Phuket, Thailand and the Phi Phi Islands

December 5th–12th, 2010

I understand this post is a little out of order, but better a little late than never, right? With the prep work and then the holidays that sent me home to be with my Dad and family in Portland Oregon and Miles left here in India for Christmas this trip we took was left on the back burner of priorities. But FINALLY—Here it is!

My parents offered and then gifted us their Marriott Vacation Club points to use wherever we wanted in the world for our Christmas gift last year. Knowing that we would be in India and needing to leave the country after six months for our visa requirements we decided to go to Thailand. There was in fact a Marriott there on the island of Phuket and we booked the trip and anxiously awaited the departure dates to arrive.

The exotic beaches of Thailand are supposed to be the most beautiful in the world. I have to say, so far, I agree. We were met at the resort with floral lays made of orchids and beautiful leaves and knew that this place was going to be very special. We were taught how to say a few words because we would be greated (literally) by every Thai person we passed with a Hello and they wanted us to be sure to be able to greet them back.... We heard this hundreds of times a day. The Thai people are so friendly and hospitable and just so lovely! So here was our word lessons

Hello and Goodbye = (sa-wat dee kah) for a female

(sa-wat dee krahp) for a male

Thank you very much = (kob kun mak kaa) for female
(kob kun mak klap) for male

I will admit on here i truly did not know what i was saying (some form of Sa-Wat dee kah) but all jumbled together in the wrong order until the day we left. Seriously, I was a mess. I should have learned this before we left. But I know it now, so look out Thai people I come in contact with from now on. I can SAY it back! And I Will!!! :)

The Marriott Mai Kau Beach Resort there was beautiful with a great pool.

View from our 2 bedroom condo.


POOL!

One of our excursions was to the Phi Phi Islands. We got on a boat with lots of other friendly tourists and spent an entire day island hopping, snorkeling, swimming, eating lots of food, and sitting on the beach. We went through Andaman Leisure Phuket. It was very family friendly and and we highly recommend them for their excursions.
It was a rather cloudy day but the sun came through occasionally and showed us just how beautiful the scenery was around us. Sun or not the islands we visited were truly magical. We even went to one called Monkey Island that literally has hundreds of families of monkeys. These crazy monkeys get visitors often enough to know that they will be fed so they met our boat as soon as we touched the shore. We handed out lots of bananas and the branches went nuts with incoming swinging playful monkeys all wanting a banana (or two- or three) just for themselves. Such a cool deal. They were bonkers!

We got to go snorkeling! The salty water was clear and amazing. Our boat took us to several spots throughout the day where we could jump into open sea that was filled with fish. Thousands of fish would surround us. Wild tropical fish I had only seen in the tanks in the dentist's office. You know which ones I mean? We saw fluorescent fish, stripy fish (I do not know the names of them) and swam with (literally) thousands of fish that seemed pleased and excited to have us visit them as they were not shy swimming along side us as if we were apart of their school or facing us directly in front of our masks eye to eye. Incredible! We could throw pineapple and bread into the water and be swarmed by them. That was amazing and somewhat painful as these little fish would be all around us (again thousands) and would mistake us for the bread in the water. They would take little nibbles of us and it pinched pretty good at times. So funny though! Snorkeling is one of my new favorite things. The breathing took a little bit to get used to and the fear of jumping into "unknown" water, but honestly, once I was in the wonders that lay beneath the sea I could have stayed there for hours! I never wanted to get out to move to the next island.

Look at the color of this water! I had never seen such teal and perfectly clear water before. We jumped out of the back of the boat into this water which was a private little lagoon. It was so quiet and peaceful. I wish we could have stayed there all day. I swear we would have seen mermaids. I had no idea such places existed.




The colors of the umbrellas made me think I was not in a "real" place. It was so pretty and colorful, and the perfect place to sit with perfect and fine white sand and a coconut drink complete with another colored umbrella and watch the water. Paradise for sure!