celebrating the year of the pig

We call it "Celebrating the year of the Pig" -- early to bed, late to rise, and lots of naps throughout the day. That pretty much summarises my recent trip to Phuket. The itinerary for each day can be generally detailed as follows:

• eating
• lying on the beach (sleeping)
• massage (sleeping)
• sleeping

In an age where most people's holidays seem to comprise a checklist of things to do, things to see and things to buy, my like-minded partner and I were looking from a true holiday from the travails of the rat race. So we got a $135 ticket on Tiger Airways (a very good budget airline experience), $40 a night at Patong Premiere, an excellent little 3-star boutique hotel, and with nothing else on the agenda we were ready to take a break.

For anyone else who might be headed to Phuket, there are two places I would highly recommend. One is the Blooming Spa, which is a lovely little spa with even lovelier prices. It is not very publicised, but a stringent internet search turned up some personal reviews and recommendations, to which I will now add my own. Among the luxury spas, Blooming Spa prices in right at the bottom, and even compared with the traditional Thai massages all over Phuket (and we went to a few), Blooming Spa definitely gives excellent value for money. The other is Baam Rim Pa, a restaurant which needs no introduction because there are lots of web sites saying it is the best restaurant in Phuket. In a lovely location overlooking the sea, and making food from recipes originally used by the Thai royal family, you can't really go wrong.