Our 1st Travel Adventure from Singapore: Phuket, Thailand

To begin with, we arrived in Phuket and headed by taxi to the Patong Beach area where our hotel, Avantika was located.  When we got to Avantika we experienced one of the two downers on the trip; our hotel which was very small, boutique style had looked very nice online and boasted a comfortable and relaxing setting was actually under construction daily from 8am until 5pm (which they forgot to mention).  Before even getting to our room, the sounds of jack-hammers and drills made it very clear that our first floor room would be anything but “comfortable and relaxing”.  Luckily, they gave us an upgrade to a nicer room with a sea view on a higher floor which muffled a lot of the construction sounds but it was still disappointing as going to the pool during the day was pretty much out of the question.  We were still annoyed but decided to just not be in the room too much during the day so that it wouldn’t interfere with our trip. 

The sidewalk at Patong Beach where wew stayed

View from our hotel room

The beautiful pool which we were sadly unable to use - oh well, there's always the ocean!

Mark and I spent a few minutes settling in and then operation “don’t be in the room much” began.  We got lunch at Hard Rock Café so Mark could get his Hard Rock Phuket mug for his collection and we ended up sitting next to Cher’s faux-snakeskin pants; this trip was already turning around!  After lunch we walked around the area and found a spa that offered a great deal on a couples massages so we took advantage.  It ended up being one of the best massages we have had – very relaxing!  In the late afternoon/early evening we went for a walk on the beach in front of our hotel and watched the sunset.  It was during this time that there was the slightest sprinkle of rain for less than five minutes, after which came a rainbow!  This was the only time it rained during our entire stay in Phuket which was really great considering that the week leading up to the trip, when I checked the weather daily, the forecast always called for 70-80% chance of thunderstorms for the whole time we were there.  We were thrilled mother nature decided to cooperate with us!

Picture I took from my phone of Patong Beach in front of our hotel

Cher's pants!! Gotta love Cher!

The Merlin Spa where we got massages. We wanted to " leave the world behide".  Okay, so the can't spell but they still give a good massage!

Mark in front of the very faint rainbow following the sprinkle

Better picture of the rainbow

I was picking up shells when one of them "bit" me. Oops, I guess that still had a crab in it, haha!

We spent time watching the parasailing.  The guide was insane!  He was hanging from the ropes with his arms and legs with no harness!

Sunset Picture 1

Sunset picture 2

Sunset picture 3, my favorite

When we were finished taking pictures, collection shells (or crabs, whoops!), and taking in the sunset we began walking along the main beachfront strip.  It was along that walk that we noticed the “fish spa”.  I had been telling Mark since our preview trip to Singapore that one of the things I wanted to do was get a fish pedicure so we did.  What happens is you dunk your feet into a tank where small fish (I read online that they are tiny carp but I don’t know how accurate that is) proceed to eat the dead skin off your feet.  You can leave your feet in the tank for 5, 10, 15, or 20 minutes time, the length should be determined based on the amount of dead skin on your feet.  Mark and I did a five minute stint which was more than enough time! I couldn’t keep my feet in the tank for more than probably 30 seconds at a time as I was a lot more ticklish than I had anticipated!  After the fish encounter, we began scoping out places for dinner.  We settled on a Mexican restaurant where they had a live band playing and after dinner we hit-the-sack since we wanted to get up early.

Mark and Niki at the "fish spa"

Mark did much better than I did and was able to keep his feet in for the whole 5 minutes

Niki getting "fish reflexology"

Not a great picture of me but I loved the drinks served in fruit!

On Friday, Mark and I woke up early to catch a shuttle bus in front of our hotel at 8:00am.  The shuttle then took us to the pier and we made preparations for an island tour of the Phi Phi Islands (pronounced P-P).  The tour was via speedboat which was set to leave at 9:00am.  We were able to get seats in the front section of the speedboat which gave us better views of the sights but it should be noted that we don’t recommend doing rides in the front of the speedboat during monsoon season when the waves are as high as 3 and 4 meters because we literally felt like we had been beaten by the end of the day!  Next, we left the pier and headed towards our first stop - the island of Phi Phi Leh, particularly the Maya Bay area.  

Taken while leaving the pier before we hit rough waves

Had to include a least a couple pictures of boats for my father-in-law who has a love for remote controled boats and planes

Mark and I at the start of the Phi Phi Islands tour. RIP sunglasses that I lost that day

Eventually, after about an hour boat ride we arrived at Maya Bay.  It is where “The Beach” a Leonardo Dicaprio movie was filmed.  I had never seen the movie so we planned to watch it on our trip but Mark refused to let me watch it before the island tour.  I now know that is because there are several shark attacks that take place in the movie and Mark was worried I would “freak out” about being in the water. He knows me too well.  The Maya Bay area is really beautiful and well worth the wait of the ride there. Once we dropped the anchor in the cove we were able to jump off the boat and swim; Mark, of course, did his signature front flip.  It was a really neat experience to swim is a place that has water so clear that while treading water you could still see our feet and also has mountainous looking islands emerged from the water all around you.  

Phi Phi Leh, near Maya Bay

Heading into the cove at Phi Phi Leh

Very beautiful water

Another shot heading into the cove

Mark and Niki swimming at the cove near Maya Bay on Phi Phi Leh Island

Following swimming in Maya Bay we then headed towards our second stop - the island of Phi Phi Don.  Before arriving at Phi Phi Don we boated past Viking Cave.  It’s a cave in the side of one of the islands where there is what was described as a “thriving birds’ nest soup industry”.  All I know about it is that inside the cave the harvest certain things from the birds’ nest and make a VERY popular local soup.  After passing Viking Cave we travel approximately 35-40 minutes to the edge of Phi Phi Don Island where we pulled up close to the shore to feed banana to the monkeys.  The bananas are thrown individually from the boat to the monkeys and they would leap and hang from the tree branches to catch them but were careful to avoid the water.  Then, after a few minutes of monkey feeding we made our way further into Phi Phi Don where we stopped for lunch.  While only on Phi Phi Don for about an hour, I managed to befriend, feed, and pet some local strays.

Passing by Viking Cave

Boats pulling up to feed bananas to the monkeys

Aww, the monkeys didn't catch that banana, its splashing into the water

My favorite picture of the monkeys, looks like a little old man : )

Boats on the coast of Phi Phi Don Island

My stray friends <3

Mark waiting for the boat at Phi Phi Don Island (one of my favorite pictures)

Coca-Cola anyone?

After lunch, we got back on the boat and headed slightly off the coast for about an hour of snorkeling!  There was amazing visibility and we saw some very pretty fish and a little coral.  Once we finished snorkeling we embarked on towards our third island – Khai Nok Island.  Even from fairly far away, we could tell this island looked like something off a postcard with white, sandy beaches surrounded by blue-crystal water and lined with colorful chairs and umbrellas.  After pulling up to shore we had about an hour to do as we please. We could swim, snorkel, sunbathe, search for seashells, whatever.  So, Mark and I found some chairs to relax.  I decided to have an ice cream sundae and searched for shells while Mark fell asleep.  Mark looked so peaceful in his nap that I decided I wanted to take one too.  And because of that we almost ended up missing the boat back to Phuket! Luckily, a few Good Samaritan’s recognized us as being on their boat and woke us up!  Once the boat was boarded, we made our way back to Phuket, approximately a 30-40 minute boat ride.  And after deboarding and returning our snorkel equipment we headed back to the hotel via shuttle bus.

Making our way to Khai Nok Island, Mark's favorite place of the day

Beach chairs at Khai Nok, looks like a postcard

Mark "napping in paradise"

 Showered and changed, we we’re now ready for a night out on the town! We walked down the closest street that runs parallel to the beach which is very “touristy”. There are lot of local vendors try to sell you everything from local food to DVD’s to purses to sarongs to trinkets – it’s actually a little overwhelming.  But, after stopping at a few stands to buy souvenirs we turned onto Bangla Road which is pretty well known for its’ nightlife.  Once on Bangla Road we just took in the sights which consisted of more local vendors, bars, dance clubs, restaurants, and lots of tourists just like us.  It was complete with bright lights, loud music, and drag queens!  After a few drinks we headed in the direction of the hotel and found a restaurant called Chicago on the way so we ate dinner there.  Mark enjoyed the fried chicken while I had salmon.  The selling point for choosing to eat at Chicago was that they had pretty good salad bar which you don’t see much in Asia.  Dinner was pretty good and after a long day of sun we we’re ready for bed!

The start of Bangla Road, very bright, crowded, and loud

Niki sporting a local flower

We woke up early and headed to the lobby for the hotel breakfast before the construction started.  Immediately following breakfast was the second and final downer of the trip – I was hit with a travelers bug which kept me in the room and in bed for the whole day : ( Not wanting Mark to get sick right before the start of the work week, we tried to keep him out of the room as much as possible.  Mark’s solo adventures that day mainly consisted on beach time and touring the surrounding area.  He came back to the room in the evening to check on me and we watched some movies and had an early night.  

He went back to Bangla Road and got the hold the iguana

Lastly, we headed for the airport early Sunday morning so we could get back early enough to have Colt delivered that day.  Even though the trip didn’t start or end on the highest notes with the hotel debacle and my traveler’s bug (not the good kind) we still had a great trip and thoroughly enjoyed our first traveling adventure from Singapore!