This place was incredible! The beach has the whitest sand that was so soft, it was unbelievable, the ocean was like stepping into a warm bath, and the water was so crystal clear; it was absolutely amazing!
We arrived in Phuket the Friday of the Songkran long weekend. We quickly learned that at the Phuket airport you need to pre-book transport, and yes, you will get ripped off and there is absolutely nothing you can do about it. So, after 2.5 hours after we landed we pulled up to our resort, a little ways from the beach, but right on the rim of the rainforest. When we booked the hotel online, Ryan really liked the idea of being right in the forest, so . . . what's a little walk to the beach?
The people at the Pacific Club Resort were super-friendly and very helpful, although my first impressions of this place were a little weary . . .
As I mentioned, it took a while for us to reach the hotel, and when our van turned away from the beach I started to get a little concerned (Ryan and I were still not sure if our driver knew where he was going). We saw a sign that said turn right for our resort, but that took us down a very dark street that did not show any sign of people or hotels. Still, with another turn to the right we headed up a lantern lit hill and saw the lights of our hotel. The lady at the front counter had the bellboy take our bags and we headed up to our room. The adventure is not over. Not long after we turned a corner on the first floor we saw the BIGGEST SPIDER I HAVE EVER SEEN! Now for those of you who know me, (sorry Louise, I know you are squirming in your seat while you are reading this!) I am not a very big fan of spiders. I am ok if they are outside - that's where they live, and that's where they should stay - but as soon as they come into my space I sometimes freak out a bit. Luckily, I was so tired from our very long day of traveling (no direct flights from Jakarta to Phuket - Jakarta to KL to Bangkok to Phuket, Ryan did very well!) that I didn't really realize what the woman was pointing at and just managed to spot it out of the corner of my eye. However, that was long enough to notice that this THING had to have been bigger than my hand - and I have pretty big hands! Of course my brain finally kicked in and I looked at the lady saying "that was a spider?" It was so big, and I was so tired, I honestly don't know what I thought it was! So now, thoroughly freaked out (and fully alert to every shadow and movement on the walls) I made sure to check every nook and cranny of our room before I set anything down. Luckily, we did not have anything come into our room (we were on the second floor) the whole time we were there (and I didn't see anymore spiders the rest of the trip).
Now that that trauma is over, I will get to what you really want, pics of the beach!
Oops, sorry to make you wait more, but I have to finish the details of our hotel in the forest.
Our hotel was established by a gentlemen and his wife who already owned two highly successful restaurants on the island, so needless to say the food here was fantastic. Breakfast was included again, and they made the yummiest cinnimon french toast! This hotel had a gym too, and while it didn't compare to the Ritz, it was still better than what is in our building (and yes we did use it. I know, who works out on vacation?) It also featured an aromatic sauna, Ryan said it smelled like lilacs, but we didn't use it, and a jacuzzi area surrounded by gardens.
This is our pool, and it has to be my most favourite of all pools I have ever been in. It was absolutely gorgeous to be swimming on a roof top pool with bright blue skies above you, an ocean view to your right and a mountain of rainforest in front of you. Then, to top it all off, there are immaculate gardens surrounding the pool and the patio. It was truly a beautiful sight.
Okay, okay, the beach:
This is Karon Beach. It is one of the quieter beaches, but during the peak season it can get quite crowded with windsurfers and other water sports. Luckily for us we were there at the tail end of the high season and there was hardly anyone there. We heard rumour that if we headed over to Patong Beach (5 mins by taxi) there would be a lot more people, but we were there for a relaxing holiday (2nd, 3rd, maybe 4th honeymoon by now?) so we stayed by our beach.
Honestly, the Andaman Sea and Indian Ocean truly have perfect beaches. I am told that there are better beaches in Australia, but that comparison will have to wait a couple of months yet; so for now I will say the best beaches are here! Our first day we explored our beach, walking the length of it, stopping to check out the water and have fun in the giant waves (at least giant compared to anything back home).
There was not a rock or even a shell washed up on these beaches, it was just soft white sand - although if you strayed too far from the surf without your flipflops on it sure was hot! The only thing we saw disturbing the sand, besides footprints, were small sandcrabs, and they were more fun than anything! I have never seen crabs move so quickly, but if you blocked its path, these little guys would scurry across the sand quicker than you could blink! Don't worry, they were few and far between, so they were more entertainment than a nuisance.
For our second day we booked ourselves a snorkling adventure in and around Phi Phi Island. We were picked up at our hotel, and dropped off 45 mins away at the pier to board our speedboat with about 18 others. Wanting to make the most of our trip, we opted, with the brave few, to sit at the front of the boat. I almost lost my hat once, and after that, both Ryan and I held on tight. There were some big waves out there, and there were a few times that we were sure we were headed overboard!
Our boat took us to Phi Phi Island (which is actually 6 islands), Maya Beach (where they filmed the movie The Beach), snorkling at Pileh Lagoon, sightseeing at Viking Cave, Wang Long and Monkey Beach, lunch at a seaside restaurant, and then more snorkling at Khai Island. We returned at the pier around 4:30, exhausted and a little sunburned (we had to buy sunscreen after we lost our first one - it was brutal anyway, so we were better off buying the new one).
This is Phi Phi Island (islands). The last big hump on the right is our first stop, and just between there and the first little one is where I saw my first wild dolphins!
Here is a closer view; these are the tree-covered limestone rocks surrounding Maya Beach (or Maya Bay).
This is also where the movie The Beach was filmed. We got to swim here for about 40 minutes before we went on our way, and it was so nice to just float in the water admiring our gorgeous surroundings.
This beach also had the softest sand of all the beaches we went to. Picture the softest thing you can thing of, then multiply it by 50 and walk on it. Honestly, it was amazing; and if you don't believe me you can fly over here and I will take you there myself (I can't wait to go back!)
All along the beaches in Phuket and Kho Phi Phi (Kho means Island) are signs showing Tsunami evacuation areas.
I am not sure if they have always been there, or if they were erected after the Tsunami came through. Much of Phuket and probably a lot of Phi Phi were wiped out, although you couldn't really see any physical signs of it, everywhere seems to be recovering nicely. Our guide did point out to us an area on the way to lunch where the highest waves washed in. He told us over 3000 people had died, and bodies littered the bay after it was all over. It was really sobering to think that something so horrible could happen in such a paradise.
After Maya Beach we headed off for Loh Samah Bay. On the way to the we passed by some dolphins playing in the water.
Sorry its not a better photo, but this was a busy throughway and speedboats kept whizzing past and scaring the dolphins away. Luckily our tourguide had really good eyes and he would get the driver to stop the boat as soon as he saw them again. If you look at the top left you can see one.
Once we all got some snapshots of the dolphins it was time for snorkling in the Bay. The snorkling around Koh Phi Phi is supposed to be the best in Asia, and it definitely lived up to its name. There were so many fish and the colours were incredible! You could literally reach out and grab the fish, they would just swim right up to you. Unfortunately, much of the reef was dead, so the coral wasn't very colourful. But you could see signs of regrowth and the natural beauty returning to the reef. You will have to wait until we get home to see the underwater photos though. Ryan went to a great deal of effort to get some good shots of some fish!
The funny thing about our snorkling stop is that no one seemed to want to get in the water. As I mentioned, Ryan and I were at the front of the boat, so we had to wait for the other people before we could get in. But nobody moved! They all just sat down trying to get their fins and snorkles on. After a few minutes we got fed up and grabbed our gear and jumped in the sea. I think the crew was pleased becaue they couldn't understand why no one was going in! Once we were in the others followed, I guess no one wanted to be first.
Oh yeah, and we kept getting bitten (stung?) by these things we couldn't see! We weren't sure if they were tiny jellyfish or what, but we both got stung a number of times! It didn't really hurt, it just felt like a mosquito bite, but we never saw what was doing it.
Next we were off for a swim in Pileh Lagoon. The water around these Islands was so amazing we couldn't wait for each stop on our trip.
Here is an example of how crystal clear the water is! And we didn't even throw any food in the water, this is actually how many fish were swimming here!
Once we got back in the boat, we took a tour of some caves carved out of the limestone, this one here is Viking Cave, I wasn't really paying attention to the guide at this point in time, but I am sure it was used for smuggling or something back in the day.
Next up was a quick stop at Monkey Beach, named appropriately as it was CRAWLING with monkeys. Our guide didn't want us to get out on the beach because he said the monkeys here are prone to attacking tourists. Sure enough, another tour who was let off was having some problems. A man was teasing a monkey with some food and sure enough the monkey lunged at him. Serves him right, if you are going to tease wild animals you may just get bit!
Our next stop was a buffet lunch at a sea side restaurant. I always seem to be disappointed with the food we get on these tours, but I was pleasantly surprised with this one. Of course, how could you go wrong with a Thai food buffet?
This is the view from the restaurant. It was true Thai style, sitting on cushions on the floor. These tables didn't have the cut-out underneath though, so we had to sit proper Thai-style!
Here's me headed back to the boat with a full belly.
Another 40 mins on the speedboat and we arrived at our last stop for the day, Khai Nai Island. This is a tiny Island in the Indian Ocean that takes a whopping 5 mins to walk the circumfrance. We were given almost 2 hours to explore the Island, there were a number of vendors, and beach chairs set up if you wanted some shade. Ryan and I booked a set of chairs near our tourguide who said he would watch our stuff so we could get in the water without worry. (This was a huge tourist spot, so there were a ton of people around!)
The snorkling here was really neat, albeit a wee bit scary. I still have a healthy fear of the ocean, not enough that it prevents me from getting in and enjoying it, but enough so that when I am told there are many shark sightings here I keep my eyes wide open! Ryan was really excited to see some sharks. We swam with Nurse sharks in the Dominican, and while they couldn't bite us they were really big and quite intimidating, so really I was expecting to turn a corner and see some mammoth shark swimming up to me, but sadly (for Ryan) we did not see any. We did see just about everything else though. It was like swimming through a fish tank! The water was really shallow for at least a kilometer out, and the reef was growing all over the place, in some places almost to the top of the water. At some points we were swimming in no more than 3 feet of water and the coral must have come up at least 2 feet if not more. There were times that I was really sucking it in, trying to make my body as thin as possible to make it over the coral! I got nervous a few times being so close to the coral because there were so many Sea Urchins in the water and I really didn't feel like getting stung that day! I never knew they were so pretty though. I always thought sea urchins were just ugly (scary) black pointy things, but these shined blues and purples in the sun. The numbers and variety of fish we saw was just amazing and being that close to so many different types of coral was really neat. Sorry, no pictures, not even with the underwater camera. Ryan wanted to save our last three pics for a shark, but since we never saw one our last three pics got used up back on Karon Beach playing in the giant waves!
Back at our hotel on Karon Beach, Ryan and I were exhausted from our day in the sand and surf so we opted to take it easy on our last day instead of booking another excursion. Plus, there had been a big storm over night so it was really cloudy all day. It did make for some great waves though, the surf was at least as high as us!
Our last day we ate one last delicious breakfast and took the hotel car to the airport (yes we did pay WAY too much) and sadly said goodbye to Phuket.
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