Phuket – Dreaming of island life

August 4, 2013 ♦

Asia

♦

Don’t we all dream of living on an island sometimes? Hearing the sound of the waves, feeling the wind that comes from the sea in our hair, spending the days on the beach or surfing the waves, sunkissed skin, coconuts and fresh seafood… a life without worries
I have been working on an island that is situated on the South China Sea. Pulau Sibu, Malaysia was my home for 3 months. It was amazing to wake up every morning and to be so close to the sea, walking barefoot all day. Still I had to work and couldn’t spend a lot of the time on the beach or in the water. So Phuket was my first island holiday after some months of work.
After a few days in Bangkok, I had my flight to Phhuket on my birthday. When I arrived at the airport, I booked my hotel and a tour for the next day at a tourist information in the airport.
The prices for a hotel in Patong are mostly 30 Euros, if you want to have the beach across the road.
Patong is probably the most popular area for tourists. Depending on what time of the year you are planning to travel there, prices can vary a lot. When I went there in May it was low-season, but keep in mind that Phuket has become very popular for mass tourism, so prices are a lot higher than for example in Bangkok or other parts of Thailand.
However it is worth spending a couple of days on Phuket, since it is the biggest island of Thailand and has a lot to offer.
The west side of the island is known for its beautiful beaches and especially Patong, Kamela, Kata, Karon, Surin and Bang Tao are very popular within tourist. A good way to discover hidden places of the island, is hiring a motor bike, which is not very expensive. Also fuel is quite cheap and can be bought not only from gas stations, but also along the street in bottles. It gives you the freedom to discover the island, to find hiddem treasures. A drive along the coastline is definately something you will remember, you can stop whenever you want and spend some time on beaches which aren’t too crowded. A good way to have nice view over the island and to enjoy the sunshine is to drive in the center of the island. From up there you will have a spectacular view.
There also lots of different excursions and activities for tourists.
The first thing Í did was a “typical Thailand-day”. It was a package of several activites that are typical Thai. The package included: Thai boxing, Thai cooking, Elephant riding, canoeing, Ox-cart riding, rice farming, an elephand show and a monkey show followed by dinner and a visit in the fish spa. The price for that was 30 Euros and included transport.
I am not sure if I would do it again, since we were rushing through the programme and got on overall 10 to 15 minutes for each activity. It is probably a good way to see as much as possible if you don’t have much time. And I had only a couple of days on the island.
One thing, which I found very memorable, was seeing the elephants. They are very impressive and intelligent animals. It is fantastic watching them. I got to feed them bananas and they were very careful when they took it out of my hand.
In the show they were playing with hoola hoops, shooting a football, throwing darts and playing a harmonica. It was incredible seeing what they are able to learn. However, I really hope that they were treated well, since that is not always the case.
If I come back, I hope I can see them in there natural environment. And to be honest, that’s were they belong to.
Thai cooking was really nice. They showed us how to make a Papaya salad, a typical dish that can be found in Thailand. However, I would like to take part in a longer cooking class were I am also able to do some of the cooking. And if you have more time, there are plenty cooking classes that can be found there.
Thai food is very delicious, rich flavor, healthy, very spicy and with so many different ingredients.
Famous are the green and red curry. Something very spicy, one of the best dishes I have ever eaten in South East Asia. A mix of Coconut milk, vegetables, thai basilikum, chicken, green chillies, lemon grass, served with rice. Getting hungry by the thought of it. Also very popular is the Tom Yam soup.
For desert they always serve exotic fruit.

Phuket is surrounded by some very nice islands. And to go on a boat tour is always a good idea.
I got picked up from the hotel and got taken to the harbour. From there we went to Phi Phi island, were we spend some time on the beach. Lunch was served on the boat. On the next stop we got picked up by long tail boats and got taken through caves and after that to a muslim village that is built in the sea.
After that we went to Khao Phing Kan, an island you will know if you like movies. It is also know as “James Bond island”, since it has become widly popular after it was featured in the James Bond movie “The man with the Golden Gun”.

I am ready to go back again, I do miss the island life.

May we always have a shell in our pocket and sand in our shoes