Phuket

---

We landed Phuket at 12:30pm on December 14,2011. After reaching our hotel, we went for a nice stroll at Patong Beach. It was 10 minute walk from the hotel. The market was full of small vendors, massage parlours and restaurants. We had lunch at The Coffee Club and had pasta. Pesto chicken and carbonara chicken pastas were delicious. It was about 5pm and we went to our room to rest a bit and get ready for a nice night out. At 7:30pm we headed to the market area again and party had already begun. The bars were full, music was loud, night clubs on the streets were starting to get busy. We were approached by hawkers in the busy areas. There were loads of food stalls on the beach. I tried mango pancake (they call it pancake but actually was a crepe) and was delicious. We had couple of drinks and went to our hotel to get ready for an early start next day.We woke up around 6:00am next morning as we had booked a full day tour to Phi Phi islands. The driver picked us up around 7:45am and we were at the dock by 9:00am. After quick overview we settled on our speedboat and were leaving for our first stop - Maya Bay. When we reached there, the view was priceless. Movie " the beach" was shot there. The water was crystal green, there were long tail boats lined up and number of tourists. After a 40 minute exploring, we headed to see Viking caves and snorkeled close to the monkey beach. It was my first time experiencing snorkeling and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Our lunch was set up at a beach restaurant and was delicious. Khai Nai Island was the final destination. We relaxed there on the beach chairs and didn't have to snorkel to see the fishes. They were that close to the shore. After a long day, we were headed to the pier and were dropped off to the hotel at 5pm. We wanted to rest a little before going to Patong beach area. However, we slept throughout the night and didn't wake up till next morning at 6:30am. The jet leg finally got us.Next morning we were suppose to check out and check in at another hotel by Surin beach, which is considered much quite than Patong. That morning we had booked a Thai Cooking class at The Nap hotel. We visited the local market which was part of the class. The chefs explained different variety of fruits and vegetables that we don't find in Canada. Rose apple, dragon fruit, jack fruit were some of them. We saw different types of sea food - cat fish, tuna fish, eel, turtles, shells...video will be uploaded. We tried local veg patties which were delicious. After the tour, we went to the restaurant to start our cooking class. We cooked green curry chicken and pad Thai. It was quite simple if you have the ingredients ready. We were served our own cooked meals and later they brought us dessert that we had picked from the local market. We were over full!!!felt like we would explode anytime. After the class, we checked in at Ayara Hilltop resort at Surin beach. The view was spectacular from our room. We could see sea from our balcony. It was 5pm and we were ready to explore the beach area. The beach was quieter than Patong beach. There were nice restaurants to pick from. We ordered some drinks and were seated right on the shore. Light music, soft candle lights, calming wave sounds and great drinks were a heavenly combination. After spending a great time at the beach, we went to check out our hotel's restaurant. We had spicy fish and great chocolate cake later on and ended our day. Our last day at Phuket was fun. In the morning we had a great time swimming at the resort's pool and had an hefty breakfast. We rented a car and toured around Kuta beach, Karon beach and paid our last visit at Patong beach. I got fish spa done for 5 minutes and what an experience it was. It's an ancient Thai technique for foot relaxation. I put my feet in the fish tank which was full of 1000 small fishes. They came and started biting, taking away the dead skin. It tickled a lot but at the end it felt very good. We ended our day with a nice sundae. Next day we were heading to Bali.

---