You might be wondering what exactly we wanted in Phuket, when it's common knowledge how touristy it is here and we in particular tend to go for areas with lots of nature, culture or few people. We chose Phuket as our departure airport for the onward journey to the Philippines via Bangkok, and because it's home to one of the few water parks that have a slip-and-fly facility. (Slip-and-fly facilities are huge slides used as ski jumps.)
There aren't that many of them in the world, and since we're on a world trip, we of course had to stop here when it was practically just around the corner. Chris first had to do some convincing, as I'm never particularly enthusiastic about slides. But after all it was just before Christmas, and this was a perfect, unusual opportunity to treat ourselves. So we travelled to an outer district of Phuket, far from any beach, and moved into our accommodation near the water park to make our action-day dream come true. Actually Chris's action dream, but I was happy about a fun day at the pool too. What came next was actually the best day of our whole stay in Thailand. I never would have thought it, but when the day came to an end, we both regretted that we couldn't spend another day here. That's how much this day thrilled our athletes' hearts. It all started with us being totally looked after and given preferential treatment at check-in and ticket purchase. There was also a half-price promotion going on. The complex is modern, well thought out, super clean and huge. There was hardly anyone in the park, so we had the grounds to ourselves. There were just enough tourists and locals present that it felt as if everything was in perfect order, but you didn't have to queue anywhere. The average age matched the action activities, and we felt very relaxed and comfortable. In this case our video compilation really does say more than my words, so here's just a short written summary of the options we had there:
We jumped from the 5 m rock tower standing in the middle of the pool. I climbed the water bouldering route twice and managed a backflip from the wall into the pool. There's no video of it, so you'll just have to believe me :-). Chris could jump from the 10 m rock as often as he liked. Rescue kayaks paddled around just to be safe. Chris used the slip-and-fly so often that his legs were sore the next day from running up the stairs. There was a really cool ninja parkour course on land and a flying fox zipline over the water. We got to try an underwater scooter there. I fell in love with the thing and I'm sure it'll be my underwater means of transport in retirement. It's so comfortable and effortlessly fun. There was even a wakeboard course too. To my personal, mean amusement, I managed the start on my first try and was therefore better than Chris, who did a belly flop on his first attempt – which is rather unusual for him and which I can now hold against him forever, especially as we caught it on video. Between the individual activities we could also go stand-up paddling and soak up the sun. Everything mentioned above was included in the price.
We lay on a huge lounger whose day rental included 2 fresh coconuts and food vouchers. The day cost us around €40 per person and was an unforgettable pre-Christmas day and a great Christmas present to ourselves.
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Have fun watching.