Phuket is easily the most famous beach in Thailand. It is one of the spots I knew I would have to hit while I was here. Because it is so far away (12 hours by bus), last week was really one of the few chances I knew I'd have to get there. We decided to leave Saturday and come back on Friday morning to be home in time for Christmas.
Like I said, the bus ride was extremely long. It was an overnight bus so it goes a little bit faster once you fall asleep but it was a long time nonetheless. Don't get me wrong, the bus was not your average bus. The seats were spacious and reclined all the way back and they gave you enough leg room to be comfortable. Unfortunately, no matter how comfortable a bus is, 12 hours is a long time. Needless to say, by the time we arrived, I was thrilled to be there.
We arrived at about 6:45 am and needed to find a way to the hotel that we had previously booked. A few friends had stayed at this particular hotel the weekend before so we trusted their suggestion. It turned out to be great. The owner was a nice lady who helped us plan a few day trips to the surrounding islands. The hotel was also located right in the heart of the nightlife area and only a short walk from the beach. It really was a great place.
The first day I relaxed at the beach and worked on my bronze. I should mention that Phuket is in the Andaman Sea which is part of the Indian Ocean. I thought it was pretty cool to be swimming in the Indian Ocean. That night I explored town a little bit. It was crazy. There were literally hundreds of bars packed along one main street and the streets branching off of it. The street was packed with performers and lady boys (far too common a sight in this country). The bars had women (or men trying to be women) outside trying to attract male customers. They paid absolutely no attention to females but every time a white guy walked by they all tried to pull him in. This wasn't just at one place though. It was everywhere. I eventually picked a place to go that seemed to be a little bit more relaxed. It was going on midnight at this point and I knew that the Giants game was set to start at 1:00 am Thai time. I convinced the bartender to try to find the game (I would have loved to watch any NFL game but I was very fortunate that the Giants-Eagles game was the one that the Australian Sports Network was showing live). I really enjoyed sitting there and watching the first NFL game I've seen in almost three months. Around 2:30 the bar decided to close so I was forced to head home. However, it was halftime and the Giants had a pretty substantial lead so I felt confident that they'd get the win. You can imagine my surprise when I woke up the next day to find out that they completely blew the game (and now what's looking like their season as well).
The next day, I had a great time relaxing on the beach. It was certainly nice having no responsibilities. The following day, we took a trip to the nearby island of Koh Phi Phi. It is also one of the more famous islands in Thailand, mostly because the Leonardo DiCaprio movie The Beach was filmed there. We took a guided tour of the island and had an awesome day.
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| Arriving at Koh Phi Phi |
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| The beach at Koh Phi Phi |
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| Snorkeling in the Indian Ocean |
The remaining two days of the trip were a lot of fun for the most part. They both involved a lot of relaxing during the day and heading out to the main strip at night. The only setback occurred when I got the worst stomach bug I've had since I arrived in Thailand. Normally, this wouldn't really have bothered me much, however, I had a 12 hour bus ride to endure. I managed to make it home in one piece but it was a long, long trip.
Christmas Eve was pretty quiet. Our coordinator was nice enough to realize how much we'd be missing our families so, although she is Buddhist, she invited us over for "Christmas Dinner." Despite the fact that this was the first time I've ever had pizza on Christmas Eve, it was a nice gesture.
Christmas morning I woke up and was able to Skype with my family. I really enjoyed it. It wasn't fun not being home but Skype made it pretty easy to feel somewhat included. After Skyping, I headed out to Mass. Although the taxi got lost on the way and we were a bit late getting there, Mass was very nice. It was in English which was certainly helpful.
After Mass a bunch of us got together at a beautiful hotel room in downtown Bangkok that we decided to splurge on in celebration of the holidays. The place was really awesome. It had three bedrooms with king sized beds, three separate balconies, a living room and dining room, and a full kitchen. We had a blast attempting to make a Christmas dinner. We had buffalo wings and deviled eggs for appetizers. Then we had rotisserie chicken, mac and cheese, mashed potatoes, and salad followed by cookies and brownies. It was really delicious. We spent the remainder of the night watching Christmas movies and having a little gift exchange.
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| Our Christmas home |
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| Delicious, homemade Christmas dinner |
All in all, Christmas was pretty good. I certainly have a new appreciation for having the holidays with family, but we managed to make the best of it over here.
In a few hours I have a very special visitor arriving in Bangkok. Jen will be here for New Years and for the first week of January. I've been looking forward to her visit for weeks now and I couldn't be more excited. We are traveling to one of the islands this coming weekend and probably into central Thailand next weekend. There will be a long post and many pictures coming after that.
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