Monday, March 31, 2014

'Phu-Ket' It's a Girls Weekend

February
 
As I’m looking back at my day planner, I am noticing that I only have two trips down for the month of February. This does not seem normal to me because we literally are traveling somewhere every month, but, February was a short month, and just like all of the others, I’m sure I was on a tight budget.

On the 1st of February, Annika, Maggie and I traveled to Phuket. It’s not a location that we were passionate about traveling too and it wasn’t on my “travel list”, but Annika had friends who had an apartment there, so we decided to try it out. *I am so glad we did because it was one of the most memorable trips that I will have from Thailand, and it is where I saw the most beautiful sunsets one can even imagine.

We left early Saturday morning, taking a bus all the way from Surat to Phuket Town. It was a long journey and in one of Thailand’s infamous taxi buses as well. I almost lost my sh**t a few times and had to hold back from spewing all over everyone. We finally arrived to Phuket island, but were met with about an hour long wait in traffic to Phuket Town. (Honestly, I loved that the driver couldn’t go above 20 km/hr.) The apartment was in a cute little area right on the outskirts of the little old Phuket Town. It was close to dinner time when we arrived, so we decided to head straight to Patong Beach for dinner. Why Patong Beach you ask? It’s the worst beach in Thailand you've heard. Well, we were told the same, but of course, had to see it for ourselves. As it turns out, it was defiantly a complete waste of time to visit. If you’re looking for someplace where every square inch of the beach is covered by lounge chairs and umbrellas, the sea is filled with wave runners, boats, parasailers, etc… , the streets are covered with people and neon signs, then Patong is the place for you. The only good thing that came out of the venture there was our Subway dinner. Mmmmmmmm how I missed a good Subway sandwich. After sunset, we decided to head back to the apartment and call it an early night. Our focus was on the adventures we were about to have the next day.






We started by walking into the little old Phuket Town to meet a friend to rent motorbikes for the day. On the walk there we stopped to ogle over the Portuguese inspired architecture, and we found the most beautiful house, well mansion, hidden away from the street. It was amazing. As one of my favorite hobbies to house hunt, I loved our morning adventure.









Next, we found the quaintest little coffee and breakfast restaurant owned by the nicest Chinese family. We could have spent hours just sitting in the little shop. The breakfast and coffee were delicious as well.






After renting our motorbikes, we headed to the closest waterfall we could find on the map. It ended up not being much of a “waterfall” mostly because it had not rained in awhile, but it was still very beautiful and it was nice to get in a morning hike. After finding the waterfall with ease, our confidences of riding the motorbikes in an unknown town were growing stronger. Annika and Maggie manned the driving, while I recklessly, with the map blowing in different directions, kept us heading the right way. Thanks Annika for putting up with my terrible passenger riding skills.






We didn’t want to go anywhere near Patong Beach again, but as it was, we had to drive through the overpopulated area to find the nicer, more secluded beaches. I absolutely loved the drive, but I’m sure the girls were pretty drained from concentrating and the many turns and steep hills. Laem Sing Beach became our new favorite spot for laying out, swimming and watching the most vibrant and colorful sunsets. I literally snapped a picture every minute because that's how fast the colors were changing.













After sunset, we headed over to Angsana Laguna Phuket (http://www.angsana.com/en/phuket/  Check it out!!) where Annika's friend from university was staying for the Chinese New Year. It was amazing, a little community all to itself. I only wish we could have stayed longer and took advantage of the 1st class amenities. Maybe on another vacation...after I win the lottery! :)

XoXo

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