The end of our Thai adventures took us south to the Islands of Phuket and Koh Yao Yai.
Travelling to new destinations with time restrictions is always hard: trying to see everything and do everything (and eat everything!) when you know you only have a few days is exhausting. Knowing this in advance is always beneficial, and for us, we wanted some well earned R&R after 18 months of hard work in the UK and the sensory overload of our travels so far, so the last few days of our trip was more of a holiday.
Flying to Phuket was not only quick but relatively cheap. I’m sure you could use alternative transport for less $$$ but time was more precious to us. As we got closer, the views out of the window were exactly what we’d been hoping for. Gorgeous turquoise waters, dramatic green islands. We’d made it to paradise. Arriving in late afternoon meant the sun was dropping fast as we caught our transfer to the hotel. We passed the noise of Bangla road and caught brief glimpses of beaches as we wound around the roads.
We only planned for two nights in Phuket and had booked two different hotels: one to be close to the Big Buddha (and had a guitar shaped swimming pool!) and the other closer to the port that we needed to catch the ferry to Koh Yao Yai. Staying near Kuta initially, it felt strangely odd walking around the roads both at night and in the day- it was quiet, really quiet! I’d expected it to be busy with holiday makers but it just wasn't. We were 50% of the people attending breakfast at the hotel and maybe 2 of 8 people eating at a different restaurant for dinner (it made looking for a good place to eat based on popularity hard). You could even see the sand on Kuta beach on the most gloriously sunny day, it wasn’t all sun beds and parasols with people packed in like sardines. It was amazing! Walking around the streets, Tsunami evacuation signs were plastered on lamp posts. It was a stark reminder of the Boxing day tsunami that hit nearly 15 years ago, devastating the areas around us.
Visiting the Big Buddha was the only real touristy item on our agenda in Kuta. We had originally thought it would be really easy and cheap to get there- the hotel was so close you could actually see some of its head in the distance. Apparently not. We were up early to avoid ‘the crowds’ and began the haggling process. No-one was biting. The trip turned out to be half an hour each way and no-one was interested in just taking two people for less than their asking price, especially when they were waiting for larger groups. We eventually gave up and succumbed to the prices and tuk-tuk’ed it all the way up to the top of the hill to see just how big this Buddha was.
Our second night was in a hotel 2 hours north of Kuta. We’d booked it on the basis that it was in more of a secluded spot, with more of a green feel to it (kind of like where we’d stayed in Kintamani in Bali, surrounded by rice paddies and in the middle of absolutely nowhere). I thought we were going to get bitten to s**t with it being near water and it was a bit of a gamble. I literally couldn’t have been more wrong. We arrived into this almost gated estate, off of a main road and there were no green fields at all. Instead, walking inside (definitely thinking it was the wrong place), we were greeted by the stunning view over a Victoria water-lily pad filled pond, and taken to a very nice room in the complex opposite where I really needn’t have worried about whether it needed a mozzy net or not. It was great! In the morning, most of the guests had already departed, leaving us with an entire pool to ourselves!
We’d tried very hard to be organised and had mostly succeeded in getting to every location on time and generally within budget to our surprise. We’d calculated how much time we needed to get from the hotel to the port for our transfer to Koh Yao Yai and allowed some extra ‘just-in case’ time as well. We tried again with Grab, as the costs of the taxis locally were much more expensive. I had to stay in the lobby as it was the only place with Wifi and watched on the app as the little car drove towards us…and away…and further away…and go round and round and round in circles, clearly lost. Minutes ticked on by. The chap tried to call me but as my Thai was exceptionally limited (to ‘Hello’… or ’not spicy please’), I couldn’t help.
Fortunately, after some back and forth with one of the lovely ladies at the reception desk, he finally navigated his way to us. It turned out his GPS wasn’t working and he didn’t know the hotel (not so great when my extra ‘just-in case’ time had been eaten up). But with our bags in the back, off we went. We were taken through the slightly more scenic route than perhaps I’d have liked, through very rural locations, past fields of pineapples and rows and rows of rubber trees and, with very little time to spare, made it to the port to sign in at the transfer office. With the promo videos playing on the screens inside, it was our first taste of the paradise to come. We’d budgeted most of the trip to fit around the expense of our holiday and we were excited!
We had to wait for the last boat transfer to get going but eventually, after watching everyone else go, we could depart. We donned our life jackets and took our positions. We were off. The air was warm, the water was turquoise, the islands were green and the sky was blue. But the more we ploughed on, the less warm the air became, the less turquoise the water was, the less islands we could see and the more grey the sky became. And grey became black. The wind picked up and the waves became more bouncy. The black sky began to blur and down came the rain. We’d entered the rain storm. We pulled down the plastic windows and winced as the boat crashed up and down. We were glad to finally see the resort and dressed in ponchos, were glad to eventually be on land. It wasn’t quite the entrance I’d expected! Once the rain stopped though, and clouds disappeared, the island revealed the beauty we’d been waiting for. And it was stunning.
Leaving the island was sad: like most holidays, time had ran away with us and the weather had gone full circle, as we watched the waves rolling in and the boats crashing about. Luckily, by 5pm the sea had calmed and our journey back to Phuket wasn't as bouncy as our arrival.
I really wasn't sure what I'd make of Thailand but we honestly had the best two weeks. Our whirlwind tour was an amazing start to another year of travelling- it was a shame to leave but Australia beckoned (again) so we had to go!
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