Thailand

Phuket

Phuket is Thailand’s largest island, located about 1.5hr flight to the southwest of Bangkok. We hopped on the short flight and arrived at this beach/vacation destination with no trouble.

After much research, we had decided to stay near the low key Kata Beach, located on the southwest side of the island. The Novotel Phuket Kata Avista Resort & Spa provided a peaceful, quiet oasis as our “home base” for our time in Phuket. As it turns out, the hotel is situated at the top of a VERY steep road, just above the main Kata beach. It was steep enough that we didn’t want to hike it more than once/twice per day. However the beach was nice, with small restaurant stands working just at the back edge of the sand - so we enjoyed some Pad Thai and beers while watching the (mostly Russian) tourists enjoy their beach days. We hadn’t expected the Russian influence here, but every restaurant had menus in Thai, English, and Russian, and we heard heaps of Russian conversations happening all around us. We made the assumption that this is because it’s QUITE cold in Russia in the winter, there must have been easy flights between Russia and Thailand, and the Russian passport was probably not restricted coming to Thailand. No research was done here - these were just our best guesses! We also had to try the traditional “rolled” ice cream - for which there were stands everywhere.

Kristina enjoyed breakfast two mornings at a local restaurant called “The Italian Job”, and we marveled at the complicated web of electrical lines tacked onto a single telephone pole.

We explored just a bit north and a bit south from Kata beach. Heading north, we spent a few hours checking out the beach called Karon, which was the other area we had considered staying, and had a fun adventure in a dance-party Tuk Tuk! Heading south to Nai Harn beach, we spent 1/2 day lounging with a rented umbrella and pads for underneath our towels. The heat was so intense we couldn’t be out of the water for more than 15 minutes without being drenched in sweat and needing to get back in!

While staying in Kata, we took 2 tours via different operators - both out of the east side of the island.

The first was with John Gray’s Sea Canoe company - and we took the “Hong by Starlight” tour in the Gulf of Phuket (Phang Nga Bay). It was absolutely wonderful! We got to take a guided canoe tour into the inner lagoons of small atolls, which can only be accessed when the tide is low enough to paddle under the cliff walls. Despite the clouds and rain, we had a blast. Once it got dark, we participated in the Loy Krathong ritual of building a floating vessel out of banana leaves and flowers, and setting it to sea in order to pay respects to the goddess of water and to Buddha. We took our own canoe out to set our vessel in the water, and while we were out there, we were able to see the Phosphorescence in the water all around us!

The 2nd tour we took was to the Phi Phi Islands with Simba Sea Trips. They picked us up from our hotel on the west side…at 4am in order to get us (and other participants) back to the docks on the east side for an early departure! It was worth the early wake-up though, to see the sun rise on our way to the Phi Phi islands, and to be the first tour group to arrive at Maya Bay - aka Lim Buz Beach. If you recall the movie “The Beach” with Leonardo DiCaprio, this is the beach that they represented as an interior lagoon (when in reality there’s an opening large enough for ships to enter). The tour included several other stops along the way, including seeing a cliff full of monkeys, snorkeling, having lunch at a private resort, and playing on a sandbar as the tide receded.

Maya Bay was closed by the Thai Government from 2018 thru January of 2022 due to severe ecologic impacts from tourism. The 4 year closure was declared a success as black tip sharks returned to the bay, and the coral which was transplanted by marine experts began growing and spreading on its own. Tourist numbers are limited per day, and boats are no longer allowed in the bay - passengers are dropped on the other side of the island and have a 5 minute walk along a boardwalk to the famous beach. Additionally, swimming is now banned to ensure the sharks and coral aren’t disturbed.

Summary

We LOVED our time in Thailand, and would recommend it to anyone. Given the lengthy travel time to get there and back to the US, it would be best to go if you’ve got at least 10 days…2 weeks would be better! Friends had warned us about Bangkok, telling us about the smell, the crowds, the trash, etc. But honestly, we didn’t feel like it was very different from other BIG cities we’ve visited around the world. We felt quite safe (granted we stayed in popular tourist areas and didn’t go out late at night and kept our heads on swivels), the smells/trash were similar to what you find elsewhere, and the crowds didn’t bother us. We did observe some extreme poverty along the canals while in canal taxis, but sadly, you can find areas of extreme poverty in cities around the world.

We would absolutely spend a few days again in Bangkok and Phuket if we visit again. We would also love to visit Chiang Mai - we simply didn’t have time for both Phuket and Chiang Mai on this trip, so we had to pick one. The locals we interacted with were all SO friendly, and the food was excellent (and so cheap!). This was one of our most favorite trips ever, so if you’re thinking about a Thailand vacation, we’d vote YES!