'd be conveniently located near the heart of Patong, but it's actually a 10-min drive away. Turned out to be quite nice actually, to be near enough to Patong, and far enough to be quieter and more peaceful. The crowd there was also not as rowdy.

We arrived too early to check in to the room we booked, so the receptionist asked us if we'd like to upgrade to a pool access room. The moment we saw the room, the kids got super excited. The adults got excited too, to be able to jump into the pool so easily. But we later realised that our room floor would always be wet as a result! Nonetheless, it was a fun experience.

We spent a morning at the beach, and the rest of the time in the pool.

The morning when we were at the beach, a huge dead puffer fish got washed up to shore. We've never seen such a huge puffer fish before. The dive shop owner decided to display the fish outside her dive shop and use it as a science lesson for little kids, to teach them about puffer fish!

The kids loved the pool. The hotel had 3 pools - 2 of which were huge, and 1 of them had slides and little islands in the middle. Nadine, as usual, was like a fish. She even attempted to do a water ballet.

Last year, Aaron was still super scared of the water, always staying at the edge, or where the water is not above his knees. This time round, he jumped in and out like a tiny fish!

He even came down on the slide on his belly!

We went to the Phuket Dolphin Show, not expecting much. But it turned out to be a really good show. We bought the front row seats, and had an excellent view of the dolphins and seals.

And years after the introduction of the selfie-stick, we finally got ourselves one at the Patong Market and were so thrilled!

This Phuket trip turned out to be a really nice and relaxing one. Lots of pool time, no rushing anywhere and just taking it easy. Nice! And all 4 of us came back with nice brown tan. We want to do this again soon!