30 TRAVEL+LEISURE | APRIL / MAY 2020
FRO
M
TO
P:BEKVANVLIETOWEN;^
C
OURTE
SYOF^MONTAZURE(2 )playing, Catch Junior’s Child Minders
are available for Bt350 per hour.
After an obligatory free ice cream,
we step across Bangtao’s scorching
sand for Sunday brunch at Catch Beach
Club, the brand’s seafood-and-
champagne-style playpen for adults.
The popularity of this decision is not
equal among parties. For me, freeflow
shellfish (among so much more: grills,
roasts, salads, soups, Thai dishes) and a
cold Sauvignon Blanc equates to
brunch made in heaven, and on another
day, one that didn’t begin with a slide,
my daughter might have been content
eating bread with French butter under
Catch’s white sails. But today she turns
a guyline anchoring the sail above us
into a maypole, twirling around it in
ever-accelerating loops as the novelty
of big-people’s brunch wears off. A hail-
Mary plate of chocolate macarons and
fresh strawberries buys just enoughtime for another glass of wine before
we shuttle back to base.
Later that night, after skipping our
nap in favor of more pool time, and
soaking up a transcendent sunset on
the beach, we visit another Twinpalms
venue, HQ Beach Lounge. Located 100
meters up Kamala Beach from
MontAzure, it offers a more laidback
vibe than Catch to which families seem
to gravitate. Taking an outdoor sofa
near its sail-covered bar, we eat hot
chips, a sweet beetroot gazpacho and
battered calamari as the place fills up
and darkness envelops the bay. At eight
o’clock we head towards the thrum of
Café del Mar next door and watch a fire
show on the beach, then walk home
through the pine trees, on high alert for
crabs, hated foes.
Twelve hours later we’re back in our
pool, still chilled from the night. Dog
walkers and joggers course along the
beach as the sun crests the mountains
behind us, tipping golden light through
the pines. Phuket sometimes gets a bad
rap for being busy and commercialized,
but up in our little rooftop realm we’re
detached from rest of the world. For at
least an hour more, we can watch the
tiny heads of tourists bob in the surf.
We can float on our trusty steed. We
can play and pretend and ask questions
there are no good answers to. Like Why
are there crabs? Why is it Monday? and
Why do we have to go home?Clockwise from top: Our
little hotel reviewer, in a
pool of her own; Catch
Beach Club; the Grand
Azure Sea View suite.climbing wall), due to complete
enamorment with the slide, where we
remain in sliding-and-catching stasis
for nearly 90 minutes.
A morning here could easily turn
into a day, with activities running the
gamut from face-painting to DJ lessons
(sorry, moms, you’re too old to sign up;
take my word). The kid-targeted menu
has chips, spaghetti, ice cream, burgers,
wings and other finger foods.
Admission is free but there’s a Bt350
minimum spend per child out of which
food is deducted (Sunday kids’ brunch
with all-afternoon ice cream is Bt200).
Parent meals and alcohol are also
available—a supersized Moët-branded
penguin stands suggestively by the
splash pool—which you can have
delivered to one of the club’s shaded
sun loungers, available for rent for
Bt500 apiece. For parents who have
“errands to run” while the kids areC
H
E
C
K
I
N
G
I
N