October 2018
In the heart of the Indian Ocean lies the magnificent Andaman Sea. It conjures images of warm, turquoise waters and scattered green islands of all shapes and sizes. For Rikun’s birthday weekend in 2018, we ventured to one of our favorite countries – Thailand, to experience the wonders of the Andaman Sea and explore Phuket, Ko Phi Phi, and Krabi.
92 Hours Left…
After a quick layover in Singapore, we flew to Phuket and landed around 9:05am on a Thursday. We took a taxi to Hyatt Place Phuket Patong which was in a great location down the beach from Patong. The staff were friendly and even knew it was Rikun’s birthday! We quickly dropped our things and took a nice morning walk down Patong beach where we stopped to get 60min foot massages right on the sand. Well, 60min turned into 90min, which turned into almost two hours of beachfront massages and fun conversations with the lovely Thai masseuses.
We finally bid our goodbyes and went to eat lunch at Savoey. We ate garlic chili prawns and chicken pad see ew.
After lunch, we couldn’t get enough of the beautiful views from the beach, so we sat on some large rocks by the water to bask in the sun and talk about how far we had come. We were celebrating another one of Rikun’s birthdays in a faraway land and we couldn’t be happier about it.
We headed back to our hotel and grabbed a couple of beers to sit by the pool. After some pool games with a few of the kids staying at our hotel, we got ready for our first night out in famous Phuket.
We walked to Beyond Patong Night Market for dinner where we ate the most scrumptious plate of pad ka prow gai we’ve ever had. We watched attentively while our chef prepared it so we could start recreating it at home just like her. It was the perfect mix of basil and spice and the pork was juicy and crispy at the same time. Too delicious!
Then we walked through Bangla Road to people watch, have some beers, and ring in Rikun’s birthday at midnight 🙂 Phuket was…crazy! Needless to say, I think we made the right decision to start the party in Phuket and then make our way to the calmer, Krabi for the remainder of the trip.
68 Hours Left…
The next morning we had a quick breakfast and coffee and jumped on the earliest shuttle to Phuket’s ferry terminal to take the two hour ferry to Krabi Ao Nang.
We recommend heading straight to the upper deck for the most amazing views of the Andaman Sea and a cool sea breeze to keep your mind off of how bumpy the ride is.
Once we arrived at the ferry port in Krabi, we had to hop on our hotel’s private boat shuttle to the magnificent Centara Grand Beach Resort which is only accessible by boat or by walking through what they call the “Monkey Trail.” Krabi’s landscape is so different from Phuket – you will immediately notice massive mountains and lush greenery. Our hotel was perched on a cliff with its own private beach so we got an extra dose of the beauty that Krabi offers.
While waiting for our room to be ready, we explored the hotel grounds and had lunch at their Thai restaurant, Suan Bua.
Immediately after lunch, we checked into our room. We were eager to check out our digs for the next few days and get into some beach attire!
We then headed straight for the beach. We spent the rest of the day sipping drinks and eating salt and pepper prawns on the beach while gazing into the vast sea ahead of us and watching boats go by in the distance.
44 Hours Left…
It was time to check out this “Monkey Trail” that we had heard so much about. So we grabbed some fruit from the hotel and then strapped on our Nikes to head to downtown Ao Nang for the morning. It was so hot so all we wanted to do was jump into the water, but we were so curious about where this little trail would take us! Up and down through the little forest, we took the makeshift path and had fun pretending we were explorers.
In Ao Nang, we found a small street vendor making steaming hot noodles, so we sat down and devoured one bowl each for breakfast. Each bowl was only 50 baht and the soup was so tasty, so we just had to have a second one each!
Next we walked along the main street in downtown Ao Nang and negotiated with a few tour companies for a private boat tour the next day around Ko Phi Phi. The further you walk away from the ferry port, the cheaper it gets. We finally landed on Six Nature Travel Company which was a great decision.
We then had an amazing lunch and a few ice cold beers at Family Restaurant. They brought out a whole steamed fish with chili, garlic, ginger and lime. It was really yum and tasted amazing with a side of perfectly steamed jasmine rice.
As we walked back to the Monkey Trail, we picked up a few beers and snacks for our boat journey the next day. We headed back to our hotel to finally hop into the pool and then relax on the beach for sunset. We had a nice pad thai for dinner that night from a street vendor on the edge of the Monkey Trail.
20 Hours Left…
Around 10am the next morning, we woke up and waited anxiously for our private speed boat to pull up to our hotel’s jetty. Today, we were going to take the grand tour of the Phi Phi Islands!
First stop, we visited Bamboo Island, a serene island in the middle of the ocean with the clearest water you will ever see. We dipped around in the ocean and did a little snorkeling saying hi to the beautiful array of fish.
After getting back in the boat and waving bye to Bamboo Island, we headed to Maya Bay! It had been Maya’s dream to visit this spot for years. With one Maya onboard, we were about to double our money! Maya Bay is currently under protection while it recovers from years of over-tourism. They’ve stopped letting people go to the beach, however, we were able to stop our boat in the bay and admire the beauty surrounding us.
Next up our boat pulled into Pileh Bay. We were thrown some snorkeling gear and our captain pointed to the water with a smile. “Jump!” And so we did! What an experience. The water was warm and welcoming so we made fish friends and played some games jumping in and out of the boat with our captain.
Back on our boat for a quick trip through Viking Cave and to Monkey Beach. Word of warning- if your boat gets too close to the rocks the monkey’s will try to jump aboard, and they look pretty feisty!
After narrowly escaping the monkeys we docked at Phi Phi Don to walk around, pop into the shops, and enjoy some yummy food and beer.
After lunch, our boat crew took us to an awesome snorkel spot nearby where we again got up close to some beautiful fish. After getting back on the boat and enjoying some ice cold watermelon, we headed back to the hotel.
The whole tour took about 4-5 hours and it was just one stunning locale after another. We definitely recommend doing this as a private tour so you can plan the journey yourself and spend as much time as you want in each place. We got to experience the most beautiful beaches and the clearest and warmest water we have ever swam in.
Somehow we hadn’t had enough of the ocean that day, so we spent the rest of the afternoon jumping between the beach and the pool back at Centara Grand as the sun began to set.
By the end of the night, we were totally exhausted so we grabbed some Thai food at the Suan Bua again and then packed our bags up to head home.
8 Hours Left…
We took the last boat shuttle of the day back to Krabi Ao Nang ferry port, then hopped in a taxi to Krabi Airport. After sleeping on some chairs at the airport for a few hours, we departed Krabi at 4:55am and made it back to San Francisco by 8:30am.
