I arrived in Phuket later Friday evening. I was very excited about this trip. It was going to be different from all the others. Culture and History was not the main events for this, it was realization and enjoying myself in the paradise of Phuket. Its a poplar honeymoon destination and vacation spot of the wealthy. How can you go wrong?
Phuket is NOT pronounced the English PH sound like F way. Phonetically, its Pooket.
I landed and was picked up by the hotel. They served food outside, so I ate some chicken on a stick by the pool deck. There was an Aussie family who seemed interested in talking to me (they kept looking at me) so I said hi and we ended up talking for the next hour, about what I was doing and what they were doing. Their daughter was graduating high school soon and was very excited to talk to a female scientist. She had dreams of MIT and some California school, telling me how she was surprised there was only 5% Aussies at MIT.
In the morning, I was picked up and driven cross country the short way (Phuket is like a rectangle) to the Ao Po Marina. This was where the "big boat" was leaving on the tour group I joined to go see Phang Nga Bay. Google image Phang Nga Bay!!! My pictures hardly do it justice, as the fog of heat was looming over the ocean. Our boat had two decks, the top one where we hung out and the bottom full of inflatable canoes that we used to wander around the 42 islands in Phang Nga Bay. The Islands, most you can't go into, just into, are large limestone rocks with towering cliffs. The cliffs are a couple hundred feet high with no flat top, that's why you cant go on them. The island have odd formations; there was some mineral or something that erodes quicker than limestone on it, as the bottom of the island was thinner than the top. So think of an upside down cone sticking out of the water. The bottom of the cone had caves and stalactites. It was amazing!!!
Our first stop was to get into a canoe and go into one of the caves. The water was PERFECTLY clear, the lightest shade of teal I had ever seen in an ocean. It looked wonderful up against the leafy green trees and white limestone rocks. I was partnered up with a Colombian who was also solo and we were paddled into the cave by our guide. The guides were all super friendly. The cave was pitch black and the guides all had head lamps. There were bats at certain parts, and they got a kick out of rowing under the bats while everyone screamed not to get guano on them. At the end of the cave, there was an exit into the other side, but it was high tide and you couldn't get out, you could only see the top of the cave exit. The sun shone through the clear water, creating this eerie green glow in the water (see photos).
Next, we went to another popular canoeing spot and just canoes around about 10 islands. We saw hongs, which are Thai for rooms. They are little carved out "rooms" inside the islands. There would be a small entrance via water inside the rock. We would have to lie flat on the canoe to even fit through the opening. Then, we would enter into a lake inside the island, and could see the sky looking up. There were many connecting hongs, which were beautiful. IT was perfectly serene and peaceful, as the ocean waves and other people didn't disturb the inside of the hongs.
Next, we had lunch on the boat, KFC and fried rice and alot of other fried food. Very odd, not Thai food at all. The other guests, (there were 40 of us) were from all over the world. There was a large population (about 12) of Israeli's. Most spoke little English so I kept to my book and got a tan. We dove off the boat after and went swimming. The guides threw in canoes and we flipped them and played chicken since they were inflatable. It was jellyfish season, and there were a flew VERY long creepy looking jellyfish. The guides picked one up and put it in a cup, so I don't think they had a bad sting.
Finally, we went to our last stop, James Bond Island. It's called this because there was some scene filmed here for a Bond film in 1974. Its two "islands" connected by a small beach. Now, the locals built stalls on this beach selling shells and pearls. We took a little boat to shore. The local boats had the weirdest motors, they were truly outboard. They had a motor the size of a cars motor, it was HUGE. But it was on the boat, without any coverings. IT was like a hand held, with a handle to steer, but the prop was on a 12 foot pole out into the water. IT was SO weird! The island had one of the most famous upside-down cone islands and had this very cool rock. The very tall island sometime had a large crack down the middle and shifted, leaving a cave with a perfectly straight cut down the middle. You could see all the layers of the rock inside.
I got a little sunburned, but the day was awesome! I had to wait a bit for my ride since I was staying at a resort in a non-tourist location. I went into the main waiting area of the tourist place, you have to take your shoes off everywhere, this store included. Kamala Beach, a beach to the north of the tourist locations. It sits on a cliff overlooking the Indian Ocean. Its located on the stretch of road called Millionaire's Mile where all the rich people built houses with amazing views. This place was incredible! It had 3 large pools, all infinity style (looks like they never end) overlooking the cliff/ocean. One had built in pool loungers with Jacuzzi sprays underwaterr. They had a very nice restaurant that served food via candlelight that night overlooking the ocean view. The rooms were great, very modern and open. I got a bathtub, which pretty much made my day! All rooms had sea views and the AC was amazing. Couldn't have asked for a better place!
I opted for room service, because this is a pampering weekend! Watched a little TV, which I only get to do on the nice hotels (meaning the one I stayed at with dad over spring break) so that was nice. After over 6 hours on the boat, I passed out quickly :)
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