Life’s been berry berry good to me…

That could be the intro to every entry on this blog, but more true than ever on our last junket. My sister Liz and her husband came to visit us in Hong Kong and since it was freezing here last year same time when my parents visited we planned a long weekend get away some place warm. We settled on Phuket, Thailand and because of our impending parenthood and the fact that Liz and Peter haven’t taken a childless vacation since Natalie was born almost 4 years ago –we decided to splurge – and splurge we did choosing the Banyan Tree. We signed up late so ended up having to upgrade and get the pool villas – best thing we ever did. Each room had its personal pool and was so amazing I’m ready to move in! Upon arrival we were greeted with a garland of jasmine and sweet tea and given an overview of the world renowned spa and other facilities and activities. Then driven to our rooms in a golf cart and shown the personal cappuccino machine, wireless internet, amazing huge bedroom overlooking the pool and gardens, individual sinks and closets overlooking a large stone bath (which we filled at night and soaked with flowers looking up through the trees at the stars and listening to the birds serenade us). Outside was a small garden dripping with flowers and a table and covered area overlooking the pool where you could lounge out of the hot day sun. All this next to a gorgeous beach!

Liz had so much energy not chasing after 2 little ones she was up each day at dawn running, breakfasting and even spaing before Peter, David or I peeked our heads out from under the covers. She signed us up for lots of fun activities including a local market tour, Thai cooking classes, Batik painting classes (which we missed as we were still cooking), nearby shopping mall complete with baby elephant (who nicely slobbered all over me) and found us a fabulous place for lunch and then dinner down the beach. We met a very fun couple in our Thai cooking class from London and Anna is due one day before me. We had our efforts critiqued and David and I lost points and we cut down on the spices as Bean doesn’t like them as much as Mama Allison. We also went snorkeling to a nearby island and every two seconds the boat captain was watching me to make sure I was ok (the whole you are disabled as a pregnant lady is not my favorite source of attention!) (David unintentionally shot some artistic footage - don't watch if you get seasick!) But it was fun and we got attacked by little fishes when we fed them bread!

Two additional high points (but wait – there’s more!). One evening we had a barbeque by our personal pool where they grilled up shrimp, fish, chicken, steak, and lamb in addition to salads, corn, potatoes and fruit. Under the stars with the birds chirping it was heavenly. And this was after the 4 of us had massages. When I heard it was a top world spa – I thought- what can be different – but it far exceeded my expectations. We choose an open air massage which was given in a 4 walled room (as big as our living room at home) with a raised roof so the breeze could flow through. Along the inner wall was a moat with fish swimming and it was dripping with flowers, statutes and incense. We were treated with a warm foot bath where our feet were massaged with an herb sachet and then massaged amazingly. David chose a Thai massage and was stretched every which way before being oiled up! All went back to the spa for more than one treatment except me as my options as pregnant lady were limited. What an amazing trip – I highly recommend to anyone!