Before ending at our final destination of Phuket, Thailand we had a lay-over in Singapore. Normally I wouldn’t spend time sharing details of a layover, but this was noteworthy. First, it should be noted that Asian airlines are the only way to go. We were greeted with exceptional smiling, service. Each seat had individual televisions offering a vast array of movies, TV shows, games, and music selections for our traveling pleasure. I realize this is not something new to most international flights, but I must stress the selection of movies and programs was innumerable. Furthermore, the screen had a keyboard on the remote in case you wanted to get caught up on some work on the flight. Oh and did I mention a USB port to access your computer files? Or the AC outlet that offered different prongs for varying regions to make sure you could charge your phone, lap top, or operate a hair iron. Meal service that offered real SILVERware. And glasses! Made of GLASS for our drinks. Thank you, Singapore Air for a delightful flight. But, I digress. Back the the Singapore airport. Allow me to list off the excitements in Terminal 3. Luxury shopping (Hermes, Gucci, Tiffany & Co, Bvlgari, Burberry, etc etc) a Butterfly Garden, the Worlds Largest in-airport slide, a free gym, movie theater screening free movies. Helpful and friendly information clerks, wearing well-tailored suits and carrying iPads just to make sure you know where to find the Massage chairs. More photos to come of this airport. It was immaculate, obviously we were impressed enough to share all of these details with you.
Well… now to the good part! We make the final journey onto Phuket. We land and are whisked off to the resort. I use the term ‘whisked’ lightly. We were bamboozled into a taxi cab that made an unexpected pit stop to swindle us into a sales pitch of using their taxi service exclusively for the duration of our stay. We declined the offer quite firmly before we were finally on our way to the hotel. For the rest of the evening we enjoyed our time walking on the beach and relaxing in a slice of paradise. It was breathtakingly beautiful. Our remarkable hotel (much appreciation to the parents) was right on the beach so we could enjoy dipping our toes into the Indian ocean whenever we pleased. Our hotel was nicely tucked away far from the touristy packed area of the Patong beach. So most of the time it felt like we were relaxing on our own private beach. With the exception of the baby elephant who would sometimes find his way down to the beach to swim with us. Seriously. Videos to come!
On the first real exploration day, we took a tour into the wilderness. We got to learn a lot about typical Thai life. We saw a coconut demonstration. Every part of the coconut has an important aspect to Thai life. We learned how to extract and make coconut oil and coconut milk. We also learned how to make authentic Thai curries. We saw a demonstration of how to make rubber. Rubber is one of Thailand’s biggest exports. Did you know that rubber is essentially tree sap? Truly. To top it all off, we got to take a ride into the Thai forests on an elephant, and play with baby elephants. Our elephant’s name was Noona. All of my elephantine dreams come true! We then took a junk boat out onto the open seas to eat a Thai lunch of fresh fruits, curries, and fried rice. Here Tyler befriended a nice Irish fellow who shared some interesting life stories with us.
On the second day we took a speed boat out on the smoothest, blue-green water you would ever lay eyes on. It was stunning. We weaved in and out of Thailand’s surrounding islands in the Phang-Nga bay. Some were quite large, others quite small but they were all covered in the most green fauna on their steep cliffs. The first stop we took was to a cove of islands that we canoed in and around. We were even canoed into a cave that had such low ceilings we had to lie down in the canoe in order to fit. The cave was home to thousands of bats that we could hear zooming around above our heads. Next we went to the remote (and by remote, I mean packed with millions of tour groups) island that James Bond: Man with a Golden Gun was filmed on. Due to the crowds, we stayed long enough to get our photo, and left quickly after and headed to an Indonesian settlement of a floating city. A cluster of homes and buildings on risers right in the middle of the ocean. We enjoyed lunch there and then we jetted off to beautiful Hong beach with the softest, whitest sand and beautiful blue waters. We enjoyed the rest of the day swimming in the ocean. The waters of the ocean were perfect temperature. Not too cold, but so refreshing. It was a real treat!
The next next couple days flew by! Trying to recall this is proving difficult. But at some point in time we went to Phuket city. The city life was crazy and fast paced. Smells of strange foods mingled with scents of sewage and filled the bustling streets. Much alike parts of the caribbean and Mexico, yet with an Asian flair. If you lingered too long to look at a map you would be swarmed with taxi drivers asking if you needed a ride. ” I give you special price. Good deal, madam!” At one point we were followed around an entire city block by one man badgering us to use his services. “no thank you, we like walking..” this grew tiresome so we made our way for the mall. We had heard that Phuket had an awesome movie theater with Lazy Boys, pillows and blankets, the whole works. We had been holding off Harry Potter 7 to see in this luxury atmosphere. Unfortunately, by the time we made it to Phuket, HP7 had already been out for several weeks so it had been demoted to the smaller theater, sans Lazy Boys. No bother, it was still a great theater and for only $10 for 4 tickets, we’ll take it. Interestingly enough we got the privilege to honor the king with the national anthem while viewing scenes from his noble life. After the movie we were back to the bustling streets. We walked around and saw all the sights of Phuket’s downtown district. We stumbled upon some cool shrines, local markets to barter your Thai souvenirs, and a street full of venders selling strange local foods. We muscled the courage to try some of these mystery foods. We were pleasantly surprised with seafood fried rice, pad Thai, and a complementary soup for only $2. It was the best meal of the trip. We also went into a local grocery store. Something to note, we found more American import foods there than we have ever seen in Japan. Probably due to the fact that Phuket is driven by tourism. But boy did we ever stock up on our stove top stuffing!
The next day we took another speed boat around some more islands near Phi Phi islands. We went down to Phi Phi Le which was beautiful. It’s the island where the Leonardo DiCaprio movie “The Beach” was filmed. We did some swimming and exploring and then back to the boat. We cruised over to another island and to our surprise it was inhabited by troops of cute little monkeys. We feed them peanuts and then strapped on our snorkeling gear to investigate the underwater life. I have never seen so many fish in all of my snorkeling days. Also, I learned not to take heed to my dads snorkeling tips. He advised I take in bits of bread to feed the fish directly out of the palm of my hand. Well, feed the fish I certainly did, but I was not expecting the entire school of fish that encircled me and began to take bites out of my hand. Quite literally, they were nipping at my own flesh. My yelps of pain did not serve to help my cause either as the boats crew found it funny to then throw more bread crumbs right at me causing the fish to come at me in even greater numbers. We then hopped on the boat, and drove to another cove in open waters to snorkel again. It was really cool!
We also discovered some nice little local restaurants near our resort to grabs some bites in the evening. They were quaint little cabanas set up right on the beach. Nothing quite like it. Perfection!
Another treat on the trip for us was getting to watch English news broadcasts! Anderson Cooper I have missed you. Discovery Channel! Animal Planet! Ahh. The simple pleasures. More to come on our adventures with my parents back in the homeland!