Our time in Phuket was much too short. But we jam packed as much as we could into the few days that we were there. Ryan and I stayed on the southernmost point of Phuket, at a boutique hotel called The Nai Harn. The hotel was located right on the beach with beautiful views of the Andaman Sea and Nai Harn’s own beach. Nai Harn is slightly less crowded being so far away from the center part of the island – but it’s considered to be one of the best beaches Phuket has to offer; and I wouldn’t be able to disagree even if I wanted to.
We knew in advance that our time was going to be limited on the island – so we booked island tours ahead of time through Vitamin Sea Tours. Ryan and I decided to do both their full day tour of Phi Phi Islands and the full day James Bond tour – which is to Phang Nga Bay (where the 1974 James Bond film – “Man with the Golden Gun” was filmed).
The Phi Phi Island tour was full of sunshine and sunburns. (And yes, we put on loads of sunscreen, mom). We snorkeled, swam, saw wild monkeys, visited Maya Bay (featured in Leo’s movie “The Beach”), and just pinched ourselves all day when looking out at the blue/green water. The Phi Phi tour was definitely a big tourist attraction, and there were many crowds. But our guides did such a wonderful job bringing us to parts of the water where it was more open and free. A highlight was the snorkeling. There were so many colorful fish and coral – and with the water so clear it was extremely easy to see everything.
As I mentioned above, we definitely weren’t as prepared as we should have been for the intense sun. Ryan and I both were pretty significantly sunburned after our first day and toyed with the idea of canceling our James Bond tour. I’m so very glad we didn’t. It was a completely different experience from Phi Phi Islands. The James Bond tour was slower paced, more relaxed, and we didn’t spend as much time in the water/direct sun. Our tour guides took us to a handful of small islands leading to the big attraction – Khao Phing Kan island (better known and now called even by locals James Bond Island). Our guide, Milan, told us that before 1974, this island was a rarely visited, indigenous area. Which is crazy considering that nowadays an estimated 2,000 tourists visit the island every single day.
After visiting Panak Island and having lunch at the floating villages on Panyee Island, we went to explore some caves by canoe at Hong Island. I think that this was Ryan and I’s favorite part of our whole Phuket experience. At Hong Island there are some caves that open up into little lagoons. We were put into an inflatable canoe, and a local paddled us around through the caves. We felt like little kids oohing and aahing at every turn.
Phuket is one of those dream destinations and I feel so blessed to have been able to have seen another part of the world with that much natural beauty. For the first hour or so, I was continually surprised and enchanted by the varying colors of the water. I’d hear myself gasp and try to quickly open up my phone’s camera to be able to take some of the beauty home with me. It never works, and you can never fully capture it. After awhile, I put away my phone and camera and just experienced it all.