From the moment we stepped off the plane at Phuket International Airport we were greeted with Sally’s smiling face and happily surrendered to her motherliness. (Sally was the chef aboard the ketch I worked on in the Caribbean 3 ½ years ago and has been based in Thailand on another sailing yacht for the last year). We were treated to 5 days of no planning, a schedule was already in place, no hotel to find, no figuring out meals, maps were given, questions were easily answered and we were surrounded by a sense of normalcy, this was a luxury.
We put our bathing suits on and headed straight to the beach. The water was the temperature of bathwater, so clear and so salty that it stung the skin a little. Later Alan would find out that those stinging sensations we were feeling would cause him to have what I diagnosed as swimmers itch, also known as sea lice. Basically there are these little buggers in the water, so tiny that you cannot even see them and they try to lay their eggs under your skin but they are always unsuccessful because they cannot survive outside the water. Luckily they were not at every beach and not everyone has a reaction to them but Alan had a reaction all over his body. They loved him. He described it as similar to having poison ivy. On top of this he got lots of mosquito bites despite applying bug spray. He was a very itchy guy for a few days, he even tried to say that I was not being sensitive enough relating it to my getting food poisoning at 12,000 feet! I think that he was jealous because I did not have any itchy red bumps.
Phuket is a very touristy island and most people steer you away from traveling there, I mean it has an international airport for goodness sake! But I think that most people when they think of the island of Phuket think of Phatong, an unattractive built up concoction of neon lights, concrete, hotels, bars, cheap souvenir shops and packed beaches lined with pre-pay beach chairs filled with tattooed tourists drinking some Fu Fu drink out of coconuts at 9am. But this is not all of Phuket. We stayed about 30 minutes north of Phatong in a much less populated beachfront community called Nai Yang.
We rented a motorbike and spent 6 days discovering little coves and beaches. We even spent an evening down south where we enjoyed cocktails on the balcony of our hill top bungalow, overlooking the ocean as magical rice paper lanterns drifted slowly up to sky. Alan and I were also lucky enough to send one up into the heavens ourselves. The lanterns are large rice paper cylinders with a wax ring in the center. You light the ring and it burns just high enough to create heat but not burn the paper. They are lit for luck and if they fly straight up to the sky you are very lucky, needless to say Alan and I are very lucky! (But I have a strange feeling most people are! )
After being very cautious with eating any kind of meat for the last couple months we have finally been able to enjoy a smorgasbord of fresh sea food and have had our fill of prawn Pad Tai from small beach front stands. The food is delicious and everything is amazingly fresh.
Just in case we had avoided all the tourists too much, we decided to head over to the gem of the Andaman Sea – Ko Phi Phi Don.
Apart from a few abandoned hotels and new haunting tsunami evacuation signs pointing you towards an escape route, you would never know that this area had been devastated by the tsunami in 2004. The vegetation grows so quickly and everything has been completely rebuilt.
Ko Phi Phi Don 12.13-12.15.09
Sheer limestone cliffs meet clear aqua marine waters that are surrounded by inlets of pristine soft white beaches. Known as one of the most beautiful beaches in the world and recommended by everyone who has been there and even those who have not (Also made famous by the movie “the Beach” with Leonardo Dicaprio.) We decided to see what all the hype was about and braced ourselves for the crowds, taking a boat over to Ko Phi Phi Don. The island and surrounding geographical features were stunning and unique to anything we had ever seen before. We had two relaxing days filled with swimming in warm water and snorkeling along some of the best reefs I have ever seen while being surrounded by psychedelic colored fish and coral. But after two days, we were ready to leave. It was too touristy for our taste. We were also surrounded by Christmas lights, which at 90 degrees and humid is something I do not think I could ever get used to.
We both realized that no matter how beautiful a place is, it can become contaminated when overexposed. There is something spectacular about discovering the undiscovered and that reminded us of why we desire to see the roads less traveled, it is to become immersed in something foreign and unknown and get away from the familiar. The beach was a nice break, a vacation from the often hectic life of travel, always planning and on the go. Chiang Mai in the north of Thailand is our next destination and then we plan to amble over to Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam or just see where the land takes us.
-Mika
Alan’s creativity never ceases to amaze me. We had a very leaky air conditioner unit in our room in Ko Phi Phi that dripped straight onto the bed so Alan goes to tell the staff. He comes back into the bungalow with a plastic tube, tape and a water bottle and proceeded to make a drain so the water could run outside. Why didn’t I think of that?
Bowes construction Thailand office open for biz.
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