Room with a 'pool': Singaporean wades in flooded Phuket resort

Many fantasise about a holiday getaway with a private pool in their resort room. 

Well, Singaporean Cynthia Choo technically got one after her room in Thavorn Beach Village & Resort at Phuket was flooded during a storm. 

Choo shared the "highlight" of her trip in a TikTok video uploaded yesterday (Nov 29) and the 15-second clip showed snippets of the room covered in murky, ankle-deep waters. 

She also opened the door to reveal the outside and opposite room, which were flooded too. 

Speaking to AsiaOne, Choo said she only knew her room was flooded when a hotel staff came knocking at her door at around 12.15am when she was fast asleep. 

"We were very confused initially because we did not order any room service and the hotel staff was trying to alert us to wake up," she recounted.

To add salt to her wound, Choo shared that the next day, she and her boyfriend suffered from food poisoning as well. 

[embed]https://www.tiktok.com/@cynderellyy8/video/7171292617370504450?is_copy_url=1&is_from_webapp=v1[/embed]

While she is unsure how the flooding started, Choo said that it started "raining quite heavily" at around 9.30pm on Oct 29 and "the rain persisted throughout the night".

Several clips of the aftermath in another one of her TikTok videos revealed cracked pavements, damaged air conditioner compressors and muddy grounds on the resort grounds. 

A man was also cleaning the resort pool which was filled with leaves and sediments.

In response to the flood, the resort moved the couple to a bigger room and offered them free breakfast and laundry services. 

They also checked if any of their belongings and luggage were damaged and helped them move everything onto the sofa and cabinets.

The couple was then asked to pack as many things as possible into their luggage and the staff helped move these to the new room, all while it was still pouring outside. 

While no one was injured, Choo said she "felt so sorry" for the resort as they would have to repair all the damages done by the storm. 

She also praised the staff for settling everything "calmly and efficiently". 

"I really would like to thank these poor hotel staffs who stayed up [the] whole night to knock door to door to make sure everyone was okay and moved those that were affected," she said. 

Choo also spoke to an employee that morning and learned that his own house had been flooded as well. 

"But he still worked the whole night to make sure all the guests were okay," Choo added gratefully. 

[embed]https://www.tiktok.com/@cynderellyy8/video/7160517607542623490?is_copy_url=1&is_from_webapp=v1[/embed]

Thailand experienced heavy rain and tropical storms in September and October, which caused flooding in 59 of the country's 77 provinces, impacting 450,000 homes.

In October, Thailand also issued flash flood warnings for eight southern provinces, with areas in nearly 40 per cent of the country’s provinces still inundated and dealing with flood waters.

The warnings included Phuket and there was also a flash flood on Oct 16, which disrupted local transport and tourism businesses in some areas. 

Diarrhoea from 'dancing shrimp'

Earlier in August, two other Singaporeans had a mishap while holidaying in Phuket.

They too had food poisoning, but it was more severe than Choo's. 

The women had tried a street dish called 'dancing shrimp' from Chillva Night Market. The night after, they got diarrhoea and vomited continuously for six hours. 

To make matters worse, the pair also tested positive for Covid-19. A few days later, they were admitted to a hospital. 

melissateo@asiaone.com

No part of this story or photos can be reproduced without permission from AsiaOne.