Paradise in Thailand

Oh lovely vacation. How you have afforded me so many opportunities to travel! Most recently, I jetted off to Thailand with my colleague Christine. We spent 11 nights and days in paradise.

We flew into Phuket and mostly stayed on the main island. The first two nights were spent in Patong, the Sin City of Phuket. This was not our favourite place. It was crowded, smelly, and very touristy (which it turns out, is all of Phuket). We saw a disturbing ping pong show, where strippers pull various items (read: ping pong balls, string, razors, fish, turtles, and birds) or shoot various items (like darts) out of their lady parts. It was scary. We soon came to realise that the sex trade in Thailand is so in your face, it cannot be avoided. Our hotel in Patong, the Sea Blue Guesthouse, was up to par, and even included a jacuzzi tub on the balcony! I took full advantage of this on our second night.

Crowds on Patong's main street

Strippers in plain view from the street

 

Jacuzzi on the balcony!

View from the balcony in Patong

We soon left in a tuk tuk (open air Thai taxi) for Karon and Kata beaches. These were our favourite places. Karon had a huge beach with lots of sand space for lounging by the ocean. Kata had an adorable, (albeit, expensive) little town center with cute shops and restaurants. We first stayed 3 nights at the Pachumas Mansion in Karon which was a little far from the beach, but super quiet. The restaurant across the street, the Elephant Cafe, had amazing sweet and sour chicken and pineapple rice. We ate here a few times. After we came back to Karon, we stayed closer to the beach at The Little Mermaid hotel and were a bit disappointed because our "city-view" room faced a club with bass pounding until 3am. Karon had some lovely markets where we bought lots of souvenirs (my apartment is now furnished with Thai accessories), ate well, and even experienced a Thai massage. One day we hiked up to the Big Buddha, which overlooked Karon and Kata beaches. It was a very hot 2 hour hike up, but the view was nice from the top.


Tuk Tuk ride!

 Video from our Tuk Tuk ride



Panoramic of Karon Beach

Umbrellas on Karon Beach. Notice the Buddha statue at the top of the mountain.
That's where we hiked to.

Sunset on Kata Beach

Lunch at the Elephant Cafe!

 

Hiking up to the Big Buddha, ocean view

Panoramic of the view at the Big Buddha

Between nights in Karon we traveled to Phuket Town, where there was a more artistic and cultural feel. We used this place as a base for some day trips to James Bond Island and Ko Phi Phi. They did have some unique architecture!

Phuket Town at night



Colonial architecture in Phuket Town

James Bond Island was the location of filming for the 1974 Bond film Man with the Golden Gun. Yes, almost 40 years later they are still milking this fact for tourism. Our day trip included stops at the bridge that connects Phuket with the mainland, Monkey Cave, the Floating Village for lunch, James Bond Island, and canoeing around another island. We took a long boat with about 20 other people. It was very relaxing being on the water for a day, and the scenery was especially gorgeous. The rock formations in Thailand are unlike any other.


Our hilarious tour bus rules. No smoking, no lions, no alcohol, no chain saws, DVDs ok, sexy time, ok! 

The largest laying down Buddha (maybe in the world?) in Monkey Cave.

Christine posing in the cave.

Indiana Jones!

Praying for fertility

On the long boat, headed to James Bond Island

Floating village where we had lunch

James Bond Island!

Crazy rock on JBI

Kayaking around some of the eroded islands

  


Long boat

 


The Ko Phi Phi trip had 3 stops: Khai Island, Maya Bay on Phi Phi Leh, and Phi Phi Don. The crowds of tourists in Thailand are a little overwhelming, so I decided to swim/snorkel around Khai Island just to get away from all the people. This was a great decision because I found some cool caves on the other side and I got to see some fish. The coral in Thailand is dying and apparently the Similan Islands are the best place to go - but we were a little far away from there. We also snorkeled at Maya Bay, a sheltered bay among enormous rock walls where they filmed the movie The Beach. Christine is afraid of fish, but she did well and we even got some underwater pictures with her camera!

Maya Bay - The scene from The Beach!

Beautiful!

 

Fishies!

Time flew by in Thailand. While I wouldn't recommend going to Phuket if you want a quiet, relaxing vacation, apparently there are many other places in Thailand that are more beautiful and less touristy. That's my kind of holiday! Hopefully JM and I will make it back there to do some snorkeling in the Similans. At least I came back with a killer tan. :)

Missing you all from Korea,

Jennika


Ps. I must give credit to Christine for the majority of these pictures. Her camera was not only better, but she is a great picture taker!