Thailand -- paradise INDEED!

Wow....Thailand, what can we tell you about this country. It is way too hard to put it all into words and the best we can do is describe it in one word - AMAZING!! We were told from people who had been there in the past just how great it was, but you never know what to expect until you experience it for yourself. It well exceeded our expectations.

We were asked when we got back what the "highlight" of our trip was. It was hard for Jamie and I to narrow it down to one thing because there were multiple memorable moments for us.

We left Kansai airport at 1:20am on the 20th and arrived in Phuket at 9am (it was actually 11am our time, but Thailand is 2 hours behind). We were met at the airport by a driver who was to take us to the pier where we would take a boat to Koh Hey or more commonly called Coral Island.

It was about a 40 minute ride to the pier and on the way everything we saw reminded us of Cuba. The dark, lush vegetation, the architecture, the abundance of scooters and even the smell of the sweet ocean air. So far...so good!

Upon arriving at the pier excitment started to set in as we got our first glimpse of the gorgeous looking waters of the Andaman Sea with Koh Hey in the distance. We were told to wait 20 minutes, but that ended up turning into 1 hour for no apparent reason. We had to remind ourselves that we were no longer in a place where time efficiency is a number one priority....we were on "island time" where the Thais decide what time is go time :)

The speedboat ride took about 15 minutes and once they dropped us off, we are in awe of the nature......HAHAHAHA--if you are an English teacher you will get that one. We also loved the fact that the beach was pretty secluded. This resort is best known for its snorkeling, so a lot of people come here for day trips. The good thing is that they all have to leave by 3 o'clock which means that the people staying on the island practically have the whole place to themselves :) We were escorted to our beachfront bungalow....and again....were in awe of just how close our front porch was to the ocean. We dropped off our bags and instantly got ready to hit the water and cool off as it was about 35 degrees!

This is Lord. He works at the restaurant on the island. He's a really cool guy!

Our beachfront bungalow

The view from our bed -- nothing beats falling asleep to the sound of the ocean!

The view from our porch to the right

Another view from our porch

What we woke up to every morning!

Here are some more random photographs:

Oh ya....there are 3 dogs that roam the beach. They are so friendly and each have hilarious personalities. They hid from the heat during the day and were full of piss and vinegar come night time. The hung around us quite a bit, so we decided to name them. How the names came to us...no idea!

This is Bill. He is hanging out on our porch trying to stay out of the heat.

The 3 amigos - L-R : Becky, Bill, Owen

Bill is trying to dig out a crab while Owen looks on. It was amusing to watch :)

This ceramic pot was found outside our door and was meant for us to use it to rinse the sand off our feet before entering our suite. We missed having something like this at the second place we went to because sand is a pain to get off in humid weather.

Good ol' Thai beer. A favorite of Jamie's, but too light for me the beer snob ;)

Thai food is my favorite food.....especially pad thai which I ate several times on our trip. One day for lunch I decided to try a popular dish called Papaya salad. It was delicious, BUT the spiciest thing I have ever eaten. My mouth was on fire for at least 1 hour afterwards.

The locals have a pet bird that flies around the resort and responds to commands like a dog would. He name is Songeo (spelling??) Here Jamie is feeding him some sticky rice.

Day 2 we rented some snorkel gear and went to a nearby beach called "Banana Beach". It gets its name from the fact that from an aerial view, the shape of the beach/sand looks like a banana. It was about a 10 minute walk from our bungalow on a hidden trail. We snorkeled there for about 2 hours and saw some of the most amazing fish. Well, over 100 different kinds! It was amazing to have them hang around you as if you were one of their own. After we headed back to our beach and did some more snorkeling there.

We purchased a waterproof camera bag in Japan and it proved to be extremely useful. It allowed us to take some pictures while swimming under water. It was hard to see exactly what we were taking pictures of because the plastic usually got sunscreen smears all over it. We're glad at least some of the under water ones turned out...and the clarity isn't too bad.

The view of our suite from the trail to Banana Beach

Hahahaha...snorkel-heads!

Can you spot the fish?

Jamie and I both had some feet issues going on this trip. He came into contact with some coral while snorkeling..OUCH!! In terms of sandals and flip flops...that was possibly the worst place to get cut.

I on the other hand was constantly being bit by insects. Not a biggie...but my feet didn't like it too much!

Day 3 we took the speedboat back to Phuket and made our way to see some elephants. Since coming to Asia there have been many things on my "to do" list and riding an elephant was one of them. Elephant treks are quite popular in Thailand and you have to be careful in deciding which company to go with as mistreating the animals for a buck is not uncommon. We went with a company that was government approved and were pretty happy with what we got.

From the pier we were picked up in this truck and taken up a steep rugged road through the jungle. At the top of the mountain we were greeted by 4 men on elephants. Our guide gave us a brief presentation about the park and how the animals are trained, their backgrounds, living conditions etc. After that we got on an elephant and proceeded through the jungle for a 1 hour trek.

It was a really neat experience and also amusing at the same time. Out of all the elephants, ours seemed to be the most rebellious as she kept stopping for a bite, an itch against a tree trunck and even to take in the view. It was pretty funny.

After our trek we had the opportunity to see our elephant up close and feed her some lunch. They love fruit and boy oh boy were they all hungry!

I couldn't turn down elephant kisses...c'mon now!

Mama and her babies

The light brown skin on an elephant is a sign of old age

After our amazing elephant experience we decided to check out one of Phuket's most famous beaches-- Patong Beach. We walked around for what seemed like forever in search of some scooter rentals, but didn't have much luck. We stopped in a 7-11 for some slurpees (ahhhhhhhh.....slurpies how we have missed you) and asked how long it took to walk to the beach. The workers didn't really know much english and tried their best to help us, but we were still as confused as when we started.

We decided to take a Tuk Tuk (Thailand's version of a taxi) to the beach instead because it was getting too hot to walk around not having a clue where we were going. Thank the lord we didn't decide to follow the signs and walk because it was a 40 minute ride up and down some steep mountains!

As soon as we were dropped off the first thing I said to Jamie was "this reminds me a lot of English Bay -- beach on one side and loads of shops across the street". No more then 30 seconds had passed by before we were being approached by people on the beach "Braids....Thai massage....boat etc." We crossed the street and got ready to do some shopping. We were once again swarmed with people trying to get us to come into their store "Lady--you want a skirt....what are you looking for? Sir, how about this t-shirt?" It was impossible to LOOK at anything up close without be approached!! At some points people we literally grabbing our arms and trying to pull us into their shops. All of this was happening non-stop the whole time we were there. It was insane!

The suit industry is HUGE in Thailand. You can get a custom made suit for about $50. Every 2nd store had a man sitting outside waiting to strike up a conversation and get you to come into his store. I lost count of how many times we were stopped and how many business cards we were given. Again.....insane. So if you are ever in the market for some suits...you now know where to go!

Even though Patong Beach was packed with people and super pushy sales-people, we did enjoy the shopping and bartering. You could tell we became pretty good at the "game" towards the end. I was excited to do more of it on Koh Phi Phi, but as we later discovered....it is WAY easier to haggle in Phuket then it is in Phi Phi. I didn't buy anything on the latter part of the trip because the sales-people wouldn't budge from their set price. For example...I got some board shorts in Phuket for 400 baht (about $12) FROM about 800 baht. On Phi Phi they wouldn't go any lower then 650 baht!! I thought it was pretty interesting!!

Beer delivery drivers taking a break

Travelling food kiosk

Mmmmmmm....mangos!!!

Tuk Tuk lane -- that is another thing--we were constantly approached on the street by Tuk Tuk driver's saying "Where are you going--"Where do you want to go?"

That evening we got back to Coral Island at about 5pm. It was extremely quiet as all the day-trippers had left for the day. Jamie and I did our usual routine of getting a drink and chilling out on the beach chairs. This night was really cool because for about 1 hour we were kept entertained by a thunder & lightning show. We have never seen anything like it. At around 7ish we walked about 10 steps to the outdoor restaurant to have some dinner. At this time Jamie set up the camera on the table hoping to get a good picture of the sky and as it turns out he pushed the button at exactly the right time!

About 20 minutes from the time we sat down a HUGE gust of wind blew over us and the restaurant staff was telling us to quickly take cover. They knew when the right time was for us to take shelter because once all 8 of us were sat in the covered restaurant it just started to pour. I MEAN DOWN POUR!! We waited for the rain to settle a bit before heading back to our bungalow. The pathway was completely flooded and we arrived at our place to find everything we had put out to dry scattered everywhere, sopping wet and covered in sand! Ha ha ha! We were super lucky that this was the only time on our whole trip that we experienced any rain. The storm itself was pretty cool!

Day 4 was spent relaxing, relaxing, relaxing! We were pretty bummed about leaving this peaceful little island, yet at the same time looking forward to experience something different. We were also fortunate enough to have seen the most beautiful sunset of our entire lives. We were hanging out on the beach watching the sun go down and all of a sudden the sky turned super bright and it looked as though it was 1 o'clock in the afternoon. From then it turned to pink and then bright red. It was absolutely gorgeous! I'm not too sure that these pictures do the real thing justice...but here's a look anyway.

The sun wasn't down yet at this point, but I had to throw in a picture of Hermie

The next morning we were up bright and early to catch the 7am boat back to Phuket. From there we would start our journey to the lovely island of Phi Phi Don.

Anyone considering going to Thailand and is looking for some quality rest & relaxation...Coral Island is the place to go. A co-worker of Jamie's recommended it to us and we were extremely glad we decided to check it out. Our time spent there was definitely spectacular and memorable. The food and service was impecable, the beach and landscape was breath-taking and the fact that we were among less then 10 people on the beach for most of the day was pretty priceless!