WHY YOU NEED TO VISIT PHUKET, THAILAND: HONEYMOON PART 2

Feb 4, 2019
5 min read

Oh how I love Thailand. This was my sixth trip to Thailand however this time it was not a family holiday but a holiday with my new hubby. I'm not the kind of person who likes the idea of doing the exact same holiday every year because to me that seems boring and unexciting. I like to see new places and have new experiences. However, in saying this, Thailand makes me feel differently and I really do like the idea of returning.

So what makes Thailand so good?

BUDGET FRIENDLY HOLIDAY

Thailand is cheap. You can often find return tickets to Phuket on sale that are reasonably inexpensive whilst also finding 5 star accommodation for a great price. If you wanted to do the holiday even cheaper you could stay in a basic resort/backpackers accommodation allowing for more money to be spent on food, shopping or activities. My husband and I stayed in Centara Karon on the west side of Phuket just outside of the main city Patong. I would strongly recommend to not stay in Patong as it is known for its wild nightlife and increased prices. To give you an idea of how much it can cost, we spent $1,300 on flights (though have flown for much cheaper before) and $1000 on accommodation for 7 nights.

CHEAP AND DELICIOUS TASTING FOOD

Who doesn't love Thai food? It's simply delicious. They have a way of balancing the sweetness, saltiness and spiciness of each dish. Despite how hard I try to replicate this at home I can just never get it to taste the same. Better then the taste however, is just how cheap the food is. No one wants to cook their own dinner on holidays and in Thailand you don't have to!

'For some dinners Jacob and I spent only 250 baht (approx $10 AUD). Sometimes we would spend more on snacks during the day and save on dinner at night!'

ISLAND TOURS AND BEACHES

Phuket has some beautiful beaches and islands that are a must to visit. Maya Bay is especially spectacular (first picture below). You can easily book an island tour where you are picked up from your hotel and transferred to the wharf, taken on a jet boat to various islands and snorkeling spots, whilst also having lunch included. I would recommend a Phi-Phi Island tour for these islands are both stunning and budget friendly in comparison to some of the others. Unfortunately for us, the day we chose to take our Phi-Phi Island tour was rainy and cold. We ended up being pretty miserable as it literally poured the whole time and everything we had with us was soaking wet.

So here are some pictures from my previous trips where the beauty of these islands can be seen.

VARIOUS TOURS

There are endless half day or full day tours you can choose to do in Phuket. One of the full day tours we did was white water rafting and ATV riding. This was amazing! It cost us 1900 baht each ($83 AUD) and included the following:

- Hotel pick up and transfer to Monkey Cave (1.5 hr drive) where we fed some wild monkeys.

- 9 km of white water rafting.

- An assortment of Thai dishes for lunch.

- 1 hr of ATV riding through a rough and beautiful jungle trek.

- 2.5 hr drive back to our hotel

We had the option of choosing between 5 km, 7 km, or 9 km of the rafting. As the water didn't really get rough until we passed 5 km, we were glad to have paid a little extra for the longer ride. At one point Jacob almost fell out! Yet thankfully he remained in the boat and it became one of our favourite memories of the trip.

Another highlight of our trip was visiting the Elephant Jungle Sanctuary . It cost 2000 baht each ($88 AUD) which initially seemed overpriced until we had done the tour and couldn't have been more amazed at how wonderful it was! It ended up including much more then it advertised making it well worth the money. We were picked up from our hotel and driven in typical Thai style (an open backed Ute with seats). We then received free t-shirts along with an information session about how the sanctuary rescues mistreated elephants and takes them into their care. Although elephants are highly thought of and respected in Thailand, many of them are still mistreated. Having ridden elephants and watched them in shows in zoos on previous trips, I was thankful to not be doing this again. What I didn't realise is that the elephants are forced to take tourists riding all day, every day of the week. When they aren't being ridden, they are often chained to a pole. They don't get breaks, nor do they get the appropriate food and medicine they require. This is most likely due to how expensive they are to look after!

Yet what was most disheartening to hear was that many companies shoot the elephants when they are no longer of use to them. The Elephant Jungle Sanctuary is now buying the 'no longer needed' elephants and nursing them back to full health whilst also educating tourists on their mistreatment.

We had the privilege of feeding the elephants, bathing the elephants in a mud bath and even making paper from their poo! Although we did not have the thrill of riding the elephants, I enjoyed our experience much more. This was because they were much easier to interact due to them being happy, relaxed and able to roam freely as they pleased.

MASSAGES AND MANICURES

I feel like the dream holiday always includes pampering yourself with various spa treatments. I mean it's something you only really do while your on holidays right? After turning down an opportunity to receive a discounted spa treatment on the cruise we had just been on (It would have still cost me $100 AUD with $50 off), I couldn't wait to get a massage in Thailand. In fact we ended up getting 3 or 4 massages each throughout the trip. Each massage cost us between 350-450 baht ($15-$20 AUD) for a fully body massage lasting an hour. How could we resist!? I also got a manicure for just 200 baht. That's $8 AUD!

SHOPPING, SHOPPING AND MORE SHOPPING

We heavily underestimated the amount of shopping we were going to do in Thailand. We hadn't left much spare room in our suitcases yet still enough to fit a few purchases. However, we ended up returning with our suitcases full to the brim and an extra two bags of carry-on luggage. In our defense we bought many of our family's Christmas presents here as it was one; cheap and two; 5 days before Christmas.

So what did we buy?

I bought a few pairs of sunglasses (100 baht each), clothes (100-250 baht each), shoes, handbags, beach bags, moisturisers, face creams and jewellery. Phuket also has a factory outlet center where Jacob was able to find some Nike shoes for $200 cheaper than they would cost him here. Be sure to barter your prices down for no matter how friendly the Thai person selling you an item is, they will almost always start at an overpriced price. The trick is to first state the price you are wanting to pay and then pretend to walk away as if you aren't going to buy the item. If telling them your preferred price didn't work, walking away will (as long as you're not trying to rip them off!).