About Phuket: Phuket is located on the west coast of southern Thailand in the Andaman Sea. It is the largest island in the country and is surrounded by hundreds of smaller islands. Historically, it derived its wealth from tin mines and rubber tree plantations. Very little mining still goes on today, but rubber remains its main export. The rest of its wealth is now derived from tourism, with the beaches of Patong, Karon, and Kata on the west side of the island being heavily developed as tourist areas.
Arrival: Prior to travelling to Phuket, Peep and I met up with her older brother Paap and her mom at the airport in Udon Thani, Thailand for our flight to Bangkok. We spent two full days in Thailand's capital city for our annual physicals and to do some shopping. After receiving clean bills of health, we returned to the airport to fly to Phuket. We arrived late in the day and rented a van to take us on the one hour drive to where we were staying in Patong Beach, on the opposite side of the island.
Patong Tower: Peep's bosses invited her on the vacation, so they had a room waiting for us in Patong Tower Condominiums. Patong Tower is the tallest building in Thailand outside of Bangkok, but could not be finished by the original developers due to lack of funding caused by the Asian economic crisis. Peep's bosses, through a different subsidiary of the parent company they own, purchased the top section of the building and completed it, including an entire two floors for their personal use and several penthouse suites. We were put up in one of the penthouse suites, consisting of half the 29th and 30th floors. On the first floor was a full sized kitchen with a breakfast bar, a dining room, a living room, and a bedroom and bath. Peep's mother stayed in the downstairs bedroom to avoid having to climb the stairs to the second floor. Peep and I stayed in the main bedroom suite upstairs with absolutely stunning views of the beach and sea below while Paap took one of the two remaining upstairs bedrooms with views of the city.
Dinner: After dropping off our luggage, Peep and I headed out to find a place to eat. We found a nice seafood restaurant just down the road where we ate a late dinner and ordered food to take back to Peep's mom, who remained at the hotel. Paap went off on his own for dinner. On our way back to the hotel, we ran across Peep's bosses and several of the other guests they had invited. We accompanied them back to their suite on the two floors below ours, chosen for the larger patio area, where we saw the layout of the first floor, including their prized media room. We then all headed up to our room to visit with mom for a while before calling it a night.