Being a teacher in Southeast Asia has its ups and downs. One of the perks is Spring Break. While Spring Break is a fantastic concept wherever you are, in Southeast Asia it's kind of fun- there are so many amazing places that are an easy flight away! Lucky for us, that is so.
Our initial plan was to go to Manila for the break. 3 days before our departure, I discovered that the tickets I thought we had secured already were merely reservations that would expire..oops! did expire. When we tried in vain to find the same affordable tix, they were gone. So we came up with a Plan B- Thailand.
We left Saturday evening along with a few other teachers from my school. First, I must say that I don't think I like evening flights. I guess when you stop to think about the convenience of a quick weekend jaunt to Thailand, leaving Friday after school and returning Sunday evening before school is back on Monday, the idea is pretty nice. But for a longer trip, evening flights are a bit frustrating. You know that you are leaving, and sometimes it feels like I am just trying to fill the day with things I need to do when my mind is already on the future and where I will be..
Anyway, we arrived 25 minutes early! I've never heard of a flight being THAT early. I was not really feeling well and so the flight was kind of miserable. Immigration in Thailand took what seemed like an eternity..but again, I think that was aggravated by the constant threat of vomiting- I was acutely aware of the location of the bathrooms and how long the line was and how slowly it was moving.
We made it to our hotel with no problems, and woke up to a lovely beach with no waves. We went for a long walk and I think we were both kind of expecting something different, like white sand and clear blue water. Later that day, as the sun made its way up the sky, the water did become a beautiful blue and the sand: soft, fine, and lovely white. Our hotel was a bit north of the main town, which made it a lot more peaceful. There were still lots of other tourists, but nothing like a few weeks ago when it was high season, according to some of the "local" Bhutanese or Nepalese tailors. (Oddity- this town, Kamala, had oodles of tailors, most of whom came from either Bhutan, Nepal, or India..none actually from Thailand!)
We spent a lot of time hanging at the beach, but we also did some exploring. One tour that we did was a guided bike trip on one of the nearby islands. Amazing! The riding was fun, albeit hot, and we got to visit a great little island. Another excursion was to a different island where we did some snorkeling. We also rented a motorbike and drove around the southern part of Phuket..we got lost, and managed to find the Butterfly and Insect Garden, which was not even on our list of must-sees, but a good thing to do!
View of the beach at low tide our first morning there. Hmmm.
I have no idea what this says! It was on a sign in front of a school and I just liked it!
A gate to the schoolyard.
The beach where we stayed. During the day it looks so vivid and more like what I envision when I think of Thailand.
Sunset at almost the same spot where the morning long-tail photo was taken. It was common for us to go for a "sundowner" each evening at a hut/bar on the beach where this was the view.
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