Southeast Asia: Thailand, Part 2 - Phuket

As mentioned in my previous post, I took a flight down to Phuket a couple days into my Thailand adventure. Also, as mentioned above, I was quite ill during my travels. I sat, feeling terrible, for a couple hours in the airport at Bangkok. I managed to not throw up for the short flight down to Phuket, but, unfortunately, didn’t hold it off long after landing. While waiting for the bus from the airport to Phuket Town, I drank 7-Up, ate crackers, and sat with my head between my legs. As a result, I was able to survive the bus ride to town, but once I got there I was feeling pretty ill again. I would have loved to take off with some fellow travelers, but I felt it was more pertinent to find a hotel where I could just crash. And that’s what I did. I had some missionary contacts via a friend of mine from Korea, so I tried looking for the hotels they recommended. However, it was very hot, and my stomach was feeling, well, not good, so I stayed at the first clean, reasonably-priced hotel I found! I cranked up the air con and fell asleep on the bed for many, many hours.

I woke up with midnight feeling very thirsty, so tried calling the room service number. They told me I had to go downstairs and find the restaurant. So, I did. I was able to buy some juice, which I drank happily and quickly, but that was it. Luckily I had some crackers in my backpack, so I ate some of those and drank some water before sleeping through the rest of the night.

The next day I felt a bit better, so I ventured out and looked around at my surroundings. I found the hotel that the missionary contacts had said would be the best for me to stay at, so I booked it for the week I would be there, went back to the other hotel to check out, then carried my backpack to the new hotel. Then I napped. For a long time.

The only thing I actually did on that first full day, other than change hotels, was find an internet café. Exciting, eh?

My second full day was spent doing more walking around the town. I found an internet café that I really liked; it had a great menu and nice atmosphere, so I visited it a lot during my time in Phuket. I also gathered some information on various day excursions.
Here are some photos from Phuket Town:


this is the On On Hotel, one of the settings in The Beach.

the market outside my hotel

the Internet Cafe I liked; they even showed the movie Lonesome Jim one day!

Now, I can’t remember the exact days I went on my various trips, but I do have photos and some memories from each of them!

The first trip I went on was a snorkeling trip around the Phi Phi Islands, which also included the beach from the movie The Beach (I don’t recommend the movie, but the book was fairly good!). We also stopped at a place called “Monkey Beach” where we saw many, many overweight monkeys. It was actually very sad to see; they eat and drink anything the tourists give them, or leave behind. Seems very unhealthy to me. The seas around Thailand are absolutely gorgeous and I enjoyed sitting on sandy white beaches and snorkeling in clean, cool waters!

Another tour I took was out to Phang Nga Bay, including James Bond Island, so named due to its appearance in The Man with the Golden Gun. Phang Nga Bay is also featured in the film Tomorrow Never Dies. Guess it’s a popular spot for James Bond. We also had a meal at a muslim fishing village. I once again enjoyed amazing scenery, particularly the limestone cliffs and caves. Before we hit the water, we made at a stop at a place known as “Monkey Cave” where I got to see monkeys up-close and feed them peanuts. So fun! There was also a Buddha in the cave, but I didn’t care to see that. On our way home we stopped at a cashew factory and a gems gallery. Both of those stops were obviously meant to cause us to spend money; I definitely bought some delicious gifts at the cashew factory, but avoided spending any at the gems gallery.

The third, and final excursion I took off the island was with Anda Adventures. I got to feed monkeys (again at Monkey Cave), ride an elephant (perhaps one of the most terrifying things I’ve ever done!), hike to a waterfall and swim in its (very cold) waters, and go white water rafting for 5km. Unfortunately I have no photos from the elephant ride or the water-rafting – just a couple from the monkeys and waterfall:

Besides the three trips, I also spent a day at Kata Beach, on the West coast of the island. I spent several hours laying and reading on the beach. I also saw a lot of monks. By the end of that day, I had a pretty bad sunburn. Good thing you can actually find aloe in Thailand (unlike here in Korea)!

While in Phuket I experienced a ride on a “motor bike taxi” (a frightening experience!), did some shopping, and saw a couple of movies (they stand in allegiance to their king before every movie). For the last movie I saw there, I paid a bit extra (about double the usual price) for the “fancy” movie theater. I got free juice before the movie, and then sat in a recliner for the actual movie. I was given a pillow and a blanket, and they brought me cola and popcorn. It was all included in the price of the movie ticket. Fantastic! The movie was awful, but I stayed because I was so comfortable!

I also went to church on Sunday with the missionaries I mentioned before-hand. A couple young women who are also missionaries there translated the service for me (I was impressed with how well they already knew the Thai language!), and I was able to enjoy lunch and conversation with them for a bit after the service.

I was a bit sad, but also ready, to leave Phuket and return to Korea (the long lay-over in Bangkok was not very fun, but I spent it reading, drinking coffee, and doing a bit more shopping – so it wasn’t too bad!). When I landed in Korea there was snow on the ground… sigh, vacation over!

Southeast Asia: Thailand, Part 1 - Bangkok

After my mission trip in the Philippines, I headed over to Thailand for a couple weeks of vacation. Almost every foreigner I know over here has either been to Thailand or is planning a trip to Thailand for their year here. I’m already planning to return and go to a few areas I didn’t visit on my first trip; it’s a wonderful country – fantastic food, amazing culture, friendly people, beautiful beaches… all for low, low prices.

I arrived in Bangkok late on a Friday night and took a taxi to my hotel, which was down a side alley off of the famous Khao San Road. The taxi wasn’t even allowed to drive onto the road, and had to drop me off at one of the ends. There were people everywhere, even though it was so late at night; the road definitely lived up to its name – backpackers, people selling all kinds of merchandise, bars, cheap hotels… there was basically a big street party all night long. I decided not to partake in the party, however, and instead made my way through the crowds to my hotel to get some sleep so I would have energy to explore the city the next day.

I only had one full day in Bangkok, and spent it exploring a couple of the most popular areas of the city, along with some random streets I found myself on (I decided to just walk all over instead of dealing with public transportation!). I made my way to the Khlong Saen Saeb and took a short ride on one of the many boats. I had planned to stay on longer, but it was super crowded and hot, so I began to feel a bit sick. I snapped a few photos as we traveled along, before hopping off and heading back into the smog and business of Bangkok.

View from the dock:

Views from the boat:

A lot of fresh fruit!


I spent most of my time was the impressive Grand Palace. I won’t even begin to remember all of the names of the places within the Grand Palace grounds, though one I do remember and will note is Wat Phra Kaew, or the Temple of the Emerald Buddha. This is the most sacred Buddhist temple in Thailand; that’s saying a lot as there are many, many temples everywhere you go (the country is 95% Buddhist). Interestingly, the Emerald Buddha is actually made of jade, not emerald.

I have a lot of photos from the Grand Palace and Wat Phra Kaew:

Wat Phra Kaew:

The Emerald Buddha:

I wandered around the streets of Bangkok until I was exhausted and hungry; then I found a hole-in-the-wall vegetarian café that had been recommended in my Lonely Planet guidebook. After eating some delicious food, I began my walk back to the Khao San Road (making a stop for some fresh pineapple…). Here are a few photos I took along the way; the last few are from Khao San Road:

On Sunday I took a cab to the airport and caught my flight down to Phuket. Sunday ended up being a very long day as I was quite sick all day (and into the next couple) – not sure if it was the vegetarian café, the pineapples off the street, or something else, but it sure wasn’t fun! More on that adventure, and the fun I had in Phuket once the sickness passed, in my next post!