Our Thailand journey begins in the southern island of Phuket. The flight from Melbourne wasn’t the most pleasant for me, and it didn’t exactly help that we still had a one hour car ride to Patong. However we made it safe and sound, pleasantly surprised with our very modern condo-like accommodations. This was the first time in Thailand for both of us, and we would be here for the next 6 weeks.
Patong would probably be considered the most “touristy” part of Phuket. This is very true. Probably every 10-20 steps on most of the main streets, someone will be trying to sell you something - trinkets, food, massage, clothes, BB gun shooting, etc. We went into it assuming it would be like that. Our plan was to really get a taste of everything since we had so much time there.
Literally our first meal out was one of the best we had during our whole trip. (In this way, it set the standard a bit too high for subsequent meals). The portions were the right size, the people were kind, and the flavors were incredible. All for about $5 TOTAL. Needless to say we would come back a few more times. Other highlights of Phuket would obviously include the night life, a killer cover band from the Philippines, and attending a Muay Thai fight.
Also notable was a day trip to Big Buddha, Wat Chalong, and Old Phuket. We were lucky enough to hire a driver to take us around the island all day who was really familiar with the area. The price is very reasonable and worth it.
After feeling fairly satisfied with the level of debauchery in Patong, we took a taxi to the region of Krabi, and stayed in Ao Nang for about a week. You can definitely still get some similar offerings there, but the town is a lot more relaxed and focused on beautiful beach and island excursions. Beautiful but crowded. Honestly, a lot of the tours we took while in Thailand were packed, but also fairly cheap. It’s also worth noting that there are probably 10 (or 20) other boats doing the same tour as your group at any given time. That being said, I still think some of the excursions are worth doing, but if I could spring for a slightly more expensive tour with fewer people, I would do it.
One MAJOR highlight I’ve yet to mention in Thailand: tea. I became a real tea guy while we were there. I’ve gone through many “phases” so far on the trip and this was probably my favorite one. I don’t know if they actually like it this way, but just about every tea I got was super sweet and cold - just how I like it (although I’ve never been a tea drinker in my life). I’ll never forget the tube of condensed milk that was squeezed into my first tea in Phuket - I had no clue what she was putting into it, but I immediately loved it. I ordered some sort of green tea with lemon because I was trying to be healthy, but this was way better. It looked like she was squeezing a ketchup bottle onto a footlong hotdog. Liberally. Rest assured I had regular tea spots from then on, and I enjoyed just about every one of them. Not only that, they ranged from $0.75 to $2.00 everywhere. I’ll take that deal every day of the week and twice on Sundays (literally).
I guess I can get back to the story now… but boy did I love that tea…
After wrapping up a fairly relaxing time in Ao Nang, we would take an overnight bus to get to Bangkok where we would soon meet up with our long-lost sister-child Priya. Someone recommended the overnight bus because you get where you’re going, and you don’t have to pay for hotel accommodation that night. “Get a VIP bus,” they said. Did it work? Yes. Did we wind up in Bangkok at 4:30AM and have to pay for an extra “night” at our hotel while on 3.5 hours of sleep? Also yes. Was it worth it? Hard to say. If you’re on a budget and don’t mind losing some sleep, I think you can pull it off. However, to me, VIP confers a certain level of comfort and amenities that didn’t really exist. The seats recline, and there’s AC. Maybe you get a bag of cheese balls. Basically it’s a less crowded flight with more leg room and one stop in the middle of the night. (People literally got out at this market at 2AM and ordered noodles. Is that normal behavior?)
Next up: the Priya days. Our adventure continues with a more purposeful itinerary, a Christmas miracle, and plenty of markets!
C U!
Shriya & Peter
P.S. We were in Thailand in December, so this post is just a little bit delayed.