The weather forecast on Christmas Eve was for decent weather on Christmas day and then not so good weather for our last two full days in Phuket. As it turned out, the weather was pretty much the same everyday, but at the time we figured we should do our snorkeling adventure on Christmas to avoid possible bad weather.

We debated between going to the Similan Islands or the Phi Phi Islands. The Similan Islands were supposed to be less crowded and have better snorkeling opportunities, but the cost was almost twice (1,500 – 2,500 baht per person) that of Phi Phi (900 – 1,300 baht per person) and it takes forever to get there and back from Patong. We didn’t really like the idea of being given only 20-30 minutes to snorkel on the Phi Phi tours or bumping into people while snorkeling which is how crowded the Phi Phi tours are.

So when we were told about a new company, that just began doing snorkeling and diving tours off the Racha Islands, we were intrigued. The cost was about the same as going to the Similan Islands, but we could get there quickly and not have crowds. We booked the “Island Discovery Daytrip to Ko Racha Yai C” with Raya Oceanic Diver and hoped for the best.

I think Ryan and Ellie’s favorite part was getting there. I didn’t get sick, but I was ready for the 30 minute boat ride to be over after about 25 minutes. We went really fast on the speed boat, and the water on the way there was pretty choppy. The way back was much smoother. From Chalong Pier to Racha Yai felt like a very long rollercoaster ride to me–only there were no tracks so I felt less secure.

We started off in Batok Bay (pictured above), an absolutely beautiful location. The place seemed geared up for a few hundred tourists, but we didn’t see more than a dozen people on the island all day. And this was supposed to be their busiest week of the year!

We were quite pleased with our tour with Raya Oceanic Diver. We were their only customers on Christmas which meant we got lots of personal attention. Our guide, Reiner from Germany, snorkled with us–pointing out things we would have missed had we just been dumped off (which is what I hear the other tour companies are like). We experienced over an hour of snorkeling in two different locations (about two and a half hours total). We probably could have gone even longer had we requested such. I’ve read other reviews of people who went to Phi Phi who said they weren’t allowed to snorkel for more than 20 minutes so we felt very fortunate for the time and personal attention provided by Raya.

Posted on January 18th, 2010 under Thailand. Tags: beach, ellie, koh racha yai, phuket, ryan. Comments Off on Racha Yai Island

This is Patong Beach. Even though we saw very few Japanese in Thailand (most tourists seemed to be from Scandinavia this time of year), we sat next to a Japanese couple on their honeymoon (pictured in the lower left). It was nice to talk to an Asian face again in something other than broken English.

Ryan and Ellie had a great time playing on the ocean toys.

And here is the view from in the Indian Ocean. The beach can get crowded after noon. From 9 a.m. until noon it was very nice though. The water may look a little dirty in these photos because of the sandy bottom, but it was actually quite clear. You could see fish swimming around you without even putting your face in the water.

Posted on January 14th, 2010 under Thailand. Tags: beach, clouds, ellie, phuket, ryan, skywatch. Comments Off on Patong Beach (again)

Christmas lunch was amazing. We ate in a grass hut perched above the beach on Siam Bay. The food was good; the atmosphere couldn’t have been any better.

We then walked over to the east side of the island for our final (and best) snorkeling experience in Ter Bay (Ao Ter).

After a fresh water shower on the boat, we were on our way back to Phuket.

We realized the next day that Linda didn’t have her sunglasses anymore. We asked Raya Oceanic Diver if they happened to find them. Not only did they locate them (in the “restaurant” at Siam Bay), but they had them delivered to our hotel (a half hour boat ride and half hour car ride away) at no charge. They are a great company to use if you are looking for a snorkeling or diving tour from Phuket.

Posted on January 10th, 2010 under Thailand. Tags: beach, ellie, food, koh racha yai, phuket, ryan. Comments Off on Lunch at Siam Bay, snorkeling on the east shore of Racha Yai

From Bangkok we went to Phuket for five nights. Our taxi driver from the airport was another scammer. His meter was already running when we got in and he wouldn’t reset it. Then he pretended to not know where Patong Beach (the largest tourist destination on the island) was and took us to his office to find out. While we were stuck in his hot cab with the meter continuing to run he went in for more than five minutes. A fellow employee, who could speak English, came out and tried to sell us tours. Finally he returned and took us to our hotel. He wanted us to pay him the full meter amount, including the amount that was on the meter when we got in the cab and the amount that accrued while he feigned getting directions so that we could be given a sales pitch. The bellhop at our hotel was no help. He sided with the taxi driver. I think we ended up giving him 450 baht, the amount we were quoted by the lady at the taxi stand at the airport. He drove off mad, unlike our driver earlier in the day.

The location of our hotel in Phuket was a major let down. I’ll touch on that more in a future post. Anyway, after crossing a street without sidewalks, traffic lights, or cross walks in which probably five times out of a hundred you will be killed (luckily we only had to cross it 94 times during our time in Phuket) we made it to our first meal on the island.

This food looked fantastic, but it was our second most disappointing meal in Phuket. It wasn’t horrible, but we had some absolutely excellent food in Phuket. More on those great meals later…

Here is Ellie doing the wai on the Andakira Hotel steps. I’m not sure if the poinsettias were for Christmas or not. It was Christmas Eve when I took the above picture. Christmas music was playing constantly while we were in Thailand. We heard it on the airplanes, in our hotel, and all over town. The music didn’t stop after Christmas either. We heard it on our flight back to Tokyo on the 29th. There is something a little strange about hearing “White Christmas” while you are eating breakfast in an outdoor restaurant in Thailand in 85 degree weather.

Getting to the beach from the Andakira Hotel is no easy task. Although the website says the hotel “is located at the heart of Patong Beach,” it is at the heart of the beach the same way the Eiffel Tower is at the heart of Notre Dame Cathedral (i.e., across town). Their website also mentions a free shuttle, but the shuttle only runs four times a day and can’t be relied on (as we found out when we waited an hour for it at one of its four scheduled times only to have it never arrive). The other options are to take an extremely over-priced tuk tuk for 200 baht or cross the aforementioned street of death and walk a while.

(Note that some internet sites say tuk tuks can be had in Patong for as little as 20 baht, but that is no longer the case. They all charge 200 baht, even to just take you across the street. This is very different than Bangkok where you can find drivers to take you short distances for under 50 baht. We paid just 20 baht for our tuk tuk in Bangkok.)

Despite the hassles caused by the location of the hotel and the needs of some of the natives to rip off the tourists, we were determined to have a good time. The beach is very nice, especially if you get there before the crowds as we did (and you can see in the above photo). The ocean water is practically warm this close to the equator and the sand is of the fine, soft variety.

Posted on January 1st, 2010 under Thailand. Tags: andakira, beach, ellie, food, phuket, ryan. Comments Off on Phuket

This is how I spent my Christmas Eve. If it doesn’t look like Christmas, that’s because you don’t see all the commercialism from this angle.

Like, for instance, the 300 baht it costs to swim in parts of the ocean. Pretty much everything on this beach is turned into a product to be sold. It can get pretty tacky, but it is convenient. You can purchase basically anything (food, drink, clothes, bathing suits, watches, tours, time on a jet ski, you name it) without ever getting out of your beach chair. And you have to purchase your time in the beach chair too–not surprising if you’ve been to Italian beaches but a little different than what us California natives are used to.

Santa Claus is coming to town…

Posted on January 1st, 2010 under Thailand. Tags: beach, people, phuket. Comments: 4