Thailand was the last destination on our journey. After almost 8 months of traveling, we decided to finish this amazing trip with a week in a resort in Phuket. Here we also met Leanna, Paul and Hugo again, with whom we had spend the first week of our trip in Sydney.Â
Marriott Resort Phuket Merlin Beach
Our resort was located directly at Merlin Beach just outside Patong. So we had a quiet location and still the possibility to get to the “epicenter of mass tourism” after a short taxi ride. The complex is beautifully laid out, has several pools and of course nice bars.
After Christiane had pointed out at check-in that we would spend our first wedding anniversary here, they even upgraded our room 😉
And then we went directly to the pool bar, which – as the name suggests – is built into the pool. Here we met the Woods family and drank a tost to our joint vacation, but also to Leanna, who was informed recently, that she passed her PhD without any corrections!
Everyday life in the resort
At the end of our journey, we took it really easy, slept in and mostly went to have a really great breakfast around 10 o’clock. The breakfast left nothing to be desired and we especially liked the great fruit selection.
We knew from the start that our trip to Thailand would not be a typical backpacker holiday. After all – why do you go to a resort? So we packed our little pool bag and looked for a nice spot in the shade. We read a lot and relaxed in the water on one of the beautiful cushions.
The hotel has its own butterfly resort and sanctuary – and it was really busy over there 🙂
We could also play billiards or table tennis for free and on one day (the National Rum Day) we took part in a cocktail course. That was a lot of fun!
On two evenings there was a very impressive fire show.
Patong Nightlife
For only about 9 € we could take a taxi to Patong. Here there are countless restaurants and bars and directly at the beach we enjoyed the beautiful sunset.

Luxurious Taxi
Patong is very loud, very touristy and the traffic reminded us a bit of Bali.
We found the electrical “infrastructure” particularly crazy. If you can keep the overview here you really understand your craft 😉
We then went to the party mile where we had a delicious dinner in a themed restaurant. In the Tiger Inn Hotel & Restaurant there were many tigers around 😉
We continued along the countless bars with exotic dancers to our final party destination, a rock bar with really awesome live music: New York Rock Music Bar.
Time to say Goodbye
On the day before our departure we had to pack one last time – I will certainly not miss that part. And on the 235. day of our trip we had to get up at three in the morning to make our way home. From Phuket we first went to Singapore and from there on to Frankfurt. Amazing how fast time has passed at the end! But we were looking forward to our family and friends at home.