The day's are truly starting to blur together. We wake up, we go from dawn to dusk and the we try and blog about it before we go to sleep (which is tougher than it sounds). This morning was not too early of a start as Nawin wanted to pick us up at 8:30 AM. We have been showering the night before because the day brings much sea water and dampness from the humidity. we woke up a 7:00 AM, packed our back pack with towels, our water shoes and any other items that we may need for the day, and then headed off to the buffet breakfast, had the standard fair and then we made our way to the lobby.
Nawin was there waiting for us and Laureen made a quick pitstop before our driver came around the corner to pick us up. I have to admit, it's a little fun to walk by all the people waiting at the lobby for a taxi or tuk tuk and then just jump into our private vehicle and be on our way. Our first stop was going to be a jewelry factory. But not just any jewelry place, THE jewelry store. It claims to be the largest jewelry store in the world, and after walking in to it, I can see why they can make that claim.
This all started when we had a conversation with Dave and Susan from the Vietnam cruise portion of our trip. Dave bought Susan a nice ruby ring and mentioned to us how reasonable the pricing was. I've kinda wanted to get my hands on a diamond cut ruby and recreate the ring that my father had, but lost somewhere. Nawin said that he knew a good place to go, so this morning, before making our way back to the harbour, we stopped at Gems Gallery in Phuket. The place was amazing and it was huge. I was not allowed to take photos in there but it was massive.
We went over to the ruby section and started looking. I couldn't find any diamond cut ruby's. Pam, our sales person, indicated that they don't cut rubies like a diamond in their factory, only round ruby's. And what was worse, is that the ruby's are a 'pink' colour, not a deep red like I was expecting. Garnet's are a deep red. Oh well. Laureen found herself a very nice ruby ring, that is now part of our vacation history, so the jewelry stop was not a total write off.
Back in the vehicle to make our way to the port. We don't want to keep the captain waiting for too long. It was a short drive to the pier, and once we got out of the vehicle, I made my way to the washroom and had to pay the $10 Bhat to use it. The place was kept pretty clean!
We boarded the craft and we were with the same crew as two days ago and the same Thai Longtail Boat. What a great treat this will be. We boarded the craft and started on our way. Our first island stop of the day would be Yao Noi island to make our way into the lagoon. It was about an hour boat trip to get there and once we had arrived, our captain took us into the lagoon where it's only wide enough for two boats to pass each other in the entrance.
It's so beautiful, it almost doesn't look real.
We got to go for a swim in the lagoon. What an amazing experience this was.
There is just so much beauty here that I didn't know where to look next. Thankfully digital pictures don't take up any room in the suitcase.
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| Almost Looks Like Dragon Teeth |
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| A View Back to the Lagoon Entrance |
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I Mean...Gorgeous
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Our next stop was Hong island. Each island we go to, there is more tropical beauty to take in. The water, beaches, greenery contrasting with the sky and the clouds is hard to describe. We went for a snorkel/swim here in the bay for about half of an hour. Laureen was having trouble with her mask leaking, so we switched. That made things better for her. I was able to get the one to leak slower.
Once the swimming was complete, Nawin told us about a viewing tower that one can climb up to and get a 360 degree view. It was 400 steps up. I thought about the 2000 step hike we did in Vietnam, and wasn't sure. I only had flip flops with me and I was wet and sandy. He seemed eager to have us do it, so I agreed. Laureen chose to sit on the beach, take in the scenery and watch our stuff.
The steps were different in that they were all metal grates instead of the uneven landscape I experienced in Vietnam. There were 4 levels and you could quit at any time and just go back down. It was a bit of a workout and some of the steps were pretty steep, more than 45 degrees for sure. But when we made it to the top, the view was...well...see for yourself.
I took a picture down towards the beach where Laureen was sitting. You can't see her, as she's under the shade of the trees.
We climbed back down the stairs, which was a much easier endeavour than the trip up and met back up with Laureen. It was time for lunch, so we made our way on the floating dock to our longtail boat. I snapped a quick photo of the traditional boats all in a row.
It was a short journey to our lunch location just around the corner from where we were, to a secluded beach. It was here that Nawin pulled out the picnic lunch and set it up on the beach.
I could get used to this. I would say this might be the best Coca-Cola I've ever had.
We took this opportunity to get a photo with the crew of our boat and our guide Nawin.
Our next stop was Pak Ka Island where we did a little more snorkelling.
We swam around for quite a while, and I noticed that Laureen was no longer in the water. I was given the 10 minute time warning, and swam around a little more before heading to the boat. It was here that I was told that Laureen had a little encounter with a Portuguese man’o war jellyfish.
Ouch! It stung, but Nawin knew what to do by quickly grabbing some white vinegar that they had on board for such occasions. They were quite concerned because you can have some rather serious symptoms, but Laureen had none of those - just the stinging on her arms. They continued to put vinegar on them and the stinging slowly subsided.
From there we started making our way back to the pier, but there was one unexpected stop along the way. The tide had gone down and now exposed a sand bar at Laem Had Beach. Nawin said that from above, it looks like a dragon. This was stunning.
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| Found a Muscle in a Shell. Put it Back in the Ocean. |
I didn't want to leave. But - they made me.
We made our way back to the pier where we said goodby to the boat crew and were reunited with our driver. The drive back to the hotel was extra long because it today they were celebrating Thai New Year. The term they use is Songkran. This, essentially, is the worlds largest water fight. Everybody is in the streets throwing water on each other and shooting each other with water guns. I've never seen so many water guns in one location. It brought traffic to a standstill. Apparently the whole country is like this.
We finally made it back to the hotel and found out the next morning that it took until 9:00 PM for our guide and driver to get home. We wanted to go out to the market to pick up a few things, and were OK with getting wet because we were in our cozi's anyway and were wet most of the day. Although, it meant that we had to walk the whole thing and the plan was to take a tuk-tuk to the restaurant we had eaten at a few nights ago, and then walk from there. However, the giant water fight would make that plan challenging to complete. Do we walk all the way and get soaked countless times (might be fun to take part in the celebrations), or do we stay at the hotel and have dinner here? We decided to just stay at the hotel and forego the items that we were thinking about. I guess that Rolex Submariner will have to wait until next time.
I did manage to catch a nice sunset picture with the sky changing colours as the light turned into day as well as a picture of the celebrations on the hotel property.
I have to say that this was probably my favourite day in Thailand. The private tour, the more secluded beaches and snorkelling and just the time away from all of the crowds. This place is beautiful if you can stay away from the party life that is Phuket.
Our guide/driver are picking us up tomorrow at 7:15 AM so we spent the rest of the evening getting packed and ready to move on to our last country. I tried to write the blog, but just couldn't stay awake long enough to make it all the way through. We fill the days with so many things, then go for a nice dinner and it's hard to keep the words flowing. It eventually will get done.
Curt and Laureen in Phuket, Thailand
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