Phuket and Coral Island
Left Bangkok on Sat Oct 23 and flew to Phuket, a tropical island in southern Thailand. At the airport we were roped into a “free tour” which sounded too good to be true…and it was. The first part was an island tour on Sunday to “see” the island and a few key tourist traps. However, we managed to squeeze in our first elephant ride.
Phuket
Saturday- arrived at Aquamarine hotel completely impressed or actually in awe of the 4 pools, 2 of which were built in to the side of the hill, with 180 degree views of the sea and complete drop off- straight down. One of these pools was of lap pool length and 3 of us did lap at least twice to an amazing view- absolutely gorgeous. It was hard to keep swimming, just wanted to stop and look at the view.
Sunday-
Glimpsed part of a traditional Thai wedding at our hotel:
Simulated parade of groom to meet his bride’s family in the town center, offering to Budda, traditional attire and during the ceremony 5 orange clad monks were at the front of the room sitting on tables, praying, chanting etc.
Then…. “free tour” of island, included key viewpoints (spectacular) and too many touristy streets, seen by van only, then a trip to a cashew processing plant. Did you know cashews grow outside of a fruit that looks just like a red or yellow pepper? Lots of free samples.
Another stop: biggest jewelry store in the world, somewhat interesting however …we were clearly in the wrong store. We knew it and the sales people knew it.
Next: oyster/pearl showcase where we were educated in the qualities of pearls of all shapes and sizes…again no purchase
One quick stop at a gift store…then…
ELEPHANT RIDE- our first, very interesting! They are truly gentle giants, and were all pets it seemed. Ahnika and Gary lucked out with the famous “Mary” elephant. The guides all just kept calling “Mary….Mary…Mary….” til a guide climbed on-literally by holding onto an ear and climbing up as if rock climbing. The are so darn big! The elephant/guide relationship really reminded me of my sister on her horses- name cooing, scratching and patting. It seemed that they loved their elephants, therefore we are trusting that they are taking good care of them. Did you know that an elephant can eat 300 kilos of food every day?
While riding/guiding Ahnika’s elephant, the guide grabbed a piece of bamboo and fashioned two different rings for her- out of a leaf! Of course she shared one with her sister who was riding a different elephant with her mom.
Returned to hotel, walked down to the beach to have great Thai meal cooked in a hut; don’t really want to know about sanitary conditions in Thailand, just want to eat when hungry.
Then walked back to hotel to attend evening of wedding celebration (we were invited by the groom himself Sat night) more good food. This wedding ended promptly at 10 just after a private fireworks display for the wedding couple.
Monday-
Snorkeling tour- picked up at 7 am, hour long van ride to dock to jump on crowded boat. Beautiful boat ride with free food (thank goodness) to Phi Phi island. Apparently Leo D’Caprio’s movie “The Beach” was filmed here. The color of the water was breathtaking. We were on the boat for quite a while, going all around the island then stopped to snorkel….but only had 45 minutes! (Never referring that tour group to anyone).
So glad I could be with the girls on their first snorkeling adventure- they were squealing with delight! It was very exciting, just not long enough. Long boat ride back- perfect view for reading. Mikayla has started reading the “Clique” series, such high quality literature, it makes her mother so proud.
It was during this boat trip I starting pinching myself to be sure it was all real. We are so incredibly lucky to be going on this adventure as a family.
Ahnika is happy because watermelon is served everywhere and most places will blend her up a watermelon juice- “no problem” or “mai pen rai” in Thai.
Monday evening- just hanging by the pool. However, since we are so close to the equator is completely dark here by 6:15. This is hard to adjust to because it always feels like summer to us so we expect long, northwest, sunlight days until 9pm.
Tuesday-
Did you know you can’t eat a banana leaf? But you can cut them into plate size circles and use them as decorative coasters for various serving pieces. “no eat, just “de-COR-ate” we were told at dinner.
The fruit still amazed us; mangos daily, watermelon juice, dragonfruit, papaya. There was quite a selection every morning at our buffet breakfast. Nice way to start the day, ended Tuesday with 2for 1 drinks at the poolside bar…which were basically fruit and alcohol.
