Phuket

I won't say much about the whole stay in Phuket. It was very pleasant, though we stayed at a resort which was a bit out of the way. So, though from time to time it felt isolated, that was also nice as we sometimes need to escape to the quiet from Bangalore.

We arrived Thursday morning after a 3.5 hour flight from Bangalore to Bangkok, a short layover, and a one hour flight to Phuket. I guess it is telling that the plane from Blr to Bangkok was an airbus A330 and the flight to Phuket was a 747. We were pretty tired from the flight, due to short sleeping times. We left at 00:30 and arrived in Phuket by 9am, with a 1.5 hour time difference. So when we arrived at the resort, we mostly just lounged around the pool. Cindy and I went for a short walk down to and along the beach around sunset. Some beautiful sunsets while we were there.

Friday Ari was sick. Maya, Cindy and I went to Phuket town to see the old town, and just get our bearings. We did a little shopping, but overall not too much exciting. We did then go to a buddhist temple and have a looksee. Pretty awesome.

Saturday was set aside for Maya and Ari to choose an activity. We went into the little town just north of where we were staying. We were going to go shopping and have lunch, which we did, but the shopping was limited. Only Cindy and I found an interesting bit of art. We also had lunch which took forever, but was very good. After this we went back to the resort as we had arranged a horseback ride (Ari's choice). We went to the stables, and they saddled us up, complete with helmets. Then there were four young men who led our horses to the beach, and then along the beach. When the horses started to go faster, the men had to run to keep up. This is the first time in my life where I have ridden a horse and been led around for the full trip. I must say, I'm not much of a horseman. I'm just not that comfortable up there. Maybe with more practice I would be more comfortable, but I just am not that interested in that. Then we went back to the resort to change clothes, and out for dinner. The first restaurant we went to, White Box, was fully booked for a private party, so we drove further into Patong, and went to the 9th Floor Restaurant. Food was pretty good, atmosphere was sort of odd.

Sunday was to be my excursion day. I had chosen before we left to either go snorkeling or kayaking. I had decided on Kayaking and on Saturday we had booked a trip on Sunday to go kayaking on the Andman Sea. It was either this or go to Phi Phi islands. The snorkeling wasn't too good as the monsoon season was just over and so the water was fairly murky. We arranged the 'sea canoe' trip, and were all set to go. Sunday morning I woke up at about 6 am (as I had done on Saturday and Friday as well). As it had done on Saturday, it was raining. I was hoping for a thunder shower like the one we had on Saturday. No such luck. By breakfast it was really pouring. We were supposed to be picked up at 8:45. At 8:30, I was staring at 3 very long faces, and wondering what to do. It was really looking like I was going to have to cancel the one activity I really wanted to do in Thailand. The water was coming down, the skies were grey to the horizon (when you could see that far between downpours). It had been raining straight for close to 3 hours now. I was willing to go, but not looking forward to sitting in an open boat in the rain for hours, if it was really going to keep up. We didn’t know what kind of a boat it was to be, so we weren’t really up for a big risk. I called the hotel concierge who had arranged the trip. She told me that she would check and call back. About 5 mins later, after we were informed the car from the canoe place was already there, she called back, saying. The tour company will cancel if we so wish, but the sun is shining on the other side of the island, and only thundershowers were predicted. I could hardly believe this and was pretty down at this point. I suggested to the family that we would go to the boat at least and see what it looked like there. I said we would cancel out and come home if it really was raining on the trip. As it turned out, contrary to what were led to believe, the boat was big enough that we couldn’t have canceled and come home mid trip if we wanted to, but it also wasn’t necessary. The boat was covered and had 2 decks, and better yet, it didn’t rain the whole day.


We visited several islands that day. The first one didn’t have a real cave, but definitely had an interior to it, and an exterior part. The ‘canoes’ were actually sit on top inflatable kayaks. They were incredibly stable. We had a dry bag for our cameras, but didn’t really need it. The boat stayed pretty dry, and didn’t move around a lot. We explored the island, each boat had one guide with a paddle, and then two passengers, except for one. One man had to go it alone with his guide. We paddled around the inside with its steep sides, and could see out through the spots where the water had worn through. We could also see where the water had been about 3 meters higher for around 6-8 thousand years and had worn away the side of the island.

Next we went to an island with a true cave in it. This was an amazing experience. The water level was such that the cave roof at it’s lowest was only inches above the top of the kayak. We had to lie flat. I was in the center position, holding the flashlight. It was really dark in there otherwise. I had to take my hand off of my belly and hold the flashlight inside the boat, next to my legs, otherwise would have gotten cut by the sharp mollusk shells on the roof of the cave. We came out into this little lagoon inside the island (imagine a donut with a bite out of the bottom, sitting in a bowl of water). There was a whole ecosystem inside the island here. Of course it was normal sea water, but there were birds, monkeys (though I didn’t see any), mud skippers and banyan trees in the water. It was really quite and calm. In at least one or two of these lagoons, the water would drain out completely at low tide. When we were there the water was only about 2 feet deep. We had to leave again before the water got too low (and when then noisy tour group arrived with another boat).

We went to another cave which was similar, but it started out much bigger, and was much longer. It was filled with bats closer to the entrance. They would squeak and complain if you shone the flashlight on them too long. They really didn’t like the light. And of course it smelled like guano. I think this was actually the lowest cave. I did get a couple of pictures of the next group coming into this lagoon, and oh, you remember the guy who was by himself in the boat. He is a rather large fellow, and due to there being one less person, and his girth, they actually had to let air out of the boat so they could get into the lagoon.

After all of this wonderful exploring, we had a delicious lunch on the main boat. Got to go swimming, and try out the kayaks ourselves. Then some of the guides set up a series of four kayaks, upside down tied end to end. The youngsters then tried balance games on the kayaks. First it was who could cause the other to fall off first. Next was a chase game, running from one end to the other along the 4 boats. Many made it all the way, many fell off half way. Really a good time.

We got back to port around 4:30, totally exhausted, exhilarated, and very happy that we had braved the rain on the other side of the island. To imagine we might have missed the best experience of the weekend due to the weather we saw out our window is almost heart-stopping. I highly recommend the original sea canoe company on Phuket. They did a great job and we all had a blast.