Days 98 – 101: Oh Phuket, Thailand

Ah, Thailand beaches.  Great for our tans and our moods, maybe not so great for content for the blog.  But hey, Phuket, let’s go.

Day 98: Travel from Bangkok to Phuket

As you can imagine, the trail from Bangkok to Phuket is well traveled.  We hopped in our Grab (Uber’s SE Asia cousin), and the driver said, “Let me guess: you are headed to Phuket.”

Getting to the Airport

Our Grab ride to the Don Muang airport had us grabbing for a reason anyone would want to live in a city with so much traffic.  What is a twenty minute drive on paper took us well over an hour.  We had also stayed up until 4:00 AM watching the Philadelphia Eagles lose to the Tennessee Titans and then had to be back up by 5:30 AM to pack and catch a cab.  Eeek.

We Heart Airport Lounges

Rich and I got to return to one of our favorite lounges in Bangkok, our airport BFF, to work on our THIRD thirty day post, in the same booth where we wrote our second thirty day post.  What beautiful, unplanned symmetry!  Also, unlimited free coffee.

Then we almost missed our flight when it got delayed, according to the display board, and then moved back up to its regular time according to a hard-to-understand PA announcement.  I thought I heard them say Phuket the first time (Rich: “I didn’t hear it.”), and then Rich and I both definitely heard them say it the second time, followed by “final call.”  We sprinted out of the lounge and to the gate to be greeted by a long line of other people who still needed to board.

The flight to Phuket was really stunning as we landed over green islands and deep blue water.  From the airport, we took about a thirty minute long shuttle to our hotel and got checked in.

We stayed at the Grand Sunset Hotel, and as advertised, its pool had killer sunset views as well as a free sunset cocktail with free freshly popped popcorn.  It’s the small things.  Settling in at the pool felt just right.

Day 99: We Went to the Pool

Umm, it rained in the morning so Rich and I did some work, and then we went to the pool.  Then it rained some more so we had a “meeting” where we calendar-ed out how we were going to spend our days in Phuket, and then we showered and went back to the pool for our sunset cocktail.  Then we walked out to the beach for a minute and on to dinner.

A note about Phuket: there are a lot of Russians.  Most of the signs for restaurants were translated into English, and they were ALL translated into Russian.  In almost all of the other areas of Southeast Asia we have visited, there have been many Asian tourists and many Australian backpackers.  In Phuket, we just saw Russians.  It struck us as interesting, so I thought I would share.

Day 100: We Tried to Visit Big Buddha, Failed, and Got Epic Sunset Pictures

About PHuket

I have done a terrible job describing Phuket.  Most importantly, it’s beautiful.  We stayed across the street from a large wide beach with tan colored sand.  The water is super blue, and there are huge white waves that roll in.  It is exactly what you want a beach to look like.

Secondly, Phuket is surrounded by rolling, incredibly lush, green hills.  I think if you planted a seed in Phuket today, you would have a giant blooming plant next week, that’s how fertile the environment is.  The green of the hills is just as majestic as the blue of the sea.

Trying to Visit Big Buddha

At the top of one of these green hills is a huge Buddha that you could see from the roof of our hotel.  Since I knew we would mostly spend our time in Phuket by water not exercising and not seeing sights, I thought hiking to it would be a good plan.  We could see it, take some pictures, get some exercise, and enjoy the hike together.

I came across a blog with step-by-step directions of how to easily hike to Big Buddha.  Awesome.  The directions included everything except an address of the starting point.  Maybe you see where this is going.

Long story long, we got up early, put on workout clothes (long running tights for me so I would be fully covered to go in the temple), walked the twenty five minutes in 85+ degree tropical heat to where we thought the starting point would be…and the starting point wasn’t there.

I’ll speed things up: we walked around looking some more, got very, very cross with one another, and sulkily walked home (Amanda) having not found the trail or seen the Big Buddha.

We did some apologies, and then we went to the pool.

Taking Epic Sunset Pictures

We lucked into an incredible sunset that night and were able to take really just the best sunset pictures we could have imagined.

It was fortuitous because it was DAY ONE HUNDRED of our trip, and we could do a whole big, beautiful Instagram spread of this gorgeous sunset, looking just the happiest.

As I type, we received 598 LIKES on Instagram on this post.  That is clearly the most likes we have ever received, and obviously means one day we might be internet famous.

And the funniest part is that we were as annoyed with/frustrated at/bothered by each other that day as we have been since we left the United States.  We are fine now, but getting lost looking for Big Buddha was not a high point of our marriage.

So, enjoy these beautiful pictures, and remember: social media is not real.

Day 101: It Rained

Sometimes a rainy day at the beach is okay!  Here’s how we spent the day:

• We walked to breakfast and home before it rained.
• I blogged.
• Rich finished reading Crazy Rich Asians and started China Rich Girlfriend.  The man is obsessed.  He thinks author Kevin Kwan is his best friend and that all of the main characters are people we actually know. We have big plans to go see the Crazy Rich Asians movie in Singapore where the books are set– we will keep you posted.
• Rich and I took a nap.
• We ran out in the rain to get dinner and then ran back home (somewhere along our travels Rich lost his rain jacket).

As I’m sure you can surmise, Phuket was really low key.  No temples.  No tours.  Just beach and pool with a sprinkling of rain.

What we loved about Phuket:

• The amazing beach
• Our hotel.  They did a great job of providing small treats that really helped budget travelers like us.  They served free, GOOD coffee from 3-4 PM, provided a yummy sunrise cocktail and popcorn from 6:00 – 6:30 PM, and offered ice cream from 8- 10 PM.  The pool was also really fantastic.
• Phuket was pretty walkable, and our hotel was centrally located.
• Karon Beach, where we stayed, was family friendly.  No wild backpacker parties (you know you are old when this falls in the loved section).

What we didn’t like/felt meh about in Phuket:

• Phuket is a town that seems like maybe it peaked about 10 years ago.  Restaurants are a bit dated/cheesy, and unless you eat street food, are definitely overpriced.
• Coffee in the morning was really hard to come by.  The earliest any of the coffee shops near us opened was 10 AM– although they then stayed open until at least 10 PM.
• The signage was really bad. Big Buddha is a major attraction.  Would it kill you to have a sign?
• We couldn’t find a bookstore.  I am out of books to read.  You are a beach town.  How does a beach town not have a bookstore?  Unfathomable.

If you want hip and modern, go to Chiang Mai.  If you just want to sit in the sand and look at beautiful sunsets, well, Phuket.  You’ll be glad you did.