Escapade – Part 2

Our holiday started with a bang – in a good way. Our room was not ready though we arrived past 2pm. The receptionist informed us of that, and in the same breath, told us we could have a complimentary lunch whilst waiting, and ushered us towards J’s cafe.

We asked twice before we allowed ourselves to believe that she did mean we could order anything in the ala carte menu, apart from alcohol. After that sunk in, we picked out dishes with wild abandon happily. Evidence as below.

Another starter, main and dessert not pictured – heh.


It was such a wonderfully relaxing and sumptuous way to get to know the hotel. Great service recovery. You guys can give us a late room anytime.

We paid more for breakfast every day, since we figured that it would be worth it given that kids eat free. It amounted to about $18 more per person (after taxes) per day, but divided by four (and given the spread, and the lovely start to the day), it felt okay.

Just a few scenes from the buffet spread – I love how pretty passion fruit looks!

They had a REAL honeycomb as part of the set-up! And the kids LOVED the longans, as they did the last time we visited another hotel in Phuket.

J’s cafe has a lovely outdoor setting. Unfortunately, as with many other southeast asian holiday spots, it is plagued by houseflies. Annoying, but harmless (unlike mozzies). I personally don’t mind houseflies, since they seem relatively clean, and though some landed once or twice on our plates no one suffered any stomach upset. But I guess coming from Singapore, we tend to have a low tolerance for what’s simply part of life in most of Asia.

For lunch and dinner, we either ate at one of the hotel’s restaurants (prices are similar to dining out in Singapore), one of the eateries near the hotel, or got takeaways from the latter. There are 3 of those within a 5 min walk of the hotel’s front gate, and another one near the beach, to the right of the hotel proper. Simple dishes like Pad Thai or Fried Rice with Prawns went for SGD$4, and they were yummy. There were also seafood options.

For takeaways, we either ate in the comfort of our air-conditioned room, or at a cabana as we watched the sun set. One of my favourite memories of the trip was just that, four of us, right in front of the sea, eating as the sun got redder and bigger, then lower and fainter, and finally disappearing down the horizon. Ahh…

The girls loved the hammocks, and happily swung in them. There were two hammocks, strung between trees. One near the four cabanas, one nestled amongst the 40 or so deck chairs.

More coming up in Part 3 – of pools, movie nights and massages!