💎 Hidden gems remaining: 5
Phuket is one of the most common Thai destinations of European tourists. At the sea, near the equator, the warmth of the air and the boiling-hot water sound like heaven. It is indeed a great place to chill and relax.
Phuket was only a short stop on our way to the Khao Sok national park. With our two aforementioned friends we booked a prestigious 4-star hotel just next to the airport.
To get there, we flew two times – first from Chiang Mai to Bangkok and then further south to Phuket. Each time, we received a warm meal (chicken lasagne and fish with potatoes). The seats on the first flight were comfy (more legroom space than usual), but on the second flight, we were offered the emergency row with all the legroom space – we could actually dance there.
Our friends took a direct flight and didn't have that luck – they were squeezed and received no food. Once we found our way out of the airpot facility, our hotel was merely 10 min of walk (and a quick unsafe highway crossing) away.
Luxurious 4-star hotel room
Our hotel offered free tuk-tuk rides to the nearby beach and back every hour. Outside temperature and humidity were unendurable, so we could cool a bit in the sea, right? Yes, the sea was just below the perfect jacuzzi temperature of 35 degrees Celsius.
Marko will interfere here, I'm certain – it was too hot for him. So he dived and swam most of the time.
Our free tuk-tuk
Our hotel included an incredible unlimited breakfast. When we appeared at the restaurant, we were given some kind of survey. We thought that was what we would like to see on the menu tomorrow, so we began taking everything else provided. Imagine our surprises when two additional eggs per person found their way to our table!!!
When we started
In the meantime (additional eggs not shown)
In the end
One more facility of our expensive (not really if split among 4 guests) hotel was a totally germ-free swimming pool on the top of the roof, shading into the infinity. Perfect not only for relaxation, you can also view a missed sunset, accompanied by fireworks of origin.
Infinity pool
Phuket is located at the far end in the south of Thailand. Thanks to its geographical position, it is a perfect spot for catching an unobstructed sunset (the closest land is Sri Lanka, but invisible from here). At least in theory. In practice, clouds cover the sky each morning and every evening, making the most enjoyable parts of the day really ugly.
Thanks to the happy-hour cocktails, we enjoyed the "sunset" nonetheless.
Drinking a cocktail while ordering a tuk-tuk
We spent our time in Phuket relaxing and the same goes about the food situation. There were a lot of different restaurants to be tried and we were always hungry, so the hunt for the one with the best priced and sized dishes began. Located in this area of Phuket (not really Phuket, more an airport village), everything was condensed around a main road. Whenever hungry, we would walk down the road until satisfied with the look of a restaurant.
Pad see-ew Kai and Khao Pad Kai
Fried
Fried glassy noodles
Fried basil with chicken
Even though we were almost the only guests in the hotel, the receptionists had to work harder than ever before. Why? Because we had to arrange our transfer to the Khao Sok national park. Unless you want to pay an expensive private taxi, that means taking a local bus. There's a bus stop at the highway just 5 km away from our resort, but we could not get any information whether the Khao Sok bus stops there or not (and also when it is scheduled and how to reserve the seats).
When we finally found a telephone number of the bus company, we encountered a little problem: we spoke no Thai (at least not enough to arrange everything). So we asked our friendly staff to call them for us. The result? The bus picked us up at 9.50 (scheduled, actual time was 10.50) at the aforementioned bus stop 🙌