Thailand, part 1: Phuket and Ko Similan National Park

Fresh off the plane
My first impression of Thailand after being in Singapore, coming out the door of the airport and being accosted by taxi and tuk-tuk drivers, was of chaos. On the taxi ride to Phuket Bangkok Hospital, our first destination, I was unnerved by the motorcyclists driving against traffic down the road and cars passing illegally. This impression faded after a few days, though, as the rhythm of Thailand sank in and I realized that people here naturally make everything work. Drivers move to the side to accommodate illegal passing and they slow down and beep when a driver or pedestrian is in a precarious position.

Vaccinations at Phuket Bangkok Hospital

After getting our vaccinations, Min and I got a tuk-tuk to Phuket Town, and the driver dropped us off at a guest house he recommended.  Not being used to bargaining, we were overcharged by about 25% and ended up paying ฿300, about $10.  The host was a real character.

A very spare room in Phuket Town

Breakfast at the counter in Phuket Town's market

Supper and breakfast were delicious: local places in Phuket Town.  The island of Phuket has several very touristy areas near the beaches, but the town is mostly locals and the market has great food.  At the open-air counters they sell food hot in little plastic bags; if you're eating there they'll just put it in a bowl for you.  It was spicy!

Patong Beach
We took a local bus down to Patong Beach, which was a big mistake.  The bus ride was an experience, and we met another traveler, but the beach area was awful.

Riding high up on the local bus

The traveler on the bus, a woman from China, told us about a Chinese travel agency that turned out to be handy (we booked a tour at a good price and got a nice room).  Everything else about Patong Beach was awful: it was hot, noisy, and expensive, and it was full of tourists and touts.  We endured until the next morning, when we left for Ko Similan National Park.

Ko Similan National Park

Ko Similan National Park is a series of nine islands to the northwest of Phuket, in the Andaman Sea.  We booked a snorkeling tour, where you take a 1.5-hour speedboat out to the islands and then spend three days snorkeling at different spots in the park and sleep in tents on one of the islands.

The beaches were beautiful, when there weren't people standing in front of the scenery.

We opted after the first day to stay an extra two nights, making it a total of five days in the park.  It was a really relaxing place, and a nice way to really kick off our time in Thailand.

The snorkeling boat.

Canon 10-22mm@11mm, 25s, f/9, 10-stop ND filter and polarizer

We spent most of our snorkeling time on a bigger, slower boat that stayed in the park.  The snorkeling, the food, and the scenery were all fantastic.  We even swam with a sea turtle.

Sunsets were gorgeous.

Canon 10-22@16mm, 1/160, f/9

One of the snorkelers is Min.  These rocks are by themselves

out in the open water and most tours don't visit this spot.

The crew live on the boat and work nearly every day for six months!  During the stormy season the boat moves around to the Gulf of Thailand and the crew takes off.  We spent a lot of time with our guides during the few days we were there.  One afternoon the other snorkelers opted to stay on the island so we had the whole boat to ourselves, and our guide, Fin, gave Min an impromptu Thai lesson.

Thai lesson with Fin

Chilling with the crew (the wide angle lens distorts the corners; 

he doesn't really have a stretched head!)

During the day the crew had to refill the ship's water from a cistern on an unpopulated beach, and we swam in and hung out with them while they waited for the pump to finish. We talked with Fin about his life on the boat and threw sand grenades.  Two of the crew held a footrace and one guy drew a beautiful thirty-foot-wide picture in the sand.  It must be a strange life for the crew to occasionally make friends for a few days and then never see them again.

When we opted for two extra nights in the park, snorkeling wasn't included and we spent the extra time relaxing and taking short hikes.  The first day we tried the 'adventure trail' which leads up to a viewpoint of the island.  Someone had written below the label on the sign "GOOD LUCK".  I didn't take them seriously until the first rope-climb up a rock face.

Good luck indeed!

There were three spots where we had to use a rope to get up a rock face, there was a ladder at one point, and there was a cave we had to pass through on a series of planks above a deep crack.  But it was worth it!

The view of Ko Miang, the island on which we camped.

I went out before dawn the first morning to try to catch some star trails, but there were too many dive boats parked nearby that night creating light pollution.  I did see a gigantic crab on the trail, which didn't seem at all afraid of me.  Later we went on a guided nature walk to see the 'chicken crabs' and I learned what it was.

Guide holding a chicken crab

There were other interesting animals around the campsite and the picnic area, including a shy green-and-black fowl that we never got a good picture of.  Hermit crabs were everywhere, and there were lizards and toads.  Flying foxes squabbled and raised a racket at all times of day over our heads in the canopy.

These guys wandered through camp several times.

Getting the shot.  Min is great at capturing moments like this.

Toads, large and minuscule, were everywhere at night

Flying foxes hanging eighty feet in the air above the tents.

We spent a lot of time relaxing in the picnic area and on the beach.

Reading the Kindle

Our tent

Min could even stand up inside!

Self-portrait

One beach in particular, 'little beach', took a short hike to get to but as a result it was usually empty.

Little Beach, one of our favorite spots

Taking photos at Little Beach

The coast of the island near Little Beach

Canon 10-22@14mm, 30s, f/9, 3-stop ND and polarizer rotated the 'wrong' way

Crabs and tiny fish crawled on these rocks in the surf

Canon 10-22@13mm, 0.8s, f/14, 3-stop ND and polarizer

The island became crowded from time to time as snorkel boats stopped by for lunch, but overall our experience was very peaceful.  On the last day the speedboat stopped at Donald Duck Bay (so named because of a rock shaped like Donald's head) and we climbed up to Sail Rock, the national park's symbol.

Climbing back down from Sail Rock.  The hike was the highlight rather than the view at the top.

After the 1.5-hour speedboat trip back to the mainland, we got round two of our vaccinations and then headed to the bus terminal, on our way to Phang Nga.

Tuk-tuk to the hospital

Up next: Phang Nga town and Ao Phang Nga National Park.