A little girls’ getaway to paradise, and what to do in Phuket.

When my childhood friend, Carla, asked if I wanted to take a trip with her so she could go “look for fabric”, I was totally in (she designs swimwear, check out YemayaSwimwear.com).  The two options were Bali or Thailand, and after asking a friend who had been to both places, she said Thailand was “more beautiful and there’s more stuff to do,” so the decision was made. We specifically decided to go to Phuket, because we wanted to be near the beach so we could also relax and enjoy the scenery.

We ended up booking through Orbitz, as we had no clue what the best option was in booking travel there.  I ended up separately having to book my flight to LA, because Orbitz had me flying to NYC first, which made no sense.  Our friend Sarah decided to join us after we had told her about the trip, so everything was all set.

Carla and I flew from LA, to Guangzhou, China, to Bangkok, Thailand, and then finally to Phuket.  Sarah’s route was a little bit better, from LA, to Hong Kong, to Phuket.  It’s a pretty long trip, from LA to China alone is 15 hours, so we were happy to be able to use the airport lounge when we landed in Guangzhou. I have my American Express card to thank for that.  We enjoyed some Dim Sum and miso soup, along with some fruit, nuts, and various other things they had there.

Our flight from Guangzhou to Bangkok was delayed, so we ended up leaving later than we were supposed to, and as you know, that affects the rest of your flights, so we got there around 7:00 pm Phuket time rather than 1:30 pm :(.  I was pretty exhausted from the trip (plus the 12 hour time difference from Austin), so I showered and went to sleep as soon as we got to the hotel, and Carla and Sarah went out to check out the town.

We stayed at the Avista Hotel in Kata Beach, I ended up being able to book our hotel at a 50% discount, just by looking at then hotel website and checking out their Special Offers section of their website.

Our breakfast was included in our package, and for breakfast everyday I had some sort of tropical fruit, the Dragon Fruit being one of my favorites, and an egg white omelette with mushrooms, tomatoes, and thai peppers.  They had a great international buffet, with cuisine from all over the world.

Day 1 we reserved for hanging out in Kata, we hung out on the beach for a few hours and hit up our hotel pool.  The beaches are beautiful, and they conveniently have a little hut every few hundred yards or so, where you can go and purchase a refreshing cocktail, water, sodas, snacks, etc.

We decided to check out the nicer resorts of Kamala Beach that night.  We started at the Andara Resort, a beautiful resort, with incredible views of the ocean, and a really great restaurant, the Silk Restaurant + Bar.  We enjoyed some cocktails, and a really delicious duck spring roll appetizer.

After that, we went to dinner at Paresa resort, at the Diavolo restaurant. It was beautiful, and we had some delicious authentic Thai food.  Sadly I don’t have pictures of this, as overall the hotel was very dark outside, and private, but incredible.

Day 2 was reserved for Koh Phi Phi island!  If you saw the movie The Beach, with Leonardo Dicaprio, you will remember the beach that they come upon when joining the cult.  The beach is called Maya Beach, and it’s a little slice of heaven.  The only drawback is that since it was made so popular by the movie, there are countless tourists that go there on a daily basis, and it’s full of speedboats and tourists, so it’s not as desolate as the movie made it seem.

The tour that we did took us first to Maya Beach, then snorkeling on the other side of the beach, followed by a little visit to Simian Island to look at the monkeys, and finally they did a picnic for us on Bamboo Island.

I was very curious to taste the difference between Thai food that I’ve had in Austin or in the States, and the real Thai food in Thailand.  I’m happy to report that most of the dishes that I tried tasted exactly like the food I’ve had in the US, or at least it’s incredibly close to it. I think in Thailand they use a little bit more fish sauce in the dishes, which by the end of the trip I was a little tired of, but maybe that’s because I had it every morning on my omelette with Thai chiles.  One new thing that I tried that I loved was their fried snapper, it had a sweet and tangy sauce that came with it, and it was soo yummy.

Of course it didn’t hurt to be in paradise.  Bamboo Island was one of the most beautiful beaches I’ve been on.  The water was really calm and crystal clear, it was the perfect place for a picnic.

The great thing about this day trip is that we were back in Kata Beach in the mid afternoon.  It gave us enough time to get back, and head out to watch the sunset at one of the bars that was close to our hotel.  We chose Surf House Phuket, a cool bar right across the beach that gives surf lessons and  ”delivers a continuous sheet of water up a trampoline-like surface, providing an alternative but ideal condition for surfing.” They have a great rooftop patio that is perfect for having cocktails and viewing the sunset.

 

This was one of the most beautiful sunsets that I’ve ever seen.  Stay tuned for Part 2 of this trip, where I cover our elephant trekking adventures, an encounter with a few tiger cubs, a visit to the Big Buddha, and a trip to one of the most beautiful temples I’ve ever seen.