Whoever has heard of Phuket before will get instant images of blue waters and beautiful beaches and magnificent views and islands running in their mind when they hear the name . True ! Phuket does offer these but there is a not so simple effort involved to experience them.
There are a whole lot of islands surrounding Phuket and they have local names . One may not be able to cover everything. For one they may be similar and it costs money and so you would need to make choices . We again took the help from the hotel travel desk.
There are umpteen travel agencies in Phuket offering day tours to the various islands either by speed boats or big boats .
The phi phi island and James bond island tours are the main ones that are promoted . Actually it depends on what sort of activities you are interested in . Based on that one should choose the tour that would suit ones interests.
We chose the phi phi island tour as that seemed to be pretty popular.
A bus picked us up at our hotel and took us to the boat jetty. Since we had a bad experience getting food for our son the previous day we packed some food from the hotel. In our excitement when we reached the boat jetty we forgot to take it from the bus. By the time we realized it the bus had gone back. The persons at the travels kindly showed us a nearby bakery where we got some food.
We were supposed to go by speed boat. To begin with we were the only ones who had a kid with us. Lesson Learnt and Piece Of Advice - Speed Boats Bad Idea for very small kids.
The weather was not too bad when we set out. The sea started to get rough a little later and what started as drizzling developed into a downpour.
Before that my poor toddler who had his stomach churning in wobbly motion of the boat vomited all the food that he had had till then. The boatman was a nice guy trying to make the travellers as comfortable as possible.
Speed boats have a cover but not a sturdy one; more like a tent. So the splashes of rain started entering through the gaps. We were slightly wet at first, then quite wet and finally totally drenched.
It was the worst possible weather. By the time we reached the first destination my stomach also could not take it any longer and I followed suit to my son's regurgitating action.
My poor husband was struck between a sea-sick vomiting child and a seas-sick vomiting me.
Anyways after that we were both pretty ok.
They stopped at a couple of places for swimming and snorkelling. Both me and my husband cant swim and we were just observing as the other travellers plunged into the waters. The water was apparently and surprisingly a little more warmer and they all felt refreshed. We were shielding ourselves from the rain and so definitely it was not so enjoyable. The colors around us were breathtaking but in the rain photography was hopeless.The rocks around and the blue green water were a feast to the eye but with a kind of soggy vision. It would have been a more heavenly experience on a clearer day.
Then our speed boat took us near Viking Caves, one of the popular spots shown to tourists. The caves apparently had some old paintings. Another interesting information was that the bird nests that hung from them were used to make Bird Nest Soups.
Our final stop was at a resort on one of the islands where a great lunch had been organized for us. After getting drenched the best possible thing that can happen is steaming food. After the food my son and I played in the sea water - the first fun element of the day.
Our return journey was more of an adventure-thriller ride. The boat shook terribly and on seeing another boat behind is when we realized how rough the sea was. But this part was fun coz all of us travellers screamed every now and then like we were on a roller coaster together. Finally we landed back on the main island. Our hosts in the speed boat had given us a great service despite the horrible weather and after thanking them we left for the hotel on a bus.
After resting for some time we freshened up and headed for the shopping area near Patong. The area near the Patong Beach is famous for it's night life. Bars and clubs that get busier towards the late hours of the evening. It's also a prime shopping area . We were ravenous by the time we reached .One thing i realized after doing some amount of travelling that you have some indian or the other selling nan roti and parathas in every corner of the globe . We found a good Indian restaurant and had an awesome dinner.After strolling for some time and some souvenir shopping we decided to head back to our resort. We tried taking a tuk-tuk but he charged more than a cab and so we decided to rely on the good old latter.