Although I felt that we really didn’t get a chance to explore as much of Bangkok as I would have liked, I was happy to be headed to a place where I could put my toes in the sand. Phuket is not exactly the hidden island paradise of Thailand though. I originally wanted to go to Langkawi in Malaysia instead; but a combination of factors pushed me towards booking in Phuket.
The Bangkok Airways flight for this journey was a bit less spacious since it was on an A319. But the crew was friendly and they even served a light lunch of cold noodles. For an hour flight, I could take a bit of cramped legroom as long as the crew was nice and they fed me! The landing approach into Phuket is beautiful. I had my nose pressed to the window and surreptitiously taking photos of the blue-green waters punctuated with limestone outcroppings and small islands (surreptitiously because we were supposed to turn off all electronic devices, including phones). Landing at a remote gate, we all rammed into a bus to drive us the 100 feet to the terminal. We grabbed our suitcases and headed to find the rental car outlet.
Of course, we get outside in the car park to where the company has their sign only to discover that we have to call them to get someone to come onsite. I walked back into the terminal to find an information booth with a phone because I didn’t turn on my cell’s roaming feature before I left on this trip. After 15 minutes, I managed to get someone to call the car rental company for me and then navigated my way back to where I started. In the meantime, someone from the car rental company showed up; but they were helping a different family because my husband refused to assert himself and claim priority. So, we basically didn’t get into our car for nearly an hour. Only then to discover that the GPS I paid for was not in the car. So then we had to wait another 15 minutes for someone to come over from the office to deliver the GPS unit. And it turned out that the GPS unit hadn’t been updated since Clinton was in office so the address that I had for the hotel couldn’t be found. The rental car boys input some address in Thai and we finally headed out of the airport 90 minutes after we landed.
Driving in Thailand is an experience. First, they drive on the left, which for people from the U.S. is the opposite side of the road. And then the scooters and motorbikes means that you can’t really change lanes without quadruple checking for motorbikes flying up on either side. As the navigator, I was busy comparing my handwritten, meticulous instructions that I wrote down from Google back in Bangkok with the directions the GPS was giving me as well as trying to check the blind spot every 5 seconds. About halfway through the drive, something wasn’t sitting right in my mind. I decided to look at the entire route in the GPS…and realized that it had us going to the complete other side of the island than where our hotel was! I quickly called an audible on my husband and told him we needed to turn left at the next street. He wasn’t too happy about deviating from the GPS but I was insistent. At that point, I used the GPS to only show upcoming roads and relied on my handwritten instructions instead (turn left at the corner where there’s a store called Furniture Mall; look for the Shabu Shabu place on the left and then turn right; etc.) My husband was shocked when we pulled right into the hotel’s small parking lot 20 minutes later; but I was confident in my instructions and it goes to show you that being paranoid is a good thing because if we relied on that GPS, we would still be driving around the island.
The little hotel I booked is located on the quieter side of Phuket in Cape Panwa, far away from the bustling tourist beaches of Kata and Karon; and far removed from the madness of Patong. I was extremely happy with my choice. It was quiet, relaxing, and had more of a local flavor than a busy tourist hotspot. There are a few beachside restaurants within walking distance and about a 10-minute drive, there’s a bigger area of restaurants, shops, and a local’s streetside market. The beach in front of the hotel was small and pretty much deserted every time I went out for a walk. We frolicked around in the small, infinity-edge pool every day and were the only people in it every single time. I know it seems impossible to find seclusion in Phuket, but I somehow managed to book us into an area where we really did feel like we had the entire place to ourselves.
The first night, we didn’t arrive until after dark. After we got settled in our little flat, complete with half-sized fridge and a two-burner cooktop, we set out to find dinner and hopefully a small market to load up on snacks. A few minutes down the road, we decided to turn off at a beachside restaurant, but ended up inadvertently parking in the lot for a neighboring outdoor bar instead. The people sitting at the bar told us we could either move our car or just sit and have a drink there first to make up for parking in the wrong lot. We decided to pull up a bar stool and ordered two Singhas, served icy cold. We got to chatting with the tipsy guy on the neighboring bar stool, who happened to be from Michigan but has lived in Thailand or Indonesia for the last 15 years, fixing boats and developing properties. He seemed pretty happy with the detour from the expected “get a job at the auto plant, marry your high school sweetheart, have three kids, and drink in the same bar your dad did” lifestyle that his brothers have.
While having beers with our new friend, he recommended the food at the bar we were at over the restaurant I was originally thinking we were going to. We decided to look at the menu and after hearing how good the chicken satay was, I ordered that. Let me tell you, that ramshackle outdoor bar four feet from the water served the best satay I had ever had up until that point. Appearances can be deceiving. Stuffed beyond a comfortable point, we ended up making our way back to our hotel and falling deeply asleep.
I’d love to tell you about all of the beaches we explored, the boat rides to the outer islands, the snorkeling we did…but I can’t because we didn’t end up doing any of the stuff I thought we would do on Phuket. It was just so relaxing to sit on the balcony, gazing at the blue-green sea and watch the butterflies flit by. Every morning, I would get up and walk along the stretch of beach that fronted our hotel. It was so quiet and peaceful; and often, I was the only person in sight.
We did go check out the small town center that was a few minutes’ drive the next day. We walked up and down the seafront promenade, checking out the various small shops and restaurants. We ended up at an outdoor restaurant and bar for a tropical drink before going back to the hotel balcony to watch the sunset.
Sunset from our Phuket hotel balcony, November 2018
I’m not sure if it was the combination of the view of the sea, the breeze rustling through the palm fronds, or what; but it had been a long time since I had felt that relaxed. We walked to a resort down the street from our hotel for dinner. I decided to continue the theme of trying out chicken satay. While it was good, the night before was better.
The following day, we lazed around swimming in both the sea and the infinity-edged pool. We decided that we probably should go do something, so we went back to the small town center to watch the sunset and then find dinner. We walked up and down the tiny main street, checking out all of the options. We were just about to turn back when one of the diners at the last place saw us looking at the menu and told us, “The food here is really good.” Ok then, so we got a table and let me tell you, the food was more than really good. It was phenomenal (especially the chicken satay and peanut sauce, which was the best I had the entire trip and the best I will likely ever eat in my life unless I am fortunate enough to return to Thailand). At the end of our meal, we were telling other menu-browsers the food was really good to entice them to try the place.
Our final full day, we figured that we better do at least one touristy thing on our list. So we jumped into the car and made the trek to the other side of the bay to check out the Big Buddha. We could actually see the statue on the hilltop across the bay from our hotel room, but nothing compared to being up the actual mountain and looking at it ourselves. Even though it was built in 2004, it seemed to be still under construction when we were there. The stunning views from the terrace encompass practically the entire southern end of Phuket. Websites will tell you it’s peaceful up there. They lie. The day we were there, there were a ton of people wandering around, jostling you out of the way for their stupid selfies, not being respectful of the “No Smoking” signs or covering up (it is a religious site after all and as a non-religious person who is at least respectful of those who are, that behavior rankled me to no end). But there are some quiet spots where you can just stand for a few minutes to absorb the peace before the hordes descend again. (Funny, the quietest spot was where they explained some of the tenets of Buddhism. I guess the tourists don’t really care too much about actually learning what Buddhism means.)
We bought a small elephant statue from the charity stall and were just about to head down the steps back to the parking lot when I made a small detour to check out a different viewpoint. And suddenly, right in front of me was a monkey! I had never seen a monkey in the wild before. Then a few moments later, more monkeys came out of nowhere. My husband walked over and asked, “why the hell are you standing there staring at the ground?” And then he realized that there were monkeys everywhere.
Monkey at the Big Buddha, Phuket, November 2018
We had one last dinner down the street from where we were staying, arriving just as a massive thunderstorm blew into the area. We sat in the covered outdoor dining area watching the lightning reflecting off the water, feeling the wind on our bare legs, and listening to the rain pound on the thatched roof. It was heaven.
And then the next morning, we had to rudely reenter the real world. With a flight at 10a, we had to wake up no later than 6:30a to shower, finish packing, drive the hour and a half (in traffic) to the airport, drop off the car, and make the check-in deadline for our next flight. In a brief flash of genius, before we checked out I used the hotel’s handy phone to call the car rental company to let them know we would be dropping the car off in 60-90 minutes. The drive was frustratingly longer than I was hoping due to the immense amount of motorbike and car traffic taking the island’s children to school. We also had to stop and fill up the gas tank of the rental car. Because we live in the States, we have not ever had the experience of a full-service gas station. So my husband was thoroughly confused when a young woman (in a Shell branded uniform) walked up to him and asked him, “How much”. I giggled the entire time while he finally reasoned out that she was asking him how much gas he needed and was not going to let him pump it himself. Honestly, I think that was the most culture-shock-inducing episode of the entire trip for him.
We managed to get back to the airport without any detours and shockingly enough, there was someone from the car rental company onsite when we arrived to drop the car off (yay, my genius was validated). We made the trek over to the international terminal and checked in for our next flight. As we sat in the terminal, we could see the sea. Phuket can be a nutso-busy place, but we were lucky to experience the less-traveled side. And that made all the difference for us.