Life’s a Beach, so Just Phuket
I should preface this all by saying our time in Phuket was perfect; even that that was not so perfect wa practically perfect in its not being perfect.
Arissan and I arrived in Phuket at 1pm February 2. Then we hung out at the airport for awhile waiing for Arissan’s good firend from PSU, Hanna, to get in from Chiang Mai. Hanna just spent a month in northern Thailand earning her yoga instructor certification.. Pretty cool! So of course Hanna’s flight was delayed, but luckily you can bring beer into the airport. So Arissan and I were able to start our vacation in the Phuket International Airport waiting area. Once Hanna got there we sped away to pur hostel where we me up with another one of their friends from PSU, Jacob. Then we immediately went to the beach and watched the sunset.
The next day was Superbowl day!!! We went to one bar (at 5:30am) that turned the game on for us, but the announcers wer Thai. Jacob who is from Nevada and therefore a 49ers fan (gross!) was not as invested in the game as us so during the first quarter he went exploring and found a bar with English speaking announcers as well as other Americans watching the game. So at the end of the first quarter we all ran over to the other bar and joined our fellow Americans. Then right before halftime the cable went out at that bar soooo the bar transfered all of us to a different bar where we were able to watch the remainder of the game. Although I am having the tome of my life in Thailand, I would’ve given anything to be in Seattle that day. After the game we went in full #beachmode and actually ended up running into probably the only other person in Phuket from Seattle. It all started when Jacob sat in a chair that I guess you have to pay to sit in and the guy basically threatened to kill him. Then this Britich guy and the Seattle guy come up an sit down on the little part of sand next to us after seeing what happens if you try to sit in a chair. The Seattle guy was obviously pretty drunk and was like “don’t worry my team just won the Superbowl so it’s okay.” We were basically best friends at that moment. We soon learned that they took a shot for every Seahawk touchdown, which would definitely explain their state of inebriation. We hung out at the beach with them for a few hours, then got dinner and went our separate ways.
Lucky for Hannah and me, we have been in Thailand for 30 days at this point and therefore had the pleasure of doing a visa run to Burma (Myanmar). We got pucked up at 5:30am and drove 4 or so hours to this water border crossing. Then we along with all the other foreigner yahoos went along a beautiful cruise to Burma got a couple stamps on our passports and rode the boat back to Thailand. Then we drove another four hours back to Phuket and are able to stay in Thailand 30 more days!
Feb 5 we rented motorbikes abd went out to the Big Buddha. We then had lunch at this awesome restaurant on the hill that had an incredible view and delicious food. After that they thought it would be a good idea for me to try to drive the motorbike. Needless to say it WAS NOT! But, even the bad things were perfect. After the incident we went to Laguna Beach, the Thai version. We ate delicioud food and lounged on the beach until we needed to head back to meet up with another one of their friends, Joe. We got back to the hostel, picked up Joe and went to this awesome night market full of food and music. Arissan and I shared some very spicy yet very yummy noodles.
My last full day in phuket was Feb 6 and we spent it on a less crowded beach than Patong, which is close to where we were staying. We rode in a tuk tuk to and from the beach and on the way back our driver was blasting dance music and we were in the back having a great time. We caught sunset at Patong beach and then calle it a night.
Then next morning I left paradise and flew back to Bangkok (which is still closer to paradise than back home). Phuket was awesome, but so so touristy. Like possibly the tourist capital of the world. You could not walk three feet without people trying to get you in teir tuk tuk or taxi or placing an iguana on your shoulder or asking you to go to a ping pong show. It got a little exhausing. Then again even the not so great stuff was absolutely perfect!
Sunset in Phuket
