Sabadee! I’ve just hit cruising altitude on a flight from Vientiane, Laos to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and it is really my first chance to attempt a write up on my trip! The last two weeks were unbelievable, I don’t have any idea where to begin that would properly sum up the places that I have been and the people that I have seen. Laos was so so so amazing but I really should tell you about my week alone in Thailand first!
So after leaving the others last Monday, I took a cab from the Phuket airport hotel down to the Cape Panwa Hotel on the southeastern tip of Phuket. I had spent some time on the internet the week before I left looking for a place to stay while on my own. I narrowed it down to either staying at a decently nice place in Patong Beach on the west coast or splurge a bit and go to this resort that was a little ways away from all the action in Patong. After talking to my parents I decided I was worth it to stay in a nice place and soak up some sun on a semi-private beach. Now, when I look back after my experiences in Laos, I definitely should have opted for a cheaper option and did a little more adventuring.
So first off, my initial cab driver could not find the hotel and he ended up dropping me off at another hotel where I was greeted with a local sweet drink and friendly staff. After realizing that I was at the wrong hotel, the receptionist hooked me up with another cab to take me the rest of the way. Oh well, at least I got a free drink! My hotel was less welcoming when I arrived but I did get a free fruit basket and a coupon for a free drink at the Otters bar when I got to my room. The room was fantastic too. I had a huge king sized bed with a full bathroom, AC, a TV, a safe and mini bar. Not to mention a balcony overlooking the beach and the ocean with a small lounging bed complete with pillows.
That first afternoon I spent down by the beach, where I got some quality sun-tanning and reading in. The following 3 days were not very sunny so I’m glad that I took advantage of it the first day. I also rented some snorkel gear and putted around in the water for a while. Unfortunately the wind had churned up the water a lot and I really didn’t end up seeing very much.
The hotel was very nice though, with 4 different restaurants and 3 bars to choose from each day. I was entitled to a buffet breakfast each morning and I managed to sneak an extra one in the morning that I had arrived. The main problem that I had while staying there actually had nothing to do with the hotel but with the number of people staying there. There were so few! I was really hoping for a few days of meeting people and hanging out but it was super difficult. Not to mention that the majority of people staying there were couples and there were very few people my age. I talked to one of the guys working at the bar and he said that usually the hotel is pumped up to about 80% occupancy around this time but since all of the turmoil in Bangkok started, the hotel has been down to about 20%. I made pretty good friends with the bartender in the Otters bar as well as with P, the piano man who plays nightly there. I went there for drinks a few of the nights and mostly just chatted with the staff. I found that most of the people I had talked to had come from other parts of Thailand just to find good work in Phuket. I would assume that working in an upscale resort designed for westerns is one of the best jobs that they are going to find. In town there are an abundance of tuk-tuk drivers, tour agencies, internet café’s, massage parlours, tailors, and other ‘tourist traps’ that employ a lot of Thai’s but I find it difficult to understand how they are ALL profitable? P had said that for most workers at the hotel, they would get one day off a week and they would work 10-12 hours a day. I told them a little bit about Canadian work weeks and they seemed pretty astounded.
For the most part, I spent my 4 days waking up around 9, eating breakfast, laying by the pool and reading or listening to music, eating lunch at Café Andaman, going for a stroll around the resort, going for a workout in the gym, laying by the pool some more or relaxing on my patio and then having dinner and drinks. It was great because it was so relaxing, but the whole time I had wished I had some company. Seeing all these happy couples around made me feel pretty lonely haha. I sure had a lot of time with my thoughts.
On my last full day in Phuket I took a shuttle to Phuket Town and spent a few hours walking around and taking pictures. It was nice to see but I found it very similar to the majority of the other SEA’n towns that I had been to. I ended up buying a G key harmonica for 120baht (about $4CDN) so I could pass some time on my balcony later that night. I also stopped at a small little coffee shop and had a delicious snack and an iced coffee while waiting for my ride to come get me. While walking around town I was harassed by so many people asking if I wanted a suit made, or if I wanted a ride in a tuk-tuk, or if I wanted a massage. That was the one thing that I hated about Thailand and it made me appreciate Laos so much more while I was there. It has become so much of a tourist trap that it has lost a lot of its culture. I’m kind of happy that I didn’t spend my time in Patong beach since it is known as the party center of Phuket and it would only be worse there. I managed to avoid spending tons of money on things that I did not need.
I know that I am not painting the best picture of Phuket so far and don’t get me wrong it is still unbelievable, you just have to know where to look and what to avoid. The first day that I was at the hotel I spent some time talking to an Australian guy who was working at the guest services counter. He pulled out a bunch of the main brochures for tours and went through them with me. Out of them all, I decided that only one tour was really worth my money and that was John Gray’s kayaking tour through the Hong islands. This tour was easily the highlight of my Phuket trip and I so happy that I decided to do it.
The cost of the day trip was 3950baht, so about $130. It was expensive, yes, but totally worth it. I was picked up at my hotel by a guy who turned out to be the chef on our boat. He was very friendly and extremely chatty, asking all about Canada and wondered if we had crocodiles there. I told him no, but grizzly bears are pretty cool too. I was the first one to the boat, but I was told that there were 24 people taking part today. The next group there was a family from Australia who I spoke with until the rest showed up. They had two sons, one who would be about Kevin’s age and the other a bit younger, and they were very nice. I convinced the kids to do some flips with me off the side of the boat later on lol. I spoke with another (somewhat dysfunctional) family from Las Vegas, and found that the Asian mother was actually a professional poker player who was touring Asia for tournaments. Her family consisted of her old and largely overweight American husband, her 1 year old daughter, her brother and sister as well as who I assume was her elderly mother? Since I was on my own, I ended up being slotted with the grandmother as my canoeing partner haha. It was okay though, since we had a guide in the back and we didn’t actually do any paddling.
We boated for about an hour north of phuket into a large bay where tons and tons of islands were. There, we threw in the anchor and jumped into our canoes. The guides pulled us towards a set of caves in the underbelly of the island where we had to squeeze through small openings that were exposed by the low tide. At high tide, the caves are completely submerged and the insides of the islands are inaccessible. At certain points we had to lay down completely flat in the canoe so that we could fit through the small spaces. It was awesome! I was in charge of the light for our boat since Amma pretty much laid flat at the front of the canoe and didn’t move lol. Once inside we found a quiet little ecosystem of mangrove trees and high cascading cliffs covered in foliage as well as a few animals such as water skimmers and a few monkeys. We were told beforehand to be as quiet as possible to encourage animals to come close, however our lovely Vegas family decided to spend most of the time clapping and making baby noises to the young girl. So much for that! I had brought my camera with me in a dry sack and I snapped a lot of pictures. Take a look. I was in absolute awe.
From there we headed to a calm cove where they parked the boat and we were given about an hour to go swimming and canoe around on our own. Pretty much immediately the young Australian boys jumped in off the top deck and I followed with a flippy into the water. After swimming around for a while I hopped into my own canoe and took off to a close beach. I think it was at this point that I decided I wanted to try kayaking when I get back home. Eric if you are reading this, hook me up J. I spent some time on the beach and then went exploring to another close island. There I snapped a few quick photos while doing my best to protect my camera.
After this we boated to another island and there we ate dinner while waiting for the sun to set. The dinner was amazing, fresh seafood and three different Thai dishes and veggies and tempura! It was awesome. The Australians were joking that you couldn’t find a nicer restaurant with better food or a better view.
After dinner we sat down and made our Kratong offerings to the sea gods.We were given different parts of a banana tree including the stalk, leaves and flowers and fashioned them all together with small nails (traditionally they use sticks from the tree). Each of the Kratong's were different since you are encouraged to be creative and I obliged with some crazy flowers that's came off the sides. On top we included candles and three incense sticks. Annie had told me it was tradition to burn three incense sticks at a time but I didn't know why. My guide told me that it was because in the Buddhist religion, they would burn one stick for the Monk, one stick for the Buddhist scripture, and one stick for Buddha him(/her?)self.
We set sail into our canoes after it got dark and tucked ourselves into a small cove in one of the islands. There we lit the incense and candles and let the Kratongs float in the water. Unfortunately my camera battery had died JUST before we did that, so I don't have any pics :( . After the candles burned out we went away from the lights of the other canoes and our guide showed us something called Bioluminescence. When the water was calm enough, you can splash some around and the plankton in the water begin to reflect the light from the moon. Basically, since it was dark enough we would splash around the boat and it looked like we were surrounded by little fireflies. It was awesome!
From there we boated back to the mainland of Phuket which took a good hour and a half. It was a nice night, so I sat at the front of the boat with my legs dangling over the edge the whole time. Talk about beautiful. You could see the moon bouncing in and out of the clouds, plus the silhouettes of the islands around the boat and all the while the cool wind would fly past you. Lots of self reflection on that ride!
So there you have it. That was my Phuket experience. Saturday morning I paid my hotel a bunch of money and made my way to the Phuket airport where I took a plane to Bangkok, and from there I took another plane to Udon Thani in the northwest of Thailand. Both plane rides had terrible turbulence and really made me uneasy about certain SEA'n flights. I was extremely happy to travel by land the rest of the way to Laos. At Udon Thani I took a bus to the Friendship Bridge just outside of Nong Khai which is on the border of Thailand and Laos. There I went through Thai immigration, paid for a shuttle bus to the other side of the bridge, paid my $43USD for a Laosian Visa and jumped in a taxi headed to Vientiane. Unfortunately, my taxi driver didn't know where my hotel was so I spent half an hour asking other people to help him out. Eventually I made it to the hotel and saw Alisa, Jen and Ashley sitting on a patio by the river enjoying a Beerlao. But this gets into my next post. Read this and expect another sometime this week after I get caught up in my history class!
Thanks for reading! I know these are long.
Mattskis
Today's Spin: Zzyzx Rd. - Stone Sour
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