Thailand Contrasts (2022): Days 8-11: At Leisure on Phuket

Our room

Our Phuket hotel, where Bruce had arrived on schedule on the first day of the new month, was the Hilton Arcadia Resort & Spa, situated at Karon Beach. Bruce had the presence of mind to take photos of our room on arrival, while it was still in pristine condition.

Pictures of the hotel’s public areas are included throughout the remainder of this post. This was largely a hotel- and resort-based stay, but we ensured that our schedule included an off-premises morning walk each day.

Thursday

We enjoyed an excellent hotel breakfast, which was included thanks to Bruce’s Hilton Honors status. Afterwards, we explored the hotel and its grounds before leaving the premises to walk towards Karon Beach Town. There’s wasn’t a great deal of interest there, in all honesty, but it did have a derelict, abandoned and rather sad-looking former football stadium. It seemed like it may once have been a notable landmark, but was now beyond recovery and just awaiting its end.

The afternoon brought relaxation by the pool, followed by more of the same in our most agreeable room. Soon enough, it was time for Happy Hour in the lobby bar. This featured special treatment for status guests, as the Executive Lounge was currently closed. We drank Margaritas, but soon came to realise that they had a noticeable watered-down taste, possibly resulting from rapidly melting ice – or possibly not. Dinner was in the hotel’s Thai restaurant.

Friday

Friday was almost a repeat performance of the previous day, except that our off-site walk was along the beach path in the opposite direction, while evening sustenance came in the form of room service.

Saturday

By now, the shape of each resort day was well established. Today’s external walk was similar to Friday’s, except that much of it took place on the beach itself. Footwear was carried and our bare feet frequently got wet. When cocktail hour arrived, we solved the problem of weak-tasting Margaritas: simply order an extra shot on the side!

Sunday

Our final morning walk was once again largely on the public beach, this time heading towards Karon Beach Town. Hotel staff were all busy preparing for – and eventually welcoming delegates to – what looked likely to be a major conference in the week ahead. It appeared that all open accommodation blocks were going to be full. In the evening we had to concentrate on making our own preparations for a very early departure on Monday morning, when the trip would move into another new phase.