After one short week of quarantine freedom, our spring break arrived, and with it, never-ending opportunities for how we would spend our time. Our original plan was to just stay in Bangkok and explore. We were excited to see more of our new city and aimlessly explore. But, a few days before our break, a new wave of Covid-19 hit the city, and with it, new safety measures were put in place. Everything in the city had to close by 9 pm, and restaurants and bars would be unable to serve any alcohol. Although Nolan and I aren't two people who need alcohol to have a good time, it was Spring Break after all, and this tiny change in measures was all the incentive we needed to book a trip elsewhere. So, we decided to book last minute flights to Phuket, Thailand.
For those of you who do not know, Phuket is a well-renowned island paradise in Southern Thailand. Known for their crystal blue beaches, it is one of the most heavily trafficked tourist
destinations in the world. We couldn't be more excited to see what all the hype was about.
But, when as we exited the airport after our hour and a half long flight, hype was definitely not the current atmosphere. We arrived after the sun had set, so the beautiful beaches weren't at all visible. The only thing that we could see from the window of our cab driver Leo's taxi was a lot of closed down tourist attractions. There were plenty of signs for resorts, bars, and restaurants, but almost all of them were closed. It was about an hour drive down to Kata beach where we were staying, the third of three large tourist beaches. And without the view of the ocean, all we could see was shuttered stores and hotels.
By the time we got to our hotel, it was 8 pm and we were starving. We asked the reception staff for a recommendation on where to eat, and she gave us directions to the Red Snapper, a Japanese Italian restaurant. As we walked over, we realized that the only reason she gave us this recommendation was because it was quite literally the only restaurant that was open. So we sat down and perused the Japanese- Italian delicacies, and ended up getting margaritas, garlic bread, sushi, and ramen. It was honestly delicious and we totally recommend for you out there to find your own Japanese Italian Restaurant to try. That night we went to bed thinking that it was entirely possibly that we would be eating at the Red Snapper for every meal, not knowing if we would find another restaurant that was open.
Day One: The Elephants
The next morning we woke up eager for the first day of our island vacation. Before leaving Bangkok, we made reservations to visit the Elephant Jungle Sanctuary, a five hour excursion that
we could not be more excited for. But, our ride would not be picking us up until 12:30, giving us just enough time to head down to the beach for a morning exploration. We made the short walk from our hotel to the beach, and just as it came into view, we started giggling like children. The beach was everything that we had heard, with only a few other tourists scattered along the half mile stretch. We ran down to the soft sand, discarded our clothes (we came prepared in our swim suits), and ran into the water. It was crystal blue and almost too warm to cool us down from the tropical heat. We looked around at our surroundings, completely in awe of the place we had found ourselves. We swam around absolutely giddy, before deciding to make our way down the beach to see what we could find. At the opposite end, we found a small street food market that we ended up visiting every single day. We grabbed a Thai tea, Iced Cocoa, Chicken Fried Rice, and Seafood Pad Thai, and after being bombarded by small birds on the beach, decided to head back to the hotel to eat and get ready for our afternoon.
Promptly at 12:30, a van came to pick us up and drive us to the Sanctuary. About 30 minutes later, we arrived and met our guide for the day, a witty British man named Michael. We headed out on our tour with just two others, and almost immediately got out first glances at the elephants. Michael wanted to start our day by showing us the only baby elephant in the whole Sanctuary. At
just a year and a half, this young elephant was rambunctious and playful, but we couldn't get too close because of her very protective Mom. As we headed off up a small hill, Michael started to tell us more about the Sanctuary.
Phuket has long been a tourist destination for people to come and "ride the elephants." More recently, people have become aware of how detrimental this can be for them. Usually those elephants were kept in small cages and had to be poked and prodded to do exactly what the tourists and owners wanted them to do. Elephants had also been used for generations in the logging industry. They are so strong that they could carry out large quantities of trees, quickly and efficiently. Places like the Elephants Jungle Sanctuary are trying to change these industries. Elephants, mainly from these two industries, are rescued and brought here to live a happy life.
At the Elephant Jungle Sanctuary, the elephants are allowed to do whatever they want. Each one
has a Mahout, or care giver, who walks around the ground with them, making sure they are okay. So, as we walked up to a small opening, Michael explained that we would be feeding the elephants some fruit, and that they knew that this is where they could get it. Fruit is like candy to the elephants, so the elephants that we got to see that day were the ones who were hungry for some candy. Right as we pulled the watermelon and pineapple into the open, three elephants came stomping in from all directions, eager to get some. At first, we were taken aback by their size, speed, and proximity. Michael and the Mahouts were so laid back, but this was the first time that we had gotten this close to an elephant, let alone three. As we picked up the fruit, their trunks were inches away from our hands, ready to take it, and put it into their mouths. Michael called them professional eaters, so we took our cues from them. At times we were barely able to grab more fruit faster than they were eating it. It was unbelievable. The Mahouts also had us put watermelons directly into their mouths so that we could see the insane size of their tongues. After eating for a little while, we were told that we could start to touch their trunks and sides. The Mahouts encouraged us to give them big hugs, and we started getting pictures with the huge but lovable creatures.
After eating every morsel of fruit that we had, it was time for the elephants to head to the mud bath. Before arriving at the Sanctuary, we were told to bring clothes that could get dirty, and an extra change of clothes for after, and we were so glad that we were given this warning. We walked barefoot down into a huge mud pit and started picking up handfuls of mud to rub on the elephants sides. The mud was good for fending off mosquitoes and protecting them from the sun, so clearly, it was only appropriate for the Mahouts to slab some mud on our backs as well. The elephants, hot from the tropical humidity, would also slurp up muddy water with their trunks, and spray it over their backs, dousing us in a rain of muddy water as well. We spent about thirty muddy minutes with two of the elephants, Lam Yai and Pimpa. We were slapped by their huge ears, sprayed with mud, and caught between large deposits of their pee and poop, and the whole experience was purely awesome and unique.
After the mud party, we walked with the elephants over to a large shower, and scrubbed all of the mud off. Nolan spent time filling their trunks with water that they would then spray into their mouths, as Jessica took a scrub brush to their sides. Soon, it was time to say goodbye to our new friends, and head to the human sized showers to clean off.
The whole experience was absolutely unreal. Throughout it, we were able to talk to Michael about what life has been like since last March. He told us that although the island has had 100 day spans of zero cases (recently ended by the new wave) life has been very hard in Phuket. The island's main revenue source is tourism, and that has been basically wiped out. This sanctuary originally had three camps on the island, but over the past year, two of them have closed and all of the elephants have moved to the one we were at. We learned about the insane amounts of food elephants eat each day, and how other camps have resorted to bringing their elephants out into the streets to bring in donations. So if you by some chance find yourself in Phuket, please visit the Elephant Jungle Sanctuary. Not only is worth it for the experience of hugging elephants (!!!) but the cost goes almost entirely towards supporting these elephants.
We ended our day watching the sunset with buy one get one free cocktails at a beach side
restaurant (thankfully, a few restaurants right on the beach were still open). Before leaving for the trip, we had discussed the option of moving to Phuket. Since we are online teachers, we could live anywhere we want to, and we had heard from some coworkers that Phuket might be that place for them. After this first day, we were not convinced that Phuket would really be livable, unless we wanted to move in with the elephants of course. The beaches were gorgeous, but it seemed like 90% of the restaurants, bars, and stores were closed. For Day Two, we decided to rent a motorbike, and see what other areas of the island had to offer.
Day Two: The Motorbike
On Day Two, we woke up excited to explore what Phuket had in store for us. On Day One, we had asked our hotel reception where the best place to rent a motorbike was. She asked us what time we wanted to start and for how long, and after telling her that we would like it at 11 am, and to have it for one day, she said that it would cost 300 baht ($10), and it would be here at 11 am. That day, at 11 am, we headed down and a small Thai woman showed us the bike and two helmets, asked for the 300 baht and one of our passports, shoved the passport in her purse, and left us with the key. Before driving away, she let us know that we would have to get gas, and she left. So, after figuring out how to start it, Nolan drove around the parking lot a few times before Jessica timidly got on the back and we headed to the gas station. We were a little shakey at first, and constantly reminded ourselves that we need to be on the left side of the road. After filling up the tank with gas (for $3), we headed out on our adventure.
We knew that if we headed north, all we would find would be the two other tourist beaches which
were basically completely closed down. We had heard that if we headed around the Southern tip of the island, we would find a more residential area. We headed South, first stopping at a beautiful lookout point, and then continuing down to one of the first residential areas: a Russian expat community at Ra Wai Beach. As we drove along, we noticed that there was lot more open business on this end of the island. With the consistency of residential life, mostly all businesses were open. We stopped for a Thai Tea and Peanut Butter Banana Smoothie, and watched as the folks at the table next to us each ordered a coffee and a shot of vodka. We had noticed some signage in Russian, and Michael had let us know that Russians were actually the biggest expat community in Phuket. Apparently, Phuket is highly advertised in Russia. After admiring the local life, we hopped back on the motor bike and heading around the tip to Chalong. Here, we stopped at a few condos just to see what the opportunities for living here could be.
After the condo tours, we headed a little bit north to Phuket Town. This is the biggest city on the island. With 79,000 people, it was roughly the size of Santa Barbara, but a lot more condensed. Here, we found open coffee shops, restaurants, bars, and shopping opportunities. At this point, we were nearing lunch time, and as we rode around looking for a place to park, a tropical storm rolled in. We found a local roti restaurant just as a downpour of rain came in. We ordered some cheese roti, chicken curry, egg banana roti, and chocolate roti for dessert. The best way we can describe roti is if a tortilla was the consistency of a croissant but it was deep fried in oil. Basically, it is delicious and a wonderful vehicle for just about any other food. Roti is actually from India and is an incredibly popular street food treat there, but we have seen many roti stands here in Thailand as well.
After seeing the residential neighborhoods and Phuket town, it became clear that living on the island was totally an option for our future. However, the view from our window in Bangkok was still on our minds, with endless metro stops still yet to be explored. The great thing about living in Thailand, is that it is a completely reasonable to rent an apartment only a day or two in advance. So, we decided to wait until the end of the school year to make any real decision on where we are going to be for the start of the next school year.
As the rain passed, we hopped back on the motorbike and headed towards Monkey Hill. After a short hike past many stray dogs, Nolan spotted two monkeys just up ahead, and after walking just
ten more feet, all of a sudden we were absolutely surrounded. Monkeys were jumping down from trees, playing with each other, walking on the road around us, and interacting with the stray dogs. There were baby monkeys with their moms and siblings. There were old bigger monkeys. It was another unbelievable experience. At one point, Nolan had taken off his shoes because of an unfortunate blister, and after briefly dropping them on the ground, a monkey quickly scurried over, clearly trying to take them, before I picked them. We tried to keep our distance because there were many signs all along the hike warning us that they can be dangerous. But even so, they were absolutely all around us. We hiked back down the hill, excited by our encounter with the monkeys, and hopped on the bike to ride back to Kata beach.
At this point, we were about a 35 minute drive from our hotel, and Nolan had picked up some mad skills. We weaved around cars at stop lights, and hit a blazing 60 kilometers per hour (about 37 miles per hour) on the curvy road back to the beach. We spent another night eating dinner at a restaurant on the beach, and this time, had a motorbike drive back to the hotel.
Day Three: The Beach
After two busy days of elephant mud baths and motorbike rides, we decided that no trip to Phuket would be complete without a laid back pool and beach day. We started the day reading by the pool, while taking periodic dips into the the water to cool off. After a few hours of lazying around,
along with returning the keys to the motorbike and getting my passport back, we made the walk to the street food market to grab some lunch, and of course, more Thai Tea and Iced Cocoa. As we were ordering, it was clear that another tropical storm was rolling in, so we headed back to our hotel room to eat and relax as the storm made its way through.
After the thunder stopped, we walked back over to the beach for our long awaited ocean time. We spent awhile just floating in the water and taking in the ridiculous views. Then, we swam over to where a few locals were renting out some paddle boards. For another $10, we spent an hour a little deeper into the water paddling around, Nolan taking turns falling while standing and falling while sitting. After a while, he realized that his most balanced stance was on his knees, as he paddled us back to the start.
Day Three was just as serene as we intended, as we ended our trip with a final meal on the beach while watching the sunset. We walked back to our hotel, so grateful to have had the opportunity to experience the island. Obviously, we wish that tourism was open here because the local economy is in desperate need, but it was incredible to experience one of the most visited
beaches in the world with only a few others. It was definitely a trip for the books.
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