After the flight from Abu Dhabi (during which we both watched Creed and had a little homesickness for Philly), we arrived to Phuket, Thailand in the early evening. Since it was already dark we were not able to get a boat to the island that night, so we stayed at a hotel near the airport and planned to catch the ferry the next morning to Koh Yao Yai, an island in the Andaman Sea off the coast of Phuket and our first Thai destination.

We ventured out from our hotel where we were staying at next to the airport and first made a stop at 7-Eleven for some water and other essentials. We would soon find that the 7-Elevens would be a very important place to get water, toiletries, and other essentials we needed along the way. Thailand is very heavy on the 7-Elevens. After stocking up, we had our first of many delicious Thai dinners – having both a curry and noodle dish which were tasty and the perfect amount of spicy. Rain started coming down while we were eating but we waited it out and eventually made it back to our hotel for a night of rest.

Early the next morning we were picked up by our transit at the airport to the pier which was about 20 minutes drive to the airport. In order to get to our hotel on Koh Yao Yai island we would have to drive to the pier, then take a ferry, and then a taxi to the hotel. We arrived at the pier and checked in with a man sitting at a folding table for our speed boat ferry. We had the option of a speedboat ferry or a long tail boat to get to the island. The long tail boats are the more typical Thai boat, but these take nearly twice as long to get there, which is why we decided to opt for the speed boat. They are called long tail because they have a judge motor attached to a very long rudder sticking out that is used to steer the boar by a man manually controlling it in the back. By comparison our speedboat had two motors and was steered by the driver in the front. As cool as it would have been to take the long tail boat, we were eager to get our Thai holiday started. We tossed our luggage aboard and climbed in, and enjoyed the beautiful 30 minute ride across the water, taking in the views of the many islands we passed and those in the distance.

We arrived to the pier of Koh Yao Yai and found a taxi to take us to the hotel which was about a 15 minute drive away. We would learn that Taxi here means a converted pickup truck that had two benches in the back and a roof added over it. Upon arrival we were in luck that our room was already ready even though it was around 10:30 am. We were staying in a bungalow where we had our own deck with sunbeds and a couch, and the indoor portion where we would sleep. We also had an outdoor shower in the bathroom.

Since the sun was shining and it was a beautiful day, we quickly changed into swimsuits and found seats by the beautiful infinity pool overlooking the sea. We relaxed and took a few swims in the pool to cool down throughout the day. We also took a walk out on the beach and checked out the sea. Similar to Zanzibar, the tide here goes in and out a long distance over a twelve hour period, and during the day we had to walk out far to reach the sea. As we ventured out on one of our walks at low tide, we watched as many sand crabs scurried in front of us and we waded into the warm shallow waters. Soon after, we watched the sky change colors as the sun set behind us on the other side of the island.

That evening the hotel was hosting a Thai street market event with traditional Thai dancing. On one of the lawns not far from the sea, they had set up little stands to look like food stalls and were serving different Thai street foods which you could take bites of to taste. The food in Thailand continued to live up to its delicious standard. We had a fried mussel omelette, delicious skewers of beef and chicken, rice dumplings, Thai sausage, steamed bites of fish and prawns, and more, all followed by fresh juicy fruit and banana grilled and cooked in leaves for desert. Everything was wonderful and it was an enjoyable evening of food and entertainment under the nicely decorated trees and bamboo.

The following day was some more of the same – pool, beach, relaxation, and delicious Thai food. We also had a little friend wandering around while we sat on our porch – a rather large monitor lizard. These can supposedly grow to ten feet long and also can climb trees. This guy was not quite that big but massive compared to any lizards we had seen before. We were shocked as the two attempting to climb the tree outside our bungalow had to each be about 3 feet long. (We did a little research and these huge lizards are apparently closely related to the Komodo dragon).

That night we had a delicious seafood dinner at the beach restaurant, with the tables on sand. We had a little laugh when we ordered the lime chili grilled snapper and the waiter asked if we liked spicy. We said yes, and he said to us, oh of course you are from America. Apparently a lot of the Europeans’ food gets sent back over the spice levels being too much. We knew this well from the Thai restaurant we ate in a few times in Germany where they always made sure we were ok with the spice. The chili lime grilled snapper was a great option and we devoured it to the sounds of the waves which were now crashing along the beach as the tide had come in. We were sad that we would have to leave the next day.

On our final day we had to take the ferry late afternoon so we still had the morning to spend enjoying the sea views. We also noticed the hotel had started decorating for Christmas – hard to imagine the holiday season when it was 90 degrees out! Unfortunately, there was cloud cover on the last day, but we still spent some time by the pool and the beach before heading toward the town for lunch before our ferry. Full with delicious Thai food we took a taxi to the ferry, said goodbye to the Thai islands, and headed for the airport where we would catch a flight to Chiang Mai in Northern Thailand later that evening.