Vacation In Phuket, Thailand

Sawadeekap! Again I say that greeting, as this post is from Thailand again, but from Phuket this time. I have been to Phuket three times, but if you've been reading some of our posts, you will remember that due to my carelessness, I accidentally deleted my digital file of photos before I could back them up totally.

I managed to find some saved in CDs, but not all of them. So what I have managed to find, I share. This holiday happened sometime in 2006, and either this one is my second or third time in Phuket. This definitely wasn't the first.

During the entire trip we stayed at the JW Marriott Phuket Resort and Spa. We flew in from Hong Kong by Cathay Pacific to Phuket International Airport.

If Chiang Mai is in the mountains, as you can read in this article, Phuket is among the world's finest beach destinations, with fine white sands, palm trees and delicious food as well. So join me again for another adventure by reading this post.

This is just one sunset I have captured from the many walks I had at the private beach of the hotel. One part of the beach had a lot of seashells, so I collected some as souvenirs and I have them on my dining table to this day. :-)

This is the pathway that leads to one of the resort's many pools as well. There was even a pool with a bar in the middle, which was very cool, so for someone to enjoy a drink, they'd have to swim all the way to the center of the pool to order. 

One of the many pools of the hotel, one that we enjoyed almost everyday if it suited our mood.

Look how tanned I was back then! I even had the opportunity to have Thai cooking lessons at the property, and I learned to make a delicious Thai beef salad. :-)

They gave me the apron as the souvenir and a 'cookbook' with the recipe that I made. :-) The chef who taught me complimented my handling of the knife. She said I looked like a pro! Ha ha! Music to my ears.

An ingenuous way of folding a towel decoratively. This was in the shape of an elephant, the nation's national animal.

We did several activities outside of the resort and at one time, we rented a boat and went snorkeling in Phiphi Island. Man, that was so beautiful. Back then, and even now, I don't have a waterproof camera, or even a professional camera for that matter.

Pardon the picture but I have to show you that we did snorkel, right? Ha ha! To be able to see the beauty of creation underwater is a memory I will forever treasure. I kept thinking, wow, God created all these things! It was so beautiful! The colors of the corals, so many fish swimming by.

On the way we passed by beautiful rock formations, just like the ones we saw in Halong Bay

I just kept clicking on my digital camera to take pictures, and get what I could get.

Some of the pictures I am sharing here are pictures of my pictures. I tried taking pictures of the printed ones I have at home, so the quality will not be as good as the ones I already have digitally saved beforehand.

This is one of them. But we can enjoy them just the same.

I love the color at the bottom- the hue of pink, and sometimes blue in some parts was nice.

The color of the water was nice as well. It was very clear, it was just a pity I did not have an underwater camera to capture the beauty of the creatures underneath the water.

We passed through the middle of these two formations. If I remember correctly, the boat ride took 2 hours or so until we anchored some place and started snorkeling.

And the most amazing thing was that while we were travelling, we spotted some dolphins swimming around! My camera did not do them justice though, plus they move so fast I can only take this from a distance. They look like sharks in the distance but they were really dolphins.

This one came very close, actually, both of them came close, but since my camera was not made to capture images in the water, it only looks like this, and the case of the camera was even included on the side! What a nice thing to see dolphins up close and right where they live, not in aquariums.

I really have no way of describing the beauty of the things I saw underwater. At one time I saw a very long eel, and when I told my companions that I saw a fish longer than both my hands outstretched, the locals hastily asked me to stay away from it as it was a moray eel and it could be aggressive.

But the colors, the colorful anemones and their movements, ah, I have those forever captured in  my mind. Definitely one experience to treasure for the rest of my life.

And since we were in Thailand, the elephants cannot be forgotten. We had another elephant trek and excursion to an elephant show.

This little girl was so brave for volunteering to be stepped on by the huge elephant. She was fearless and even all smiles even.

I enjoyed walking along this private beach. Near the resort are huts where you can have an outdoor massage, or have your hair braided, all for a fee of course. :-)

I was able to capture the stormy looking clouds one afternoon. In Thailand it could be sunny one time and then rain could pour unannounced. The weather is quite unpredictable at times.

This was another great adventure, especially the snorkeling part. That was surely a keeper. Wish I could have taken a picture of the shells that I picked, or that I could have picked some more, haha. I was just worried that my luggage would be too heavy.

Anyways, I certainly hope that I can go to Phuket again one of these days. It's  not far off. Hope you enjoy reading this post again, and if you want to read more travel articles like this, please go to this page.