Friday, March 13, 2020

So worth 14 days of self-quarantine


We arrived at our hotel in Phuket some time after midnight and were picked up for our full day tour of some of the islands at 6:40. We were tired! But, there was a bit of a drive to the dock so we got a little more sleep.

We chose to do the Exploring Phang Nga Bay by speedboat  tour with Phuket Sail Tours. It was a bit more expensive than some tours, but you pay for a smaller group (there were only 8 of us) and great service. We really enjoyed this tour operator and will use them again next time we visit. 

Our first stop was a walking tour through a cave that opened into a little lagoon with mangrove trees. So much wildlife! Crabs walking in the cave walls, shrimp in the water, a toucan, and mudskippers. A great little stop we could do before high tide came in.

Next, we stopped to do a little canoeing around a collection of islands. This was amazing!! So peaceful and so many amazing bird/nature sounds. Sometimes we had to lie flat in the canoe just to squeeze through an opening. Our guide on this part of the tour was amazing. Such an incredible experience.

We stopped near James Bond Island to take some photos. Apparently this island has been in multiple movies including a James Bond film. We didn’t go ashore as our tour company says it’s become too overpopulated with tourists, but that was fine with us. 

Next up was a trip to a floating village. This particular village is famous for the soccer field they built over the water. This little short film is great! https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jU4oA3kkAWU  There is a lovely restaurant there and we had lunch  and explored their village a bit. 

Then we stopped at a beach that is part of a natural park for some swimming and chill time. It was a beautiful place to cool off and get some time in the sand.

Then we had plans to go snorkeling, but the water wasn’t clear enough, so we skipped that. We did go to an area where we could jump off the boat into the water and that was fun.

Then, we stopped at another island to have some relax time. We could CLIMB/hike to the top of this hill using ropes and this path to get a 360 view. Even though many of us had flip flops on (including Michael) we all made the trip to the top (and truthfully the way down was way worse!) and it was so worth it! Beautiful views!!

A really lovely day on the water. 

We got home, took showers, and headed up to the rooftop bar of our hotel for two-for-one happy hour drinks. We got some mango and passion fruit margaritas and enjoyed an amazing sunset and some great love music. I could have stayed there all night. It was like my dream vacation spot. This is what I’ll be dreaming about while I’m doing a 14 day self-quarantine post trip. 

While we were enjoying the views, we were trying to decide on a dinner plan. Phuket has lots of great food, so it was a hard decision. But, both of us were leaning towards Acqua which had a 7-course tasting menu for about $70. We had a big fancy meal coming up the next day, so we weren’t sure if we wanted to do that twice in a row, but the menu looked amazing so we went for it. And we’re so glad we did!!! The food was incredible! The chef (an Iron Chef Thailand winner) was there and even came over to visit with us for a bit. It was exactly what we needed after a long day. 

A truly great day...and possibly my favorite day of the whole trip. 

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