The Last Supper

AS the tuk-tuk slowed up at the lane leading to Lucky Guesthouse, the driver was heard saying, "Awwww, east Kata beach....veeeery cheap"!

Who could blame him for being surprised, I suppose.

After all, it's not often that the in-house tuk-tuk for one of Phuket's swankiest addresses, the Merlin Beach Resort, is asked to make its way to an $8-a-night set-up with nary a pool bar in sight!

It was a solemn last supper at the Merlin this morning, with Mum and Dad ready to fly back home and us - Rachelle, Benton, Tess, Wes and moi - ready to hit the cheap road once again.

IIt was also a morning for many "lasts".

Thoughts such as, "I better stuff myself with pastry goods 'cos this is surely the last time I will eat these for a while..." followed shortly by, "I'm going to visit those flashy toilets one more time" or, "I'll quickly do another lap on the pool boardwalk".

Out of the three resorts we were so fortunate to stay at during our Christmas holiday with Mo and Dad, we decided the Merlin brekky was by far the best.

The pre-first-brekky-chat usually went something like this:

Dad: "Is there fresh orange juice? I just love freshly squeezed orange juice. I had the best fresh orange juice I've ever had on that road in Bangkok. What's that road?" ("It's Khao San road, Dad," we would chorus)
R,D and Mo: "Is there Bircher muesli? Siam City Hotel (in Bangkok) had the most incredible Bircher, with nuts and fruit".
R: "Is the yogurt good? Where's the paw-paw?"
Benton: "I'm sick of eggs. You know, a guy in Singapore said, 'There comes a time when you can't eat any more eggs' and I thought he was crazy. But now I see what he means."
Tess: "There's pancakes!"
Wes: "If there's bircher I'll start with that. Then I'll move on to croissants. Maybe two if I'm able to toast them. Then I'll have something hot. Then I'll go back to the pastries basket and freak Carmen out with how many I can pile onto my plate. She'll probably call me a "Hawkin's child", whoever that is. Then I'll pat my belly and possibly feel ill."
Me: "The croissants look delish. And I can toast them too! Shucks, I've never appreciated a good croissant. They are soooo good! Is there fresh cream? Oh, that would be toooo good!"

That's pretty much the round up.
And the Merlin virtually ticked every box, except for the fresh orange juice, which Dad declared as being "cordial", prompting Mum to promise she would dutifully write it on her "comments" sheet.

Each morning Wes and I would spring out of our soft bed with a greedy glint in our eyes as we made our way down to the buffet breakfast to join The Extended Crew.

Surely there is nothing better than surplus coffee, a spread of everything you could possibly imagine, an outside table looking out to the beach and the knowledge that your day will entail nothing more than lazing by the water, scootering to town for some steamed corn and reading a book.

There was tropical fresh fruit, yogurt with fresh banana chunks and bircher muesli.

The breads table was laden with every choice possible as well as a rotation of pastries - lychee danish, ginormous crispy croissants, moist banana bread, coconut roll and cinnamon scrolls.

Hot foods included french toast, a very eggy danish pudding, fluffy miniature pancakes begging for a maple syrup-drenching, sauteed potatoes, mountains of bacon, scrambled eggs, mini beef burgers and a gammut of Asian options.

Outside was a chef dedicated to the eggs style of your choice, be it boiled, fried, scrambled or a strange-looking but tasty Thai omlette which we named the "egg turd".

Breakfast was divine! Heavenly! One extended week-long daily treat! Worthy of many exclamation marks and bold Verdana font!

Have I missed anything? Yes! For sure! Most definitely! Such was the variety...

Oh how we heart the Merlin buffet brekky.

We reckon we've probably got a few days up our sleeves to return and sneak in without them realising we've checked out, but then....that would just be greedy.