Best places in Thailand

The birds are singing playfully,
Waking up the rising sun.
You are sleeping so peacefully, 
May I kiss your eyes one by one. 

It's a wonderful feeling to wake up on an exotic sunny island and have a relaxing vacation ahead of you. After a week- tour of Thailand, we headed to the beachy Thai treasure island of Phuket. We got there by Thai flight Smile from Chang Mai, looking out the window at the numerous islands in the Andaman Sea, part of the Indian Ocean.

At 10:40 we landed on Phuket Island. It was the third largest airport in the country, after the two international airports in Bangkok. However, we completely ignored it rushing outside where a pre-booked car was waiting for us to take us directly to the Best Hotel Western Premier Bangtao Beach Resort & Spa. Arriving there my first thought was about the cafe near the golden triangle that was called Heaven on Earth, that wooden sign should have hung here. The hotel was located directly on the white sands of the quiet and crystal clear Bangtao Bay, among shady palm trees and pools decorated with dolphins. Our spacious room had a partial sea view and we were greeted by the hotel with a large plate full of fruits and arranged with orchids. It was very beautiful, fresh and tasty.

We left our luggage, put our bathing suits on and indulged into a relaxing sea vacation. The white coral sand was very fine. The sea was shallow, and the water, just like us, was bathing in the sun, and has become very warm. After our dense adventure program in Thailand the last week, we needed to relax, even for a few hours, that completely restored us. We had an incredibly delicious shrimp meal at one of the hotel's restaurants while watching the sunset over the sea. After the beautiful sunset, it was time for new attractions and a visit to one of the funniest shows in FantaSea amusement park. The park was truly fantastic and beyond all imagination.

A pink bus picked us up from the hotel and brought us to the entrance of the park, which was lit up in glittering neon lights. Even before we entered, the street souvenir stalls lured us with equally glamorous offers. The park had carousels, stages with exotic dancers, numerous shops and restaurants. Particularly impressive was the building that looked like Angkor Wat, where we later watched the show. We had reserved golden tickets and accordingly sat in the first row in the middle, from where the huge elephants passed by – part of the artists in this acrobatic theater and music show. Unfortunately, photography was prohibited inside the theater, and we had to leave all our cameras and phones at the entrance. But at the end of the show I received some pictures together with my photo while hugging a baby tiger. There was a queue of people wanting to hug the baby tiger and feed it with milk, and by the time it was my turn, it had already eaten and began to yawn, not wanting to eat anymore. The problem was quickly resolved and they brought me a new baby tiger who hungrily sucked the teat with milk. I was very happy to hug both babies and our stay in the park really impressed us. In addition to shopping & shows in the park, we also visited many other attractions, such as the cage of white tigers, which we reached through tunnels from halls and exhibitions. In the end, we were one of the last tourists heading back to the hotel. There were plenty of busses, and after we showed them our tickets, they took us back to the hotel for free. Thailand kept impressing us more and more.

The next day was first of March – the day of Baba Marta in Bulgaria. Here, in Thailand, people don’t  wear martenitsy, but the Thai flag has their colors (white and red), plus a blue line that represents the monarchy, but I associated with the blue sea, the white with the white sands, and the red with my skin that quickly burnt under the Thai bright sun.

​Our month began with a tour of the beautiful Phi Phi Island and Bamboo Island. At 07:45 a van picked us up from the hotel and took us to the Royal Marina in Phuket where we received fins and masks.

​The name of the island of Pi Pi don’t come from the charming heroine of Astrid Lindgren, but from some fire tree that was very common here and bore that name. The island was part of the province of Krabi (in translation, sword), where the island of Pi Pi Don was the largest island, and Pi Pi Li – the most photographed, especially since Leonardo DiCaprio filmed his famous movie “The Beach” here. We visited one more island of this island group, named Koh Pai or Bamboo Island.

​This earthly paradise had also known hell when in December 2004 a huge tsunami hit it. Today, the paradise has been restored, and the black memory covered with fine white sand. The water was crystal clear, and the rocks surrounding the bay gave a real sense of tranquility. We stayed on the island of Pi Pi Li only 30 minutes. It was expected to be low tide soon, and if we didn’t hurry up we would miss the rest of the program, which was no less beautiful.

With the fast and loud speedboat we headed to another hidden bay where everyone who wants can jump off the boat and swim. It was the first time I jumped from such a height, and after my favorite supposedly water resistant watch broke, I don’t know if I would do it again. However, swimming through the crystal clear waters with colorful fish was amazing experience.

Our tourist program continued at some sheer cliffs, where the water had formed beautiful caves. Some of these caves were called Viking, as rare birds nested here, whose nests were offered as a delicacy. I, on the other hand, imagined pirate treasures hidden in such caves. Most likely, however, the treasures were hidden on the neighboring island, where there was a 24-hours guard…by monkeys. On the white sand next to the water, the monkeys greeted the arriving tourists, looking carefully at what everyone was carrying in their hands. On the boat, before we went down to this island, they gave us small bananas, which we could “sell” for some interesting photo with a monkey. I expected the island monkeys to be smarter than those in Northern Thailand, but they just seemed lazier. Some of them, most likely the overfed ones, lay down and waited for the tourists to come to them, and then slowly ate their bananas. The tourists outnumbered the monkeys and none of them was left hungry.

From the rocking of the boat and the pleasant emotions, we also got hungry and with pleasure went to the next island – with white fine sand and many green tall palm trees, under which a restaurant was nestled with rich buffet dishes. Many of the boats stopped here and it was full of tourists who overfilled their plates as the food was free or more precisely it was included in the price of the excursion. While the rest of the visitors “beat” the price of the excursion by overeating, we preferred to “beat” it with lots of photos. We ate quickly and headed to the shore where a wooden swing was hang from the branches of a tree. From here there was a wonderful view of the beach and the sea, and the gentle rocking of the swing made you empathize with the gentle waves and warm sea breeze.

​We got back on the boat, which carelessly passed several small islands and took us on a beach where we could snorkel and explore the rich underwater world.

Unnoticeably, the time passed by and the boat took us back to the island of Phuket. Returning to the hotel, we headed to the restaurant, which the previous day had impressed us with its delicious food, and today it simply amazed us. We ordered a stuffed pineapple with rice, seafood and nuts, and they brought us two culinary masterpieces . One pineapple was shaped like a rooster and the other like a hen. The contents were incredibly delicious. The chef had cut a pineapple in half and carved it, one half being the body of a hen, the pineapple cob forming the neck and head, and onions the bird’s feathers. The rooster had a comb and chin made of carrots, their eyes were made of black pepper, and their bodies overflowed with delicious rice, shrimp and cashews. The meal went very well with pineapple fresh. Night was falling over the white beach, large lanterns were lit in the restaurant, and there was soft music that merged with the soft glow of the sea waves. Another wonderful day has passed in fabulous Thailand.

The next day was no less fascinating, especially as we got up close and personal with the local representatives of beautiful marine life. The sea was as clean as a child’s tear and warm as a summer sunbeam. Corals of different colors and shapes lived hand in hand on its bottom. Their calmness was guarded by the sergeant or major – that’s the name of the small fish with yellow and 5 black stripes, resembling military epaulettes.

​Snorkeling into the marine waters of the Andaman Sea (a part of the Indian Ocean in which Phuket washed its shores) I was immediately greeted by several senior officers. They rushed to my water camera, worried that I would photograph their underwater kingdom, but actually mistook it for food that tourists sometimes bring them. It turned out that they love bananas too, just like all the locals and tourists on the island. However, I did not bring them food, I just wanted to photograph them. I hit on some great gear that day – my goggles fit perfectly and gave me crystal clear vision, and my snorkel filled me with fresh tropical air. I was ready to visit the underwater world and was proudly clutching my yellow and blue underwater camera.

The majors moved in a swarm, showing clearly who was in charge here, but seeing me without food they quickly dispersed. I had to follow and chase them under the water as a “paparazzi”, and they turned their tails like Hollywood stars. My stalking led me to the nearby rocks where I saw other beautiful fish – there were pure white ones and sky blue others and even a black one moving like a shadow. The majors, however, were the most numerous, both along the coast and in my photos. I wondered if they got the yellow streaks from eating too many bananas, but then I must have been all yellow too, as I used to eat plenty of their delicious fruit in Thailand, especially for breakfast.

This morning, for example, I had a very light meal – a large plate of fruit, where, in addition to bananas as small as a finger and as sweet as a child’s smile, I had a ripe mango, a dragon fruit (which has a red skin, but is cut white into tiny black dots, as if sprinkled with black pepper), watermelon, cantaloupe and tangerines (small as bananas). Then I treated myself with two typical American small but thick pancakes – one with peanut butter and one with chocolate. I didn’t enjoy the first one, but the second one melted in my mouth. As a final bite I had a chocolate sponge cake with slivered almonds. I believed that by eating sweets, I would also be sweet and we would like the new group we were going to spend the day with.

​For the second of March, we had chosen a tour guide program around the islands near Phuket, once again sitting on the bow of the heavily rocking motorboat. The previous day I had a burnt skin and now I was glad that I managed to find time before the excursion to buy a swimming t-shirt from the Phuket Marina that would protect my shoulders from the scorching Thai sun.

​Our day had a great start with a mooring at the beautiful Khai Nai Island, covered with fine white sand, among which a few black rocks in the sea served as a home for fish fleeing from tourists. With snorkels and underwater goggles we headed towards them. It was very shallow and we could walk, but swimming was better to immerse their world.

​We had an hour of free time – enough to visit the fishes, respect the free sunbeds and umbrellas on the beach, and take a bunch of photos on the exotic palm island. There was also a small thatched-roofed Chokdee restaurant, but after the rich breakfast at the hotel and then the fruit-treat on the boat, we had no room for more food. However, there was always time and mood for new photos. Even when the boat started and rocked us with all its might, I still managed to catch a few islands along the way – slightly crooked – one from me, one from the sea… We headed to the majestic Pangngga Bay filled with hundreds of rocky islets raising their heads and looking out into the crystal clear sea. A large part of the islands were covered with greenery, others remained with bare rocks, and still others were covered with white fine sand and offered a beach in sheltered lagoons.

One of the most sheltered islands was of course James Bond Island or Koh Khao Ping Can (Tilt Island), where in 1974 the James Bond film The Man with the Golden Gun was filmed. Later in 1997, James Bond returned to Pangngga Bay this time represented as Pierce Brosnan in There’s Always Tomorrow. However, before we got to the ‘spy’ island we took a panoramic tour of a number of other islands and had lunch in traditional rustic island houses perched above the blue waters along the shores of Koh Panyi.

​Lunch was again rich with overfilled buffet tables serving crispy prawns, various cooked vegetables, baked vegetables with chicken and a few meat dishes. There was fresh fruit for dessert. Only the setting was better than the food. The colorful houses were bungalows perched in the water right next to the shore. In addition to restaurants, some of them were designated as shops, with more souvenirs and clothes.

I hadn’t watch the James Bond movie from 1974 and I didn’t know what to expect from the island. The boat left us on a sandy beach, over which rose a high sheer cliff. At its very foot there was a separate cave and we initially went to take pictures there, but then together with the flow of people we headed to the other side of the island, which we reached by many stone steps. I didn’t know what we were looking for, but I knew when we found it. From the rocky path there was a wonderful view of a small bay, in the middle of which a cliff rose above the water, it was narrow at the base and broad at the top. A panorama worthy of any blockbuster, including my camera. Thais had erected a wooden frame on which was written in English and Thai: James Bond Island, Ao Phang -NGA National Park, with which all tourists tried to take pictures, but the best pictures, at least in my opinion, could be taken from the water. We also looked at the narrow vertical cliffs on the very coast, which the English spy climbed, then were blown up in the film. It was good that these were only special effects and today they stood in their full glory.

We got back on the speedboat and like real secret agents we “dusted off” to new islands and adventures. We stopped at a platform, a kind of ship anchored in the sea itself, around which many canoes were moored. We went down to the platform and got into two canoes, which were manned by local people who did not speak English very well, but with sign language they pointed out all the main sightseeing around.

The canoe bobbed gently on the surface of the water and made its way to the edge of the nearby cliffs where the water had carved out beautiful caves. Bending our heads we poked into some of them, admiring the light that formed bizarre shapes. Nature had also played here, leaving rock formations resembling animals on the various islands. I saw a monkey but never saw the lion. However, I really enjoyed the canoe trip and it resembled to me as a Venetian gondola, except that we didn’t go under bridges, but along rock caves, and instead of decorated houses, we admired the natural beauty.

Time flew by and we got back on the speedboat that took us to the tropical island of Rang Yay. Here we had an hour rest, enjoying the comfortable sunbeds left in the shade above the white fine sand, occasionally tempting ourselves to enter the crystal clear sea water. The locals drew our attention to some small sand balls located next to each other on the beach itself, which were crab eggs. We were very careful not to step on any of them because they were very small and I had to bend down to see them.

Getting back on the speedboat we headed to the next island on our agenda, which happened to be Phuket. The day was coming to an end, and from the marina in Phuket a minibus took us back to the hotel. The evening was warm and pleasant, but our mood was sad and nostalgic. We had to pack our luggage and say goodbye not only to the island of Phuket, but also to the fabulous Thailand, which in recent days has deeply impressed us.

The name Thailand meant “land of freedom” and was probably derived from the fact that the country was never colonized. Before 1939, it was called Siam. Although we didn’t see any Siamese cats or Siamese twins, we did see an exotic and very friendly country that welcomed us hospitably, making every day of our stay into a real fairytale.

General information about Phuket:

Location: Phuket is one of Thailand’s 76 provinces, located in the southern part of the country. The island is located in the Andaman Sea.