Phuket

Bangkok is amazing, but it's not what comes to mind for most people when when they think honeymoon. On the surface, there are street vendors selling meat on a stick, bootleggers of all kinds, and amputated beggers. Pushed right up against them is falling-apart storefronts, mega malls, and modernist hotels. On top of that, a state-of-the-art sky train. This mix of old and new, east and west, and rich and poor is on the roads, too: scooters, tuk tuks, buses, taxis, sedans, and a Ferrari or two all battle for lane placement, but not with middle fingers and cussing but blessings at each other. Oh yeah, it's hot and humid as hell--at least in June when we were there.

In contrast, Phuket is a straight-up resort island with beaches, scuba diving, and more malls. Like a ton of Asian, Euro, and hippie tourists, we broke out to take advantage of the half-price hotels and tropical setting during the low season. It was pretty sweet.


This is the first thing we saw at the Phuket airport: Wendy tour! Actually, we didn't hit many beaches, go on shopping safaris, see shows, or visit the orchid farm or zoo, although the gibbon rehab center was tempting. We just wanted to chill, and we mostly hung out at our little villa.


Phuket Pavilions was on a mountainside overlooking the ocean. Just about every evening and morning, it was raining like crazy and the winds were super gusty. Actually, that was kind of cool. We brought books and DVDs, but Wendy was addicted to the E! Channel since we don't have cable at home.


The pool was like something from a rap video with water that appears to vanish over the edge of the world. It wasn't heated, but the cool water felt good since it was so humid.


Where we stayed didn't really have a restaurant. They served food at the lobby, in the outdoor bar, and at your particular pavilion. We ate in a lot, and it was quite good. I miss the fruit plates, which came with every meal and were amazing.


One day, we ordered the all-day spa. I think it was about 9900 baht (about US$300) and it included four huge meals (plus two bonus smoothies) and a two-hour spa treatment for each of us--all delivered to the room, except for dinner which we had at the bar, which was on top of the hill and had a 360-degree view. It was a good deal. This picture shows one of the masseuse's setting up the tables for Wendy and me. After we had tamarind body scrubs, she had the Swiss-Thai massage and I had the Thai massage. The woman I had was pretty good, but I could tell she wasn't a strong at the dude I had at the blind massage place in Bangkok.


Most of the food around the beach area was overpriced and touristy. If you've been to the Banyan Tree, etc., you know what I mean. We walked to an Indian food place that was pretty good. I think it was called Little India. There was a two-person vegetarian fixed meal that set us up for lunch and dinner. It was really good, but not super cheap. I think it was about 600 baht-- a little less than 20 bucks, which is what you'd pay in the U.S.


It rained on the first three days and the conditions were junky for snorkeling, surfing, or whatnot. But on the last night, it cleared up and it was beautiful. The water was actually warmer than the air. I dove in, caught a nice wave bodysurfing back, and was done.


This is what it looked like eating from the lobby. This was taken on the morning we left. It figures that the weather was perfect. Not shown is the chocolate croissants and coffee, which were outstanding. Can you tell who I rearranged the dish to look like? It's Eric Gagne!

Phuket town itself, that's another post...