Food•Sports•Travel
The next stop on my Phuket Challenge was the Westin Siray Bay Resort & Spa Phuket, a destination resort that opened in August 2010. It is Thailand's first Westin resort, but not its first Westin hotel. I stayed at a Westin hotel in Bangkok last year. The Westin is located on Siray Island, which is …
Continue reading "Phuket Challenge: the Westin at Siray Bay in Phuket"
To recap: Michael Taylor was going to spend eight nights in Phuket, staying mostly at five star resorts, and each of the hotels he was booked into offered all you can eat breakfast buffets. He had also been invited to dine at some restaurants serving haute cuisine most nights. He wanted to see if …
Continue reading "Phuket Challenge: Muay Thai – Check Out My Video"
I got my introduction to Thai kick boxing 10 months ago at Indigo Pearl Phuket, where I had my first two lessons. This was followed by two lessons with Khun Nan, the fitness instructor at Paresa. Upon my return to Hong Kong, I discovered that kick boxing was offered at Physical, the gym I work …
Continue reading "Phuket Challenge: How I Became Interested in Kickboxing"
Paresa Phuket is located atop Kamala Point. It has 42 suites and villas. I arrived at the hotel well past midnight. I was happy to see a bottle of white wine on ice and a basket a fruit awaiting my arrival. A couple of glasses of wine later, I was off to bed. Oh, what …
I departed from Hong Kong International Airport on a Friday evening. My arrival in Phuket was delayed by nearly one hour because of heavy traffic. Oh, what a long and tedious flight . . . Nobody bothered to make an announcement about the delay. But it explains why – just as we were expecting to …
Michael Taylor is flying to Phuket in Southern Thailand, where he will spend eight nights at (mostly) five star hotels and resorts. There will be one exception. Just to keep his feet on the ground, he will stay at one hotel that is targeted at the mass market for two nights during that stay. Is …
One of the highlights of our brief stay on Koh Samui was the cooking lesson we had on the second and final night of our stay at the Amari Palm Reef Koh Samui, a sprawling four star hotel with spacious grounds that overlook the Andaman Sea. It was held in the kitchen of the Amari Palm Reef's Meranté restaurant, …
Continue reading "Thai Cooking Lesson at the Amari Palm Reef Koh Samui"
Following our whirlwind tour of Koh Samui, we returned to the Amari Palm Reef Koh Samui, where a traditional Thai massage awaited us at the Sivara Spa. And it was very therapeutic. As always, I was asked afterwards, “How was it?” And as always when I have a massage in Thailand, I said, “I don't …
Continue reading "Koh Samui: And Now for a Therapeutic Massage"
Magic Alambic Rum Distillery in the Southern Thai island of Koh Samui produces rum using equipment imported from France and sugarcane from Northern Thailand, which is very sweet because of the humidity. Is it the world's smoothest rum?
Buddhist temple in Koh Samui, Thailand, installs electronic prayer machines to keep up with modern trends.