Thai-phoon

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Another delayed flight, this time only an hour and we set off for Phuket Thailand. Customs was a breeze but had the passport checked like 20 times and then had to use some screen shots on how to find the bus stop(walk across road 15m, look for pad Thai stand, opposite side, etc) once located had to try and understand the non English speaking bus driver on where he was going, and where we needed to go. Finally we boarded the bus and waited 45 min in the air conditioning,luckily, before we headed south from Phuket airport towards Kata beach where our hostel was. It took about 2 hours winding and twisting our way to the hostel and only cost $200baht ($6) for us both.

Our hostel was more of a hotel; with a pool, restaurant, laundry, and OUR OWN ROOM and bathroom. It was quaint cute and across the road from the beach and $10/night. We ate dinner (the special, Thai curry with some sides!?!! For $3) at the hostel because it was 930pm and hit the hay with some ambitions for the morning.

Nicolette said she HAD to sleep in so I set the alarm for 8am. The previous night we were talking to our waitress and she stated we could not walk to Big Buddha so we set off to prove her wrong. It was a very steep narrow path that went pretty much straight to the road that connected Big Buddha to the other side of the island. It took us approximately 45min of heat and humidity to get to the top and it was worth every second. We got to see monkeys, islands, and a new view from the top that was breathtaking. 

Along the way I spotted about 100m off the trail this little statue and hut looking thing. Not sure what it was but glad we hiked to be able to see it. Lesson always hike when you have the opportunity. 

We hiked back down grabbed some Pad Thai threw on our swim suits and hit the beach, it was recommended no swimming due to the current but we both jumped in for a bit. We even spoiled ourselves and rented a chairs and umbrellas for $6 for the day. The tide and surf was so high we saw the waves take out multiple people trying to have a relaxing afternoon. It was funny. 

I got bored after about an hour so I walked over to the moped guy on the corner and rented a moped for the rest of the day ~6hrs for $4.50. So we drove all around the coast and even made it down to a secluded beach that said “4x4 or Atv only- no mopeds on road” but of course I’m a better driver then most mopeders and we took the path less traveled (my sides were sore from Nicolette pinching me so much by the time we got to the bottom). 

The tank was on empty so we pulled over and bought a bottle of gasoline (as seen in below picture) 

We found some cool little bars with good views as well as a monk monestary and made it back to drop off the moped around 530pm so we could catch another few hours on our previously rented chairs on the beach.

That night we put on our best clothes and grabbed a TukTuk into Patong Beach to grab dinner at a fancier Turkish restaurant (cost us $35) and then strolled around town which had a ton of bars, clubs, and 2 free shots when you buy 3 deals. It was the party city of Phuket. There were lots of ping pong shows, and other shows that we had heard about, with what looked like a serious prostitution problem so we didn’t spend anytime there and caught a taxi/Tuk Tuk back to the hostel. 

It is the off-season here so Every other business is closed and boarded up, which makes me feel that during the busy season it is crazy busy. 

Two nights in one place seemed too lengthy so we got a hostel the next night in Phuket town on the other side of the island from where we were in Kata. We rode in the back of another Tuk Tuk for 45min to our next spot. We got to checkin early so we dropped our bags and walked around town. Got very lost saw a Buddhist temple and found extremely good lunch. Then went back to the hostel and sat in the pool at the hostel for a couple hours. We chatted a couple from Austria and they are doing a similar trip as ours so it was cool to know where they had been and where they were going, may bump into them again. 

That night they had a Indy market right outside of our hostel that included food trucks, jewelry sales, and other trinkets. There were lots of locals and everything was under $1 for food so we gorged ourselves in food trying some local flavors. From there we walked into Phuket old town, it started pouring rain so we swung into a little dive bar and sat there for 2 hours waiting for the rain to subside and then found a Harry Potter Bar, that even sold butter beer. 

The next morning we packed up and caught a speed boat from Phuket town to Koh Phi Phi where we stayed for 2 nights. Far too long in my opinion. Absolutely stunning views and cool vibes but it was a party island and Nicolette said she felt far to old to be trying to hang with 20yo on a gap year. 

We got in mid afternoon and had skipped breakfast so we were both a bit hangry and the moment we hit the pier we were ram rodded by people trying to sell us day trips, kayaks, and other things that at the moment we were in no mood for. It took us a bit to figure out our hostel because we didn’t have service and everyone was charging for WiFi. We dumped our bags and put on our swimsuits and walked down to find food. Great cheap Pad Thai. Rejuvenated, we walked to the Beach and caught a Long Boat ride to Pi Leh, the islands were miraculous, with steep cliff faces and stunningly white sand beaches. It was out of a movie. We swam a bit, saw a shark or two and rode the boat  around the entire island. 

We returned to Koh Phi Phi and walked around and realized it is a totally disaster island. From our understanding it was hit by the tsunami in 2004 and there is still trash and demolished buildings all over the island. Although the landscape is incredible the town is disgusting, smelly, and we felt bad for the locals. Covid 19 has had an extremely negative impact on Thailand due to lack of tourism.

We watched the sunset, grabbed dinner, then headed back to the beach where we watched a flame show for a few hours before walking around town to find the next cool thing. What do you know, we found a boxing ring with the volunteer tourists fighting each other, and occasionally some local “pros” mixed in. It was a rowdy time and people were getting so stoked. Nicolette and I found a seat front row, almost felt like we were in the ring, crowds cheering behind us, and sweat dropping from the fighters, it was an experience. We walked back to the beach towards our hostel and went to a couple other beach parties before getting back to the hostel at 1am. Far to late for Nic. 

Up around 8am to a hike to the lookout (which they charge 20baht to see….) then walked to find breakfast and coffee. A perfect day we hit the beach to rent a kayak so we could paddle out to Monkey Beach and see a different angle of the island we hadn’t gotten yet. About 1hr into the paddle and as far from shore as we were going to get it started down pouring, like a full blown monsoon, we started getting nervous when we couldn’t see 100yds in front of us because it was raining so hard and it started lightening. Holding a metal paddle and in the middle of the ocean didn’t seem like a great spot to be, so we paddled our hearts out and came crashing back to shore. It was so beautiful and perfect prior to the rain however the rain made us appreciate this adventure even more, and we laughed about it afterwards. 

We went to the hostel due to our sopping wet condition and showered and changed clothes, then made our way back into town to buy a ferry ticket for the next day to Krabi and get a infamous Thai massage. It was interesting and much less smooth then your local Massage Envy, (I would be happy to show you sometime) but was worth the $16 for both of us for an hour. Then we made our way to the beach for one last sunset on Koh Phi Phi which ended up being incredible, we decided to call it an early night shortly after having the most “bang for your buck” pad Thai on the island, it was so good we got 2 servings. Then packed up our backpacks for departure early the next morning. 

At around midnight that evening I heard it start downpouring rain and then shortly after lightening flash and immediately the loudest thunder I have ever heard in my life, it was insane, these colossal noises and typhoon type rains continued for an hour and I thought for sure we were going to be swept into the ocean, but we lived to see another day. 

A couple take always from Thailand so far:
1. It is off-season, but hardly seems like it due to the amount of people traveling right now, backpackers paradise. It’s hard to fathom the busy season. 

2. Most of their food is cooked piping Hot, which means cooked and potentially no bacteria, cold food means iced or not fully cooked means higher chance of bacteria. There is no such thing as ice water, unless you want to be sick. 

3. We Started packing toilet paper for our adventures as you never know what kind of bathroom you are going to get. 

4. If you see a restaurant that is fully indoors with A/C, that means the food is probably not as good, but probably no belly ache. Street food is much cheaper and more authentic flavors but you might soil your britches. A double edged sword.  

5. Take a moped, they are cheap and a blast and super easy to get around, DO NOT forget they drive on the left side of the road. Also, it seems like every foreigner wrecks. We have seen so many people bandaged up from moped wrecks. 

Below you can see the moped food carts that are everywhere. It is their lively hood.