Luxuries in Phuket

We arrived in Phuket on a gloomy Sunday Morning (May 3rd). Kor had offered to treat us to one night in a nice hotel and we were so excited. It was called Kata Thani and they aimed to please. On our way to the hotel our taxi driver stopped at a famous pearl factory where
we drooled over huge pearls and looked at different types of oysters.

At our hotel we were happy to find a large room with functioning AC
and a shower with actual water pressure. While checking in we were
clearly the only young people in backpacks with dirt and salt water
all over our bodies. The receptionist kindly handed all three of us
cold, moist towels to wipe our hands and face. I was so dirty that I
wiped my arms and legs as well. I handed the towel back to her almost
completely brown. Oops. The first four hours we were at the hotel we
scrubbed ourselves raw from Maya Bay. We then laid down on the bed and
didn’t get up for a few hours. We were all exhausted from
‘sleeping’ on the beach and didn’t feel pressured to play in the ocean
with clouds and rain overhead.

After our afternoon nap we decided to explore the hotel grounds. Kata
Thani is spread across two beaches and has six infinity pools (which
we would soon explore). We started walking along the beach and made it
to a large rocky area where the rocks were flat enough we thought we
could climb across them. We followed the path of three Thai fishermen
in front of us and made it to some pretty impressive photo op
landings. After walking along the rocks for thirty minutes or so we
had completely lost track of our agile fishermen and decided we should
try to head toward the road. There were many fancy gates lining the
rock with gorgeous exclusive hotels and bungalows behind them. The
first gate we tried to enter was a bust as we were greeted by an
angry, growling dog. We ran back down to the rocks and continued on.
We next found a gate and walkway that looked inviting and accessible.
We are walking up the nice wooden staircase when we happen upon a pool
and a backyard. There is a man lying out at the pool with a fancy gold
Rolex flashing in our face. He doesn’t see us or hear us due to the
waves. There are no dogs in sight but the place doesn’t exactly look
like a hotel. “This is his house!” I say to Linds and Kor. Kor is
convinced it’s just a nice hotel and Lindsay is on the fence. We
continue to walk through the back patio when I peer into the house to
see a personal kitchen, living room, recreation room and dining room.
Definitely a house. I hear someone clinking plates in the kitchen but
the sun bathing man hasn’t moved an inch. We sprint up the stairs to
find two cars and two nice road bikes in the driveway. At this point
all three of us know we are at someone’s beach house (and that someone
is passed out by the pool). We sprint up the driveway, through the
gate and immediately burst into laughter. We made it. No dogs, no
angry owners and no taser guns.

We made it out to the road and walked another five minutes before
getting into town. The town of Kata Beach is a cute little surf town
with huge waves and inviting restaurants. We explored many options
(sampled some Roti per usual) and got coffee and free internet at a
little Italian coffee shop just off the beach. Lindsay stayed and
blogged for a while while Kor and I got our first taste of a Thai foot
massage. It was so nice and Kor talked to the ladies the whole time
about the ghost he saw at Maya bay.

We set out to explore dinner options and happened upon a quaint
outdoor Italian restaurant. I had heard great reviews of it in my
Lonely Planet guide and we were all ready for a night off of Thai
food. We got a delicious pizza, sauteed spinach and bruschetta. I know it's lame to have Italian food in Thailand but it was our one "break" night from rice and fried veggies.

That night we got back to the hotel and set out on our expedition of jumping into every single pool. We started at the ocean front pool and dove in. It was freezing. Next we jumped into the ocean (Lind's and i put our feet in and kor dove head first). We then hit the remaining 5 pools and ended at the biggest one which was next to the bar and live music. How convenient. We ordered some disgusting fruity cocktails (the pictures totally led us on) and sipped them down while doing somersaults in the pool. We headed back to the room and took another round of showers (because our shower was so fab) and slept like babies in our luxury hotel.

The next day Kor and I awoke at 6 am (Kor was rustling around so much I couldn't sleep) to an absolute downpour. It looked more like a tropical storm than anything I have ever seen. We had plans to go sea canoeing that day and were certain we would have to cancel. We went to the much anticipated buffet breakfast a bit later and stayed for literally two hours trying EVERYTHING they had to offer. We stuffed ourselves so as to avoid spending money on food the rest of the day.

The weather slowly started to clear and we decided to stick with sea canoeing that day. We headed to Phang Nga Bay that afternoon just as the clouds returned. Our guide (read: guy that speaks no English and simply drives the longboat for a ridiculous price) took us through some pretty amazing mangroves and swamp like lands to discover hidden caves, ancient cave drawings and even a GIANT iguana that looked like a crocidile. We stopped at 'James Bond Island' (where the Golden Finger was filmed) and disembarked the boat to wander around for a bit. The island was full of a Korean tourist group who were experimenting with very interesting "james bond" poses for photos. When I upload photos you will know what I mean.

We finished off the boat tour by exploring a few more caves and watching the rain start to pour. For the first time in a while, I was freezing. When we finished our sea canoeing we caught a bus back to Phuket and watched ridiculous karaoke videos while riding a bright pink bus with only Thai people aboard.

We spent our second (and last) night in Phuket in a hotel called "Gold Diggers." No joke. In the south of Thailand the hotel employees think it is appropriate to leave at 10pm and return the next morning for work. They have no concept of 24 hour service as a part of a hotel stay. As our hotel employees are heading home, Kor decides to go explore the beach and Lindsay and I retreat to our room to shower. After showering Kor has still not reappeared and I walk out of our room to find a German man (in a speedo at 11 pm) sitting on the patio smoking and trying to light a frog on fire. His wife is swimming in the pool. They both stare at me and I head back into the room quietly. Normally I would maybe inform the staff that some guy is lighting frogs on fire but since no one works at the gold digger at night i kept quiet and watched CNN. Kor returned soon enough with his daily ramen noodles and we packed our bags, slept for a few hours and got back up the next morning to catch our flight up north.

We were lucky that the rains didn't arrive until our final day (and that we had the luxury of a nice hotel to watch it from).