Thailand - The Land of White Elephant

Day 1 – Flying into Phuket

I was anxiously looking forward to my term1 break. It was late September and we had planned for an exciting trip to Thailand. At 6AM IST, Sep 25th 2022, we boarded the Indigo flight from Delhi (India) to Phuket (Thailand). We landed by noon local time in Phuket, to a warm 25oC. The immigration process was quick and hassle free. The staff were friendly and all you need is 2 passport sized photos (there is a booth nearby even if you do forget), 2000TB per person for visa on arrival cost and a Covid test certificate for a non vaccinated kid. 

Our trip was being coordinated by MakeMyTrip and we were received by the driver promptly. We started on a 2 hour drive from Phuket airport to Krabi. I was wonderstruck at the clean streets and extremely well mannered citizens. I was fascinated by the wonderful balance of the urban comforts  and preservation of nature. 

We reached our stay for the first 2 nights, Ao Nang Beach Resort, which lies facing the Nopparathara beach. The resort had nice exteriors, 2 well maintained pools with water slides for kids to have an enjoyable time. We were starving and wanted to have a good Indian meal. We took a stroll along the beach side to find a small Punjabi restaurant, just a few yards from our hotel. They served delicious chole bhature and vegetarian pulao with cucumber raita. We were tired and hungry from our travels and we gobbled all the tasty food. 

As soon as we were about to finish our meal, it started raining heavily. The rains here are so unpredictable that carrying an umbrella every time you go out is always helpful. The rain made the sea violent and even more alluring. In about 15- 20 min, the rain stopped and we were able to get back to our resort. We had a warm bath and dozed off in our comfy beds. It was Sunday night and the resort had music playing late into the night for the crowd enjoying the pool party. We were too tired to join the crowd. We heard the rain pouring down again as we slipped into a slumber. 

Day 2 – Island hopping by speed boat

We woke up fresh and energetic at 6:30 AM and were raring to go on the island tour. We were to join the rest of the tour group by 8:15 AM at the hotel lobby. We went to ‘Inn Asia’, the breakfast serving place at our hotel. It was a nice set up on the 1st floor, with a beach view on one side and garden view on the other. There was a huge spread of continental and Asian cuisine, there were a few Indian dishes too. I had my tummy full of pancakes with marble syrup, gulped it down with some pineapple juice. 

The tour bus received us by 8:15AM and took us to the Wang Sai speed boat center. I must say the tour buses are all clean and well maintained. The speed boat center was kept well too and served complimentary breakfast, for which there were no takers though. Everyone came in after having their breakfast done at their respective hotels. 

We were greeted by cheerful and friendly Seesa, who was our tour guide for the day. The sea was very calm, and we set to the islands on the speed boat. We had a life jacket on, and our first stop was the Railay Bay. We walked through the narrow path among the trees and bushes, through the Phranang cave to the beach. It was a short walk of about 10 min to the beach. We were awestruck by the turquoise waters and white sand beaches lined with limestone cliffs. We had fun their walking through the shallow waters and watching the rock-climbing enthusiasts. WE got back into the speed boat and our next stop was chicken island. It had no shore to step on it but it was a truly amazing sight with pristine blue waters and an island shaped as a chicken’s head. We had a few pictures clicked from the boat with the island as the background. We next went to tap island, where we admired the beautiful white sand beaches. It was a picturesque location and obviously many pictures were clicked. We also collected many sea shells which were fascinating, but we were told that the seashells cannot be taken out of the country. It disturbs the balance of the ecosystem and a few years ago apparently tons of shells were returned to the beach to restore the balance. 

We boarded the speed boat and stopped at Poda island. This was our last stop, we saw that Poda island was much more sophisticated than the other islands, with restrooms and stalls, and benches to sit on. We had lunch served there by our speed boat team. For vegetarians we had nothing but sticky rice, boiled cabbage and tofu, beans. There was coke and watermelon slices to go along. If you wanted you could buy potato wafers and corn from the nearby stall.

We came back to the speed boat center and got dropped off at our resort by around 1PM. We ordered some jeera rice, paneer sabzi and roti at the hotel, which was very yummy. We relaxed for a while after which we went to spend some time in the pool. I had fun at the water slides. We came back, had a warm bath. 

We took a walk along the beach side on the Krabi streets. There were a lot of shops to pick up souvenirs and we did pick up a few refrigerator magnets to give to our friends. We were directed to Govindaas which is a pure veg restaurant run by a few ISKCON  members. We had a lovely vegetarian dinner there and walked back to our hotel. The streets seemed safe. There was even a police station dedicated to Tourists! The cleanliness of the streets was impeccable, there were no trash cans too, you had to carry your trash home. There were few electric auto rickshaws, Tuk-Tuks,  around for short trips. 

Day 3 – Ferry transfer from Krabi to Phuket

Today was an exciting day as we were going back from Krabi to Phuket. The tour bus took us to catch the ferry at the Nopparathara beach, after which we had our sumptuous meal at the Inn Asia restaurant at the hotel.

We boarded the ferry after the long security check, we had to carry our luggage along as we were being transferred to Phuket. This was rather the inconvenient part of the trip. The ferry started after a long delay at 11AM. Even when it started, we had to just sit inside the cabin with seat belts on as if in a car or airplane. The views were good but watching them from the cabin was dull. We could go out on the deck for a few minutes to catch a glimpse of the views.

After a two hour trip, we stopped at the Phi-phi islands and had to carry our luggage along. Phi Phi islands were very crowded as many ferries stopped there for lunch, carrying the luggage through the narrow passages of the ferry and the streets on phi phi island was annoying. As soon as we stepped on the beach, it started pouring down. We took shelter in a restaurant and ordered some fries and a milkshake. The rain stopped in a few minutes but made the entire area damp. We took a walk on the beach, wrote on the sand, took a few clicks and made our way back to the restaurant. We sipped some tender coconut and went back to take the Ferry to Phuket. We were thinking it would be another gloomy trip on the Ferry.

But this time it turned out to be an electrifying one. We were seated on the deck and waves splashed on us as the ferry jetted out in the fierce Andaman sea. It was 2 hours of pure joy as we sat there on the deck enjoying the water splashing on us now and then.

We reached Phuket and the tour bus was there to pick us up and drop us to a new destination, Ramada, South Patong. We passed through narrow streets of the old side of Phuket city, though the narrow streets were impeccably clean. We entered the newer side of the city and passed through some of the attractions we would visit the next day.

I had to take the Covid test as per the travel regulations and visited the nearby clinic, which was a few yards away. After that we ordered some Indian food to the room at the hotel. I loved the samosas, the dal and jeera rice were appetizing.

Day 4 – Tiger Kingdom and other local attractions

After a good breakfast at Ramada, we set off at 10AM to adore the fierce felines at the Tiger Kingdom. It was not permitted to get close to the tiger for under 18 kids. I could go and meet the Cheetahs though and feed the Tigers through the cage. 

Our first encounter with the felines was to feed the huge Bengal Tiger called Sarkar through a cage. Even seeing the Tiger through the cage gave us goosebumps. He was huge and was pacing up and down the cage. We were given 5 pieces of chicken on a huge spike to feed the Tiger. We could see Sarkar’s massive jaws and sharp teeth as he took the chicken we fed him. 

Then we went to a Cheetah named Gregor, we could pet him and take a few adorable pictures with him. I was the bravest of my family members to sit close and pet a wild animal which was neither drugged nor claws removed but only tamed to be friendly with the visitors.

It was one of the most wonderful experiences of the trip. We asked our cab driver to take us to an elephant sanctuary at ---. We rode the elephant and fed it 12 bananas, which it took from our hand through its trunk when we were seated on its back. The naughty elephant asked us for more bananas, it even ate leaves and flowers on the way and was constantly peeing and pooping all along. There was a newborn elephant baby and its mother whom we visited next. The baby was so adorable that we could not take our eyes off it. I even fed it a little grass even while mom was warning me not to go too close to it.

We then went to the central mall to visit the AR trick eye museum. We were confused with the location of the trick eye museum as it was located within the Aquaria premises. Finally, we went into the museum and I showcased my acting talent and mom had a lot of fun shooting the videos. 

We had lunch at the central mall and asked the cab driver to take us to big buddha and local markets. The driver was insisting on us visiting the precious gem store which we were not very keen about. However, it was a lovely shopping experience, the staff was very friendly and helpful. I learnt about all the different gemstones. Next stop was the Big Buddha statue, we went up the small hill on the top of which was the statue. We enjoyed the view, had the popular coconut ice cream and started on our way back to the hotel. The cab driver charged us a  2000 THB for the whole day’s trip.

Day 5: Flying out of Phuket

It was time to say goodbye to this enchanting country. It is a very tourist friendly country, though we struggled a little bit with communication. The locals do not speak fluent English, causing some inconvenience in communication. However, their warmth and friendly approach to the tourists more than compensated for it. We reached the airport by 10 AM, did a few duty-free shopping. I bought a white elephant as a souvenir. We flew out of Phuket by 1PM to reach Delhi by around 5PM local time.