Dreaming of riding an elephant and enjoying the famous Thai massage and fish pedicure, had forced me to book the trip to Phuket despite the travel warning due to some political unrest in Thailand. After much contemplating between Bangkok and Phuket, finally my heart set on Phuket.  

What a relief when I landed at the airport I was greeted by a pleasant private airport transfer driver and a quiet atmosphere, not some wild demonstration that I previously imagined. The drive was quite long from the airport despite I booked my hotel in the middle of Phuket city not Patong beach or some other far location.

My boutique hotel “Escape De Phuket” was really nice and it got even nicer when a sweet Thai receptionist upgraded me for free to a Suite. Yayy!!   Good karma can be as sweet as German chocolate cake. Since I arrived quite late at the hotel, there was not much things to do except soaking myself in the private pool inside my hotel room, oh yeah the room has its own pool and eating delicious durian chip on bed till I fell asleep.

The next morning, along with other 12 people in the group, I boarded a traditional long-tail boat to drift by some of the 3,500 beautiful islands of Phang Nga Bay and stunning mangrove forests. How refreshing to feel the mist of water on my face. Our first stop was Koh Tapoo or best known as James Bond Island. This tiny island was name after James Bond movie since one of James Bond movie “The man with the golden gun” was shot here. There’s a cave on the island where you can climb and go inside. But before you go inside you will pass so many pearl jewelry sellers along the beach. Some were quite nice and some were quite persistent. I was not sure how authentic were the pearls. Something that I learnt from this trip, that you can ask them to burn it with cigarette lighter. Obviously if it was

plastic it would be burnt easily. When it came to jewelry, resistant was futile to me, so I ended up buying so many pearl brooch. The shopaholic side of me totally took over.

The traditional long tail boat sailed us from James Bond Island to Koh Talu Island to explore the sea cave. We stopped at a small ship that’s used as temporary structure which function as a harbor. From that point, everybody in my group was transferred to a kayak. Each of us had our own kayak. This was a part when we were supposed to do sea cave kayaking except we didn’t row the kayak because the local guy did all the job for us. Hey, I didn’t mind sitting pretty on kayak especially after climbing to the cave and long ride from hotel to the harbor to board the long tail boat. The sea cave looked magnificent. How neat that we could kayak into the limestone cave from one side and out from the other side.

Our next stop was Koh Pannyi: the Muslim floating village. Many Thai Muslim lives on this floating village, I could see the Mosque from afar as the boat approaching Koh Pannyi. This floating village has a complete amenities from store, housing, restaurant, and some other businesses, made of wooden structures. We had halal lunch here. As usual my adventurous urge took over, so I left the restaurant and ventured out to the village and ended up in  pearls jewelry store shopping for pearl rings. When I returned to the restaurant, everyone in my group had left and lined up by the boat. They almost left me. Almost. From there, the long tail boat took us back to the land.

Back on the land, we continued traveling to the elephant safari camp for an elephant trek through rivers, dense tropical jungle, and the beautiful rain forest. What an amazing feeling. Those elephants were so friendly and cute at the same time. They weren’t shy to hug you with their trunks. After a bumpy fun ride on the elephant, I got a chance to treat myself to fish pedicure. The Thai lady washed my feet and scrubbed them before I sat and dipped both of my feet into long pool filled with Garra Rufa fish. I couldn’t help but giggling, it felt so ticklish when those fish tried to eat the dead skin on my feet. Apparently the adventure of the day didn’t stop at the fish pedicure spa. Our last stop was fruit garden. As I entered thru the gate I could see papaya tree, pineapple tree, durian and other tropical fruits. What made this fruit garden interesting were the gazebos among the tropical trees. Each gazebo displayed a cooking process of traditional Thai food and offered free sampler for visitor. I got to try papaya salad for free. Can’t beat that. At the end of the fruit garden, we encountered the gift shop and fruit market where I picked some fruits to take back to hotel.

The following day, I took the city tour to explore the entire Phuket Island. If you feel adventurous, you can rent a scooter at any rental place to explore the island on your own pace. Just keep in mind that Phuket is very hilly and as a scooter rider myself, I can easily tell that riding scooter on hilly place can be challenging. Our first stop was Wat Chalong, situated approximately 8 kilometers or 5 miles from Phuket town. Wat Chalong is the biggest Buddhist temple and the most beautifully ornamented of Phuket’s 29 Buddhist monastery. The city tour also covered the area of Patong Beach and Kamala beach. Our last stop was Gem gallery. As its name say it all, the place is the largest jewelry store in Phuket, even if you are not into buying expensive jewelry, the place definitely worth a visit. Especially since it offers free drink, from cappuccino to Thai tea for visitors regardless if you buy something or not. The half day tour ended as each one of us being dropped back at our hotel or any location we wished to visit.

 

 

Since I still had some time to burn before my visit to a cultural theme park later at night, I decided to be dropped at the massage place to make my dream of enjoying authentic Thai massage became true. For only 400 bath, I finally got to experience the authentic Thai massage. Different than any massages that I experienced before, the Thai massage was conducting while I was fully clothed. In fact, the massage place provided me loose clothes to wear while I was being massaged. The technique was quite intrusive. The masseuse pulled my leg, my hand, and stepped on me. I could not believe I actually paid someone to literally step on me. But at the end it felt so relaxing.

Feeling relaxed, I was so ready for my visit to cultural theme park. There are two big cultural theme parks in Phuket. One is Siram Niramit and the other one is Phuket Fanta Sea. Phuket Fanta Sea is bigger than Siram Niramit. I chose Siram Niramit for a couple of reasons; first, it was the closest one to my hotel, and the second, Siram Niramit offers a replica of a Thai village complete with a floating market and people who dressed as villagers. The ticket to Siram Niramit came with additional option of buffet dinner and hotel transfer. Buffet dinner was so big with so many different food option including halal Thai food. I got there a bit early to give me sometimes to explore the entire park. I hopped from one spot to the next. From the floating market to the traditional Thai house to the ox ride. The show was quite amazing, reminded me of the Broadway show in New York, totally worth the money.

The next morning which was my last day in Phuket, I just chilled at the hotel pool, lounged around in the lobby, chatted with the hotel receptionist and shopped around for souvenirs before the airport transfer driver picked me up from the hotel.

As I lined up at the gate to board the plane to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, I recalled the tour guide mentioned briefly during the Phuket city tour that Phuket came from the Malaysian word “Bukit” which means hill. It is very easy to reach from Malaysia or Indonesia. One hour flight from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia or only two hours flight from Banda Aceh, Indonesia flying with Air Asia. So next time you are in South East Asia, make sure to stop by at this beautiful island called Phuket.