When we woke up next morning, Zhou, who likes to play rouch, had already made several calls to both Ctrip and Diamond to complain. They both ensured us that there would be a satisfactory solution. Since we couldn’t let such a thing to ruin our journey, we decided to go along with our original schedule. First of all is to appease our hunger.

Exotic Breakfast

       As soon as I came to the hotel’s dinning hall, I felt a bit dizzy. It was already packed with all kinds of Europeans: Germen, French, Dutch and whatever nations. I looked around and surprisingly found that we were the only Chinese, wait a minute—we were the only Asian there except perhaps the waitresses. In fact if without a few local staffs, I might think that somehow we had tumbled into an unknown small European town.  The air was filled with the scent of exotic perfume, joys and Don-Yin soup. The breakfast there might not carry a wide selection but cover the most basics with some local specials---not bad on the whole.

Diamond's Solution

       After breakfast, we met Diamond’s manager at the lobby. They still couldn’t move us back to Diamond Hotel. As compensation,they would like to offer us free dinner, free spa, free city tour. His offer was alluring but not that much. After all it’s the basic we cared about, not those free add-ons. If a hotel failed to provide the guests the rooms they’ve booked and already paid, the hotel certainly should upgrade the guests, not on the other way-----That’s the well-known principle. Therefore I bore down on him: “We paid three night stay for deluxe room---that’s what we’ve wanted.” After a few calls, the manager said they could arrange us family deluxe room in another hotel  if we were interested. We decided to take a look before made a decision. That hotel turned out to be even worse than Tropical. It’s close to the beach but far away form everything else and the room had a funny smell. My frustration finally rose to the surface: “It’s such a waste of time!”I snapped at the manager.  We told the manager that we would stay at Tropical, not because we were satisfied, but because he really left us no choice. We would accept their offer about Spa, Dinner and Pick-up service, but we also would reserve our rights for any necessary move. The manager left with another sincere apology and a promise of their fully attention on this case.

Beach Dance 

       No need to cry for spilt milk, so we headed to Kata, the first beach we visited on the Phuket. It’s only a few steps away from the hotel. The wave there was too big for swiming, but idea for sulfing.  Yu was so excited. He soon assumed that those waves were one monster after another, and his way to fight was to throw sands at the sea. He immediately plunged into this imaginary fight and hours later he didn’t show the least sign of tiredness.  He soon gathered two foreigner kids to join in his army. They couldn’t talk to each other, but they certain had their barrier ways of communication. For a whole afternoon, they danced, they screamed, and they ran along the beach. Honestly, they’d caught most of my attentions. I finally understood the reason parents went through all the troubles of raising kids. Diaper Boy and Girl looked cute as hell. Their cheeks were rosy from sunshine, their laughter echoed like the most beautiful music, and their way to have fun was so unexpected.

 First day on the beach. We still had a normal fair coloring, however, a few days later….

I actually dragged little pig away from the beach. However he still refused to take a nap, I took him for a walk on Phuket’s street. A few minutes later, he dozed off on a threshold.d!

At night we came back to the hotel and found a fruit basket on the table along with a message from Diamond Hotel said that they already booked three hour spa for each adult as well as tomorrow dinner for us. They would pick up at 6 pm. Perhaps Phuket’s air was soothing to breathe. I found that I was not that mad at Diamond now. After all this journey was about to enjoy.  

To be continued….