July 2-9 – Paradise

After a pair of delicious orange-juices, today we hopped on a flight with Firefly Airlines to Phuket.

Yes this is the very Phuket you saw on the news so much several years ago when the devastating tsunami … nasty stuff. After all this time they have recovered nicely. In fact it’s very beneficial for them to have “us tourists” around.

This is the part of the trip that we have planned for pure laziness. No planning. No worries. Just several days of chilling out in paradise and having nothing to do other than to remember to get up and eat… and maybe go see the beach.

We settled in Karon Beach at a lovely resort, The Pacific Club Resort and Spa, where we were welcomed with a smile and a pair of tropical drinks.

After inspection of our suite, Jen had learned another way of folding tp ;) Quite amazing!

This resort was very nice, although not too expensive ($60/night). **Note: Thais use the word “resort” very loosely. Pretty much a room with four walls could be a resort. THIS was actually a resort.

Also of note was the resort restaurant. What caught my eye about this place is that on the web site it said there was a Mexican restaurant downstairs. It also had high speed wireless internet access. So Jen and I were covered respectively.

We did have to set our alarm to wake up because we wanted to make the included USA-like buffet breakfast every morning. Again, happiness for Jen. It was no IHOP, but not too bad. It ended up not really being a Mexican restaurant, but they did have a good deal of Western favorites including fajitas, spaghetti, grilled cheese sandwiches, Philly steak sandwiches… normal stuff. Getting the picture here? What surprised me is one night Jen ordered some Pad Thai (a common local food here). Over normal food!!! Progress!

Another thing to point out is the Thai’s unique presentation of food. At first I thought it was just this fancy resort restaurant, but it turned out to be most places we went to in Thailand. They do a great deal to pretty it up. They shave carrots into roses and other vegetables into other shapes on your plate. Your drink is adorned by a pineapple, or other fruit cut into some shape, with a flower attached. Very pretty, and being generally starved for veggies on this vacation, eaten by myself.

There was a nice pool on the roof surrounded by jungle canopy. You could see the ocean just a short distance away.

Down on the lower level, there was a nice cool water Jacuzzi that had two waterfalls splashing in from the top. You could sit under these and get a nice neck/shoulder massage.

We originally booked this for five nights, but ended up staying for two more because we liked it so much.

Here the days start to blur a little because we lost track of time and space. Here are some of the highlights:

The beach here, Karon Beach, was quite good. It is the second most popular beach in Phuket, behind Patong beach. It was very quiet and never too busy really. There weren’t too many Thais around peddling us to buy something. The sand was pretty and the water was clear. The surf came in nice and slow and provided perfect waves for taking walks through.

On another day we went to the more popular beach, Patong. It was pretty wild there, MUCH busier. Still pretty though and we caught a beautiful sunset after a nice Thai dinner on the beach.

This also happened to be July fourth. Some Americans (I’m assuming) we’re shooting off a few fireworks on the beach. It was great to see a few fireworks and remember the good ol’ USA. Afterwards, we scoped out the town a little and I probably have never seen more outdoor bars. There were blocks upon blocks of small bars. Everything was pretty empty though. I’m not sure if we were there too early, or if it was just because it was the off-season. But random partying doesn’t appeal to us much, so we just got a taxi back home.

Taxis are a pain in the butt here. They are everywhere and if you are walking they assume you need a taxi. You will continually get called at and talked to and honked at hoping you’ll use them. Taxis sometimes are cars, but in this area there are these things called tuk-tuks. They are like little baby vans with two rows of seats in the back. There’s a roof in the back, but it’s pretty open. It’s kind of an interesting ride, but you have to negotiate with them furiously if you want a good price. I often-times end up cutting the negotiations a little short when I realize that I’m arguing over 20 baht, which is like 65 cents.

A couple days there was some clouds/rain. We were here at just the beginning of the rainy season of this part of Thailand. We did get a lot more sun than rain thankfully, and good prices all around. On the rainy days we just stayed in, watching movies on TV.

One day we took a full-day tour to Koh Phi Phi (or the Phi Phi Islands). I will do a separate post for that.

One night we saw some of the girls from our resort at a night market buying little baby turtles. They wanted to set them free in the lagoon near the resort – how cute.

Also that night we ran across a couple monks. They wear bright orange robes. Women are not supposed to touch them, so Jen steered clear. I however, proceeded to give them high fives. Just kidding.

We also saw some temples that had some interesting green dragons surrounding them.

That’s about it for life in paradise! Shoot – a task! We have to decide which paradise to go to next.