Day 22: Hello Phuket!
Whoa! What a change of pace from the small islands we have been on! We arrived at our extremely nice hostel (basically hotel) about 9pm after a full day of travel. This hostel rocked with its accommodating tour desk, cafe, and legit pool! Nice communal bathrooms that provided soap and shampoo plus hair dryers…what?! And we found our 4 bedroom room to be empty so basically a private room for $16 a night… with clean towels refreshed daily. The AC and wifi were also great. A welcomed change of pace! In a few days I will be getting on a catamaran for a 7 day sailing tour through the Thai islands of the Andaman sea. So living in luxury is nice before heading to my tiny bed and shared mini bathroom. (Don’t get me wrong… I cannot wait. A definite bucket list item to sail/live on boat for a bit.)
A quick exploration of the surrounding streets and off to bed after the most blissful of showers complete with water pressure, free soap, and fresh towels!
Day 23: Patong Beach
We walked a quick 3 minute walk to the beach and had a delicous thai noodle breakfast beachfront. The prices are a little more expensive here since it is a much bigger tourist area, yet still only about $4. We walked down the beach to find some beach chairs to layout in for the day. We scored some 24 hour manmade sand lounge chairs plus cushions and beach butler (drink service) for 300 baht ($8.50).
After some sun we headed into the crashing waves. This was the first beach we’d seen waves at and they weren’t little ones… they were red flag ones. Turned out they were not just refreshing, but incredibly fun and a good workout! Side note: there are an annoying amount of people selling things on this beach… at least one person every 5 minutes would come up and it took a lot more than one “no” to get them to leave. Other than this we had a great day of sun and waves.
An afternoon rainstorm hit right in time for our walk back to the hostel pool. We jumped in the pool as the raindrops came down and the feeling of pure paradise hit me. It was so relaxing to float in fresh water as the rain poured down. What next? Oh just waiting for happy hour at the hostel. We indulged in some delicious new drinks and enjoyed them whilst lounging in the coolest and comfiest of bean bag chairs!
Day 24: Kata Beach
Today we were reunited with our Dutch friends we met awhile back in Koh Tao and it was amazing! These two are great. Only a mere 17 and 18 years old yet they are soaking up an awesome gap year together across the world. They are wild, sweet, and extremely entertaining. And it turns out they are traveling to a lot of the same places as us! I leave tomorrow for a 7 day sailing trip through the islands, but Abby is staying on land (not keen on seasickness). Luckily Anne and Mees were open to traveling with her to do some island hopping of their own for the next week. It’s crazy how easily plans come together here!
We met up with them at their hostel near Kata Beach. (One of the 3 most popular beaches in Phuket. From North to South it is Patong beach, Karon beach, and Kata Beach. Kata being the smallest and most backpacker friendly rather than touristy.) Some reunion hugs later we walked over to the beach and found a spot to lay our towels for a few hours. We attempted fighting the ocean’s waves again today, but they were stronger and exhausting. So back to landlubbing it was!
After grabbing a bite to eat we let Anne and Mees get ready then we loaded up in a cab back to Patong. (Cabs between these beaches are ridiculous compared to what we are used to paying on other islands. A typical one will cost 600 baht, but you can haggle to 500 or find one of the open air truck-bed cabs for about 100 a person.) A 20 minute ride landed us back at our hostel for Abby and I to get ready for the evening as well.
Next stop Bangla Road! The streets between our hostel and the famous Bangla Road are lined with souvenir shopping. So we had to at least window shop for a bit staring at all the odd widgets. Anne bought some fried ice cream which was a treat in itself to watch it being made!
We finally reached Bangla Road… a busy sight full of people in your face trying to offer you deals into their clubs, “ping pong shows” and other disturbing things. We all pretty much agreed this street was terrifying, so we found a smaller bar with live music and went in to sit and watch the madness from a far. The girls soon left back for Kata beach while Abby and I did some dancing to end our last night together for a week. *And I finally got the courage to try a fried jellyfish from a food vendor on our way home.* (Tasted like fishy flavored beef jerky.)
Day 25: Sailing
A relaxing morning at the hostel led to the most exciting part of my trip thus far. A bucketlist item of mine: sailing/living on board a boat. I packed up this morning and said my goodbyes to Abby as she left to island hop with Mees and Anne. I grabbed a cab up the island of Phuket about an hour drive to the Yacht Haven to start my sailing trip.
Fast Forward to Day 31: Nai Yang Beach
I can’t wait to get my blog post up about my week at sea! It was absolutely incredible and I’m already thinking about how soon I can book another sailing trip. I am currently back in Phuket for a night after docking around noon at the marina. I said goodbye to many new friends from Canada to Germany and the wonderful crew that included a sweet skipper, a silly tour guide, an excellent chef, and the most adorable 6 year old named Boat.
A night in luxury before flying to Bangkok tomorrow… I’ve booked a night at the Marina Express Aviator Phuket hotel and it is exceeding my expectations. I was originally in search of a cheap hostel near the airport, but only found one and it was no deal at all. About $19 (normal hostels are $10-$15) and the only room option available was for a 20 bed dorm… no thank you! So for about double that price I’m in a 4 star hotel room eating a room service meal of caesar salad and spaghetti carbonara for $6. Winning!
Before settling down at the hotel this evening a friend and I took a 5 minute cab to the nearby beach, Nai Yang. I have to say that for an “airport beach” I was very impressed. It’s so close to the airport that I figured it was only a mentioned beach because it was a good pitstop if you had a long layover or time to kill before a flight. It was actually my favorite beach in Phuket. A few good restaurant options on the beach and beach chairs with umbrellas. A perfect little beach with the exception of the tide. We were there about 2pm and the tide was super low which made the beach chair area oddly far from the water’s edge. This is just me being a beach snob though. Loved the little area. A wonderful option if you’re only in Phuket for a quick while. (This beach is only about 20 minutes or less from the airport.)
Make sure to subscribe for future updates! And as always, please let me know if you have been to any of these places! I’d love to hear your stories and advice!
Wander On,
Sammi Kaye
Well I can’t tell you I’ve been to any of these places. I can’t give you any tips. But I can say your blog has made me want to experience what you have and I’ve never (until now) wanted to leave America! You are my hero. I love you.