Phuket – KEVIN CRAIG

Thailand Journal – Phuket, THE END – All Good Things…

Like all good things, vacations also have to end. If not, I would never see home again.

I actually fantasize about that very thing all the time. Sure, I’d visit home…but I could also imagine never being anywhere longer than a few days or weeks. My soul is nomadic. The world often feels like home. There is beauty in every corner of this world we live in. I have an ache to see all of it. Or as much as I can before shuffling off this mortal coil. What is home, anyway? Is it a place, or is it the people you share your life with?

Enough pining and opining. We finished the last post on Bangla Road, near Patong Beach in Phuket. We definitely visited Bangla Road repeatedly. I guess we couldn’t stay away from the action. Kind of exciting and terrifying at the same time. But the next day was our first real day of exploring the resort we were staying at.

A woman selling scorpions on sticks while walking through the crowds on Bangla Road. NO…we did not partake.

The enchanting aroma of the plumeria makes it one of my absolute favourite flowers…

We spent quite a bit of our time around the gigantic pool at the resort. There were a few pools, but this one was sprawling…it included three water slides and waterfalls and it had an island at the middle making it a bit of a lazy river if you chose to make your way all the way around. It was a super huge pool.

There were plumeria trees all about the pool, which meant plumeria blossoms floated lazily about in the pool. You could swim up to them, pick them up, and take in their captivating scent. Heaven!

We went back to the same two side by side restaurants the next day, after spending a lazy day by the pool. We alternated between the two restaurants…which was a bit of a horror show. They did not have a wall separating them. There were people on the sidewalk on both sides, each chanting their reasons we should pick their restaurant over the other. Once we decided, there were victors and losers…celebrants and dejected. It was odd, but there was the added bonus of seeing the defeated the whole time you ate on the winning side. Avoid eye contact! (-;

Both restaurants offered pretty much the same food. The seafood was out front on the sidewalk in chillers or aquariums. You could choose your own seafood…either frozen or alive. We did not want to decide the fate of any of the live lobsters, so we picked a frozen one. We just could not do it. I know in the end there really is no difference, but we could not point at a live lobster only to have it served up on our plates minutes later.

What you see below is DEFINITELY a lobster that was on ice.

I guess other people always pose with their pick. The server practically insisted on this photo. I obliged and felt totally squigged out by it.

Pineapple rice in a little restaurant near Bangla Road…

These last days totally bled together. I couldn’t tell you what happened when. I guess if I follow the progression of the photos it will tell me…but as I said on a previous post, the photos sometimes jump around on my timeline when we’re travelling internationally as well. I think the time change does something to the timeline in Google Photos.

I tried several times to get the pool in one shot, but it seemed impossible. It was so massive. Here are some of my attempts…

Yet another angle from the top of the slide tower…

We were only a few hundred feet from the world famous Patong Beach, so we made a couple of walks down there throughout the days. It’s a gorgeous beach, filled with activity. I’m sure there were people from all points of the globe on that beach while we wandered it.

Michael, finding a heart stone on the beach…

Proof of our existence on Patong Beach, in Phucket, Thailand. (-:

The entrance to Patong Beach, just across from the entrance to Bangla Road…

This was an amazing way to end a dizzying two and a half weeks in Thailand. We did a lot of travelling…from Bangkok to Chiang Rai to Chiang Mai to Phuket. It was good to have this chill ending with pools and beaches and fun places to explore at our leisure. I would definitely recommend ending your Thailand visit on the beaches of Phuket. It’s the way to go!

Everything ends, or so they say. After three flights (Phuket to Bangkok, Bangkok to Taipei, Taipei to Toronto), we found ourselves back home. But truth be told, I was home the whole time. My home is not a place. Doesn’t matter how many times you click your heels together, if the right people are beside you…you’ll always be at home.

SHOUTOUT TO TRIPOPPO for putting together an amazing Thailand itinerary! We loved all of it!

If you’ve enjoyed this series on our Thailand adventures and would like to support this page, you can do so by buying me a coffee! KevinCraig-BuyMeACoffee

LINK TO PREVIOUS THAILAND POST

Thailand Journal – Phuket Continued…

And they went back the very next day!

Despite the traumatic trip back to the marina on our previous day’s excursion, we were headed back to the marina the next morning. Soon, we found ourselves in a boat again. This one seemed a bit more sturdy, and the water was definitely not as choppy as the previous afternoon.

Thailand’s coast should be called Land of a Thousand Islands. I do believe that thousand island thing is already taken, though. (-;

Today, we were headed to a couple different places. The first was a cave. Tell me how fashionable we looked as we prepared to enter the slippy muddy caves…

The cave is known as ICE CREAM CAVE. It’s full of stalactites and stalagmites and walking inside of it was quite cool. Mineral rich water dripped from above, causing almost the entire floor of the cave to be as slippery as hell. Mud walking ensued.

This is the beautiful view just outside the cave…

Our guide was quite good. He pointed things out along the way and made sure that everyone was safe. There were some interesting paths to choose from. We avoided the one ankle deep in mud, but others went full steam ahead until they lost their sandals in the depths.

Michael and I made it all the way to the ‘ice cream cone’ which, let’s face it does not look a lot like an ice cream cone.

The Ice Cream Cone of Ice Cream Cone Cave…

The braver (least modest?) of us accepted the invitation to lick the cone. Note: Nothing was actually licked…

Get your mind out of the gutter. It’s an ice cream cone…

A photo from the mouth of the cave, after we freed ourselves from the helmets…

Once we all piled back into the boat, we headed off into our next adventure. We were going to get into small canoes and be taken around a series of small islands…a little boat ride to break up the monotony of our boat ride. (-;

Our next stop…for a little canoe ride through a series of small islands…

Here we go…

There were probably 30 to 50 little rubber canoes circling the islands together. We even experienced the best kind of traffic jam a few times…

It was almost like a lazy river ride in an amusement park, but the sights were SO MUCH BETTER!

Michael’s sister was having a blast. Gary & Jenifer were just ahead of us in the conga line of canoes…

Our driver(?) captain(?) navigator(?) took a couple pictures of us…one while holding a leaf with a heart cut out of it. (-:

One of the aforementioned traffic jams…no tension, no stress, no yelling, no road rage…

After our little island tour, we all boarded the boat again for our next adventure…

We were going to Khao Ta Poo, also known as JAMES BOND ISLAND. This iconic island was featured in the 1974 James Bond movie The Man with the Golden Gun.

It was stunningly beautiful to see…but mostly also an empty island. Once you walked around to see the gorgeous landscapes, your trip to this iconic island was pretty much over…

I did manage to find another cave on this island. Or rather, it was cave-ish.

Our next stop was another little island for lunch. We were definitely island hopping!

We had a quick buffet style lunch and walked around the market stalls set up on the island. After we were done there, we went to yet another island for some beach time. This was our last stop before heading back to the marina.

You know everything is going fine when you’re flat on your back looking up and this is what you see…

After our little beach break, we all got back into the boat and sped back to the marina. After the mandatory 2 hour drive back to our resort, we all freshened up and got ready to hit the streets!

We found a couple of side by side restaurants just outside of our resort. There were no walls separating them. This photo is my view from my table…it’s of the bar next door to our restaurant…

Michael got a blue martini thingy and it may have been more than he bargained for…

The food and drinks and company were all great!

Of course, we also went to Bangla Road at Patong Beach…the famous party street that gives Khao San Road in Bangkok a run for its money.

Whenever I go on vacation, my photos seem to get a bit jumbled in Google Photos. I’m guessing this was the night we first visited Bangla Road, but I can’t be sure. I’m noticing my photos have done a bit of a shuffle again.

At the gate to Bangla Road, near Patong Beach in Phuket…let the debauchery begin!

Our vacation was winding down. It was time to spend some quality time poolside. (-: Wait until you see the pool! We knew what we were going to be doing the next day! And it wasn’t much…

A LINK TO THE PREVIOUS THAILAND POST.

If you’re enjoying this series on our Thailand adventures and would like to support this page, you can do so by buying me a coffee! KevinCraig-BuyMeACoffee

Thailand Journal – Phuket!

There’s a saying in Phuket, apparently. I would find it hard to believe if I didn’t run into its truth the very second we arrived. It takes two hours to get anywhere. HOW COULD THIS BE. It’s such a tiny island.

I don’t know if the following statement is true or not. I found it on the internet, so take it with a grain of salt…but I suspect that it’s pretty accurate: “Phuket is only 48 km north to south and 21 km west to east.”

The traffic in Phuket is among the worst traffic I have ever experienced in my life. It’s not so much chaotic and insane, like, say, Delhi or Varanasi, where anything goes. It’s just…solid packed vehicles crawling everywhere. If you’re going down the road, you’ll get there in two hours. Wherever that place is. You will SIT IN TRAFFIC. Be prepared to wait and it won’t be as annoying.

It was dark when we arrived at our hotel from the airport. It was so late, we decided to just eat at the hotel restaurant instead of taking to the streets to see what we could see.

I really liked this hotel…after the initial problematic check in. Bring cash money. They make you leave a CASH ONLY deposit. And if you don’t have cash, you’re invited to use their cash machine to take money out…and wouldn’t you know it, there’s a steep fee for doing so. Luckily, we had cash…but the practice made absolutely NO SENSE to anyone in our party. There was no getting out of that deposit. And you could not leave it with a credit card. CASH ONLY.

After that slight discomforting check-in, we were escorted to our bungalow. It was really nice. I was happy to call this place home for about a week. The only downfall was–I DON’T KNOW WHAT THEY WERE THINKING–not a single dresser drawer. This was the first place we were staying at where I was looking forward to unpacking and not living out of my suitcase. And the only place where there was nowhere to unpack to. It was irritating, but overall it was a great place!

The room was super spacious and the bed was comfy.

DUANGJITT RESORT AND SPA WEBSITE.

Sliding doors that led to our own private front porch. So lovely…

Our porch (this shot from the next morning).

We settled in, met the others in the grand lobby for cocktails and then made our way over to the restaurant. The food was divine! It’s always great when the hotel restaurant is a hit…for those times you either can’t or don’t want to leave the hotel. This was the end of a long day of airports and traffic…so we opted to stay in…

Most of our travelling companions…Phuket was the place where we were all eventually going our own separate ways. Some were staying for a couple of days and leaving for other grand adventures, and some were leaving for home soon. Ourselves? We were going to be in Phuket for the better part of a week.

Only one food pic that night. I believe this was Michael’s (I would know those arms anywhere!)? Mushroom soup…

The next day we were OFF AND RUNNING. We had breakfast at the buffet and looked about a little. This is one of the many pools on the property…

A nice pool, but nothing like the monstrous one with the slides and waterfall, etc…

We were soon off to head to the marina. Remember what I said about everything being 2 hours away? We were about to experience that phenomenon again. Looking at Google Maps, the marina looked about 9-10 km away. It was hard to tell, but I think that’s quite accurate. So, you could probably walk there in 2 hours. It took over 2 hours to drive there.

Nevertheless, we were soon in a boat! We were heading to Phi Phi and Bamboo Islands, as well as Pileh Cove, Loh Samah Bay, and Maya Bay. There would be snorkeling, beaches, lunch, and more…

Off we go! Powered by SPEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEED!

It looks rather pleasant and thrilling here, but trust! It gets worst. On the way home, it was raining and the water was choppy and it was a total disaster! But the way there was nice…we were still smiling.

Along the way, there was so much beauty to take in. Everywhere we looked.

Absolutely amazing day! It wasn’t too hot…the water was nice. The rain was holding off…

I mean LOOK at how insanely gorgeous this place was!

One of the crew taking a much deserved break…

We absolutely LOVED our stops. One was for snorkeling, one was for swimming, and one was for Maya Bay…a filming location for the Leonardo DiCaprio movie THE BEACH.

Maya Bay was absolutely BEAUTIFUL!

One of the most picturesque places I’ve ever been. No wonder it was scouted as a film shoot…

Usually Michael was the photo bomber. This trip, the wonderful Abby took on the role!

Stunning doesn’t even begin to describe it…

Abby getting more splash than she bargained for when we went for a little beach walk on the island we stopped on for lunch…

Abby and her mother, Coleen, were absolute treasures to travel with. They had wild senses of humor matched only by their wild senses of adventure!

A walk on the beach after a buffet lunch…

This was truly a trip of a lifetime. We had so much fun every day. We really lucked out with our travel companions on this tour!

When you find a swing in the middle of paradise, you get on it!

Remember how I said the boat ride back to the marina was a choppy disaster? I wasn’t kidding. It was an hour of choppy water and rain. Our seats at the back of the boat were fun in the sun…and traumatic in the rain. UGH!

Trying to keep relatively dry and feeling the motion sickness!

I think we just ate at the hotel again once we finally got back to it this time. The next day we were going to James Bond Island…and a few other places. Another trip to the marina and another long boat ride to get to the attractions. We crossed our fingers for nice weather.

Don’t get me wrong, the terrible boat ride back to the marina was well worth the day full of experiences we had. Sometimes you have to pay the ferryman…

A LINK TO THE PREVIOUS THAILAND POST.

If you’re enjoying this series on our Thailand adventures and would like to support this page, you can do so by buying me a coffee! KevinCraig-BuyMeACoffee