Phang Nga & Phuket, Thailand

It was a rather early Saturday morning start, as I boarded a Tiger airways flight from the Singapore Budget terminal bound for Phuket. When I arrived I was so glad to see the sun shining and a blue sky, after all the haze in Singapore caused by the fires in Indonesia. The entire weekend was like that, except for the regular evening torrential downpour which occurred at 5.55pm exactly and lasted about 25 minutes.


Having booked a room through latestays.com for the princely sum of GBP15, I was amazed with what I ended up with. A deluxe suite, at a resort situated at the end of Karon beach, 5 minutes walk from Kata beach. Both of which I spent some time on the first day. I savoured that first walk in the sea, the sand under my feet and just laying back and reading a book. Feels like ages since I had a chance to do that, as when one heads off to a European destination for a weekend, sunny beaches and R&R is not the norm.

After relaxing for a bit I headed off for an hours Elephant trek through some jungle like terrain in the middle of the island.

My Elephant's name was Mela and after about two miniutes on her, my guide jumped off as he had decided that she liked me (hmm..). He ambled along in front of us singing some lullaby type tune, while Mela and I strolled along after. I thought of Roz when I glanced into the bushes and saw a snake slither past, and for a few seconds I said a Thank you that you were not around. Calmness, Roz and snakes are not three words that go together!

After a relaxing hour spent with Mela, I headed back to the hotel and hit the beach to try and regain some colour and dose up on Vitamin D. Once I'd finished my current book (Amanda - thanks for suggesting I read "Tipping Point" - good stuff!), I took a dip in the sea and headed back to the hotel for a shower before my 3 hours scheduled in the spa. One body scrub, Thai massage and facial later, I was so relaxed, I virtually slid out the door. That night I joined up with some Australian girls I'd met at the Elephant camp for rum cocktail served in a coconut and a few Singah Beers.

The next morning, although an early start, found me feeling rather refreshed. The 48 hours I was there, actually felt like 4 days. After breakfast, I was picked up to head off on a days outing with 12 other people. We hopped on a speedboat and headed out to Koh Kai Noi for 2 hours of sitting on the beach, exploring and snorkling in the crystal clear waters. Rather theraputic to float in the water and watch fish swim by! Next, we headed North to Koh Pan-Yi and Phang Nga Bay (which includes the island from the James Bond film, "The Man with the Golden Gun"). After lunch at the Gypsy sea village, we jumped back in the boat to cruise amongst the islands. Absolutely breathtaking to see these majestic limestone mountains which just rise up out of the ocean and there are 181 of them in the area. All that was missing was Sean Connery...