Phuket

After a whirlwind tour of Bangkok, we flew to Phuket for a few days. We had planned to head straight to Koh Phi Phi, but since we got in late morning and the next boat was at 1:00 p.m. Steven thought our time would be better spent on the beach then waiting for a boat, so we headed to Phuket.

Phuket is just one of many beaches in Phuket Province, not, as I had previously thought, THE beach in the area. We chose Karon beach because it sounded like the most secluded and that it was, but more so because it is not high season than anything else. The mini-bus driver from the tour company we bought the bus ticket from took us around to a few different hotels before we settled on the White House, which, although not on the beach, had great rooms and was close to lots of little shops and restaurants, and to Steven's great pleasure, rented motorbikes.

After settling in and having a quick lunch, we took to the streets. We rode around a bit to get the hang of the bikes and then parked for an hour or so on the beach. When the tide started soaking our towel, we packed up and headed back to the bikes and spent an hour or so riding to Phuket's 'sunset viewpoint' up winding mountain roads, past beautiful views of the beaches below. We made it to the viewpoint just before sunset and decided that we didn't want to watch the sunset with a hundred other tourists, so we drove back to a quiet spot we had seen on the way up and sat peacefully in our own little world watching the waves crash over the rocks as the sun disappeared behind the clouds.

We found Phuket to be as beautiful as we'd heard.

(There is more to this story, for those interested in Steven's prowess on our Honda dreams, but I'll allow him to write his own version lest it come across that I'm making fun... ;)