We lazily wake up and eventually make it down to breakfast before it ends at 10:30. The breakfast choices are good, with a decent variety... french toast, pancakes, cook-to-order eggs, various breads, bacon, sausage, fried noodles, fried rice, other hot foods, yogurt and toppings, and lots of fruits.
We rush through breakfast though because on the way down we bump into BLX who say they're going to a spa (for which they made a 11:30 appt)! After much deliberation, I decide to join them to check out "the spa experience" and K also will tag along.
It takes ~20 minutes to drive out to the spa. Once there, I feel pressured to get a package, which was what I was afraid would happen. So, I end up with a 2-hr treatment with body scrub and massage for 2300 baht discounted to 1955 baht (~ $60) because Xiao has a coupon. BLX all pick greater than $100 packages. Apparently, Xiao gets a massage once a week and goes for full spa treatments every now and then. It *is* somewhat relaxing, but is the $ worth it? It also doesn't help that there's a huge daddy long legs type spider and half a broken spider web in one of the ceiling corners of the room I'm in... so that I see it whenever I'm lying face up on the spa table. Blah.
Cookies and tea after the treatment (elephants are everywhere)...
I find the walking around afterwards as we wait for BLX to finish their 3-hr treatments nice though. The spa has lots of water and open space and feels somewhat serene. I probably should have just brought a good book to read while BLX got their treatments. It would have been free and still relaxing.
After the spa, BLX take the taxi to check out a couple of beaches, of which K and I opt out. So, we take our own ride arranged by the spa back to the hotel... which costs 300B vs the 400B taxi originally arranged by the hotel.
We then go to the travel agency [as directed by the hotel peeps] to book our 'James Bond 4 in 1' prize. Turns out 'James Bond' is for 'James Bond Island', one of the stops on the tour. The island was renamed to James Bond Island after one of the James Bond movies had a scene from there (a 30 yr-old move... something like 'Man with the Golden Gun'). We book the tour for the next day. It's a day trip with 4 in 1... elephant riding/trekking, James Bond Island, a cave temple, and sea canoeing. We also check out some of the options for Ko Phi Phi day trips.
Getting back to the hotel, we meet Beilie who says she passed a travel agency that offered the Ko Phi Phi day trip for 1400 baht... all the other travel places were over 2000 baht. So, we all head out to that agency and end up booking our Phi Phi trip with the lady there. Beilie and Ling also decide to sign up and join us for the 'James Bond 4 in 1' for tomorrow.
BLX also want to sign up to see a show called FantaSea. (There's basically two shows in Phuket - that and Cabaret.) The brochure touts..."magical illusions, 4-D effects, aerial ballet, acrobatics, pyrotechnics, special effects, exciting stunts, and an elephant circus". After much deliberation (it's 2000B = ~ $55), we decide to do it, too, and the agent books seats for the four of us.
We then walk down the streets looking for dinner, or late lunch. We all hadn't eaten since breakfast. We end up eating in this area with a row of outdoor "restaurants". Each one would be 'in your face' trying to get you to eat at them as you walk by. Checking out all the menus and somewhat randomly picked one. After dinner, K and I each buy a pair of water shoes. I wanted a pair because Sean recommended it for water trips and then K ended up buying a pair, too. Starting price 350B per pair and we ended up paying 200B per pair after friendly negotiations.
Side note: 7-Elevens are on almost every block (literally) near our hotel.
Sleep. 11pm.
Oh, and Merry Christmas!
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