This summer, I spent amazing two weeks on the island of Phuket, which is in Thailand.
I’ve never actually wanted to go there; I mean, it was never in my plans; I’ve always thought of myself as a European-city-vacation type of gal. But, I admit — I was scared of the 9-hour flight and the weather and the living creatures. I hear they eat fried crickets and cockroaches there. Will they make me eat them too? I hear it’s super hot all the time; what if my face melts off? I hear it’s rainy season there in summer, what if it’s gonna rain all the time and our hotel will be washed away? I hear there are a lot of snakes, what if they all decide to come out of the jungle and eat me??!!
But…
I also knew from a very trustworthy friend that it’s fantastic in Thailand, it’s fun, cheap, there are many fruits and good food, and nature is just gorgeous. So all fears aside, we booked the tour for Phuket. And it really was awesome!
Missing the place…
It’s been a week since I got back from Phuket, and I’m only starting to slowly ease into my old ways. Vacation-me took everything lightly, didn’t hurry anywhere, drank a lot of banana shakes, took afternoon naps and even took pictures with a snake. It was all about Sabai, all the time. Real-life-me would do none of these things. Well, maybe except for the shakes. But there are no delicious banana shakes here at home, and that’s a shame.
I know that each trip (if you did it right!) changes you in a way, tweaks something in your personality, teaches you something you didn’t know before. Then, when you get back home, it gets tossed away most of the time; it’s so easy to settle back into your old routine, right? Well, this time, I wanna keep something. I wanna keep this state of relaxation I felt in Phuket, this concept of taking it easy. So from now on, I’ll try not to worry. Unless I absolutely have to.
Random stuff that I’ve learned during my stay in Phuket
Eating insects?
Yes, there really are fried insects, and people eat them. but I’ve only seen them once in two weeks when we went to a night market. And people who were eating them were tourists, so… not in a single restaurant or a cafe we’ve been to was there any mention of delicious grilled caterpillars or anything like that. Phew!
Fear of snakes
Snakes don’t hunt poor little girls in villages or on beaches. I saw snakes just two times: one, when we went to a snake show (so I guess I got what I’ve asked for, really) and two, on some island when we left the beach and walked further into the jungle, the snake was small, green and quietly sitting on a tree, not moving even when we came closer to take a picture. Oh, and I was later told it wasn’t poisonous. So once again, it wasn’t as terrifying as I pictured in my head.
Rainy season?
Oh yes, it did rain. Three times. one time, it lasted for about an hour. Other two times — 10 minutes tops. Mmmm, if you want to call it a rainy season, knock yourself out. I would call it just regular summer.
Elephants are AMAZING!
Magnificent. Gorgeous. I would buy one and take it home with me if I could. Elephants are kind and smart. Much smarter than me. It is so much fun to feed an elephant! Oh, and I’ve been told they like cucumbers more than bananas. Go figure!
There are a lot of geckos
They can even come to your room. We had a gecko living in our room. I named him Gosha. I was only scared of him for the first 10 minutes. Then I saw how frightened he was of me. Geckos are not very big, but they are speedy and, believe it or not — cute!
A dog’s life
Dogs are like a symbol of the ideal pastime in Thailand. All they do are eating and sleeping. That’s it. This whole life thing, you know, dogs do it right.
Beaches
It does matter which beach you choose to stay at. Waves can be really different at two different beaches, even if they are a 15-minute walk away from each other.
Sunscreen & hat are a must!
In Thailand, I found out there’s an SPF 80. 80!!!! it made me feel much better about my completely average SPF 50+ sunscreen. I left home pale, I came back pale, but I didn’t get any sunburns. Of course, a hat is a must, too. One time I walked around without a hat at noon, I got sunstroke. I’m lucky like that.
White skin
White skin is considered beautiful not only in Phuket but in the whole of Thailand. The paler, the better. Most of the cosmetics are with whitening effect. So if you’re like me, a pale white ghost of a person everyone laughs at because you turn red after only 10 minutes in the sun, and when the sunburn goes away, you just turn white again? Well, you’ll get your revenge in Thailand. Everybody would be envious of your gorgeous skin tone. And all those tanned, bronzed choco people? You can flash them a smile while you apply your SPF 50 sunblock with pride!
I didn’t bring my DSLR camera with me and didn’t regret it. It’s always hot, so it won’t be much fun carrying around additional weight. You’re probably gonna walk, climb, swim and move a lot, too. and all the salty water, the sand, you know… I just didn’t want to worry about my equipment all the time. Indeed, many landscapes and views deserve to be captured with a good camera, but man, I’m on vacation! I mean, a smartphone camera will do the trick in most cases, and for anything else — just go to Flickr and search for what you need; chances are there are already a dozen of pictures of this exact beach, monument, mountain or whatever. Better just enjoy the moment and take mental pictures.
