Those of you that know me know that I was in Thailand in November on a short course to get a teaching certificate for ESL. Unfortunately, the course kept me incredibly busy, and I had a friend come visit me halfway through, which kept me doubly busy trying to get my own work done and keep her entertained.
For a number of reasons, this post never got published, so I'm taking the opportunity now to release some of the stuff I've worked on over the last six months but have been collecting dust as a result of my chaotic life! So, without further delay, read on to learn a bit about my time in Phuket, Thailand!
Although not my first time to Thailand (Jenny and I stayed in Bangkok and did some day trips a few years ago), this is my first time this far south. I was especially excited about the trip because I was able to secure cheap business class tickets for just $100 more than economy tickets. I flew with China Airlines and Dragon Air, and because I bought tickets at the last minute, I was able to score a great deal through China Airlines' website. The flight was great- I got to fly in one of the business 'pods,' and while I thought it might be claustrophobic, it was actually quite comfortable!
I spent most of the flight looking out the window and watching the landscape change over Asia and couldn't believe the views when we reached southern Thailand; think turquoise ocean studded with emerald islands. It was amazingly beautiful, just like the postcards. Call me jaded, but I generally assume that everything beautiful that is sold through the open market these days is photoshopped to death, so I was really surprised, and excited, to see that this kind of natural beauty did, in fact, exist outside of photo-editing software.
Once on the ground, I had to wait in line at immigration for over an hour and a half. I was again shocked that it would take so long to get through in such a touristy location like Phuket, but the people in line ahead of me, who were frequent travelers to Phuket, told me that it usually takes a minimum of an hour and a half to pass through immigration. Taiwan, although a smaller country, has very little tourism but has a large, high-tech immigration hall that moves quickly and efficiently, and even when there are long lines, I've never waited more than 20 minutes to get through. I hope that Thailand will get a better handle on immigration in the future; waiting an hour and a half for immigration is just too long!
After I had passed through immigration, I met the driver that I had arranged to pick me up and bring me to the school/hotel. The trip took about an hour in the dark, so although on the road for a while, there was very little to see, which is a shame because I later found out everything was lush and green. Check-in took almost no time at all and my room was great: large bed, refrigerator, full sized couch, and a nice balcony overlooking the alley behind the hotel. Unfortunately, the internet didn't work very well, so I went to the closest 7-11 and got myself a travel sim card and topped up so I had unlimited 3G for the month. I highly recommend this to anyone traveling through- sim cards are cheap and being able to have data/calling if you'll be there for more than a week is really useful. Packages start at unlimited data for a minimum of 2 days and go up to one month, the latter costing about 20 USD.
Although I didn't venture too far my first night, I did take a walk around the neighborhood of my hotel and very quickly realized that everything in the area was either a bar or a restaurant. There was an abundance of noise to accompany both, including fire crackers being set off by venues trying to attract guests, and despite being in the quieter part of town, the noise was still overwhelming! Unfortunately for me, the bar scene isn't really my thing, so I was a little put off my all of the 'excitement.'
Another thing I noticed was that despite there being convenience stores in multiples on every block, there were no grocery stores anywhere near the hotel. This is probably because the entire area is really touristy and tourists are less likely to shop at a proper supermarket, but even so, I was a little disappointed. Both because I really love to browse supermarkets abroad to see what is popular locally, but also because as a vegetarian, it's easier to buy your own food and assemble it yourself than rely on street vendors to provide something edible. Especially when you don't speak the local language.
The beaches, I discovered on day two, were absolutely gorgeous; turquoise water, white sand, and tons of palm trees for shade. I decided to spend some time out on the beach every day after 6 pm to try to get my studying done (both for the short course and my thesis). Why so late? For starters, class ran until 5pm on most days and it's much nicer to be out on the beach once it's cleared out for the evening (tourists flock back to their hotels to shower and change for dinner around 5-6pm), but also because the sun in Phuket is really strong so it's safer to be out later in the day; I had no desire to be a 'foreign lobster.'
A word to the wise- if you're out in Phuket or anywhere similarly near the equator at any time of the year, make sure to put on sun screen and reapply hourly; the sun is incredibly strong, even if it doesn't feel like it (say in overcast weather) and is a sure way to fast-track it to skin cancer!
More later on the short course and my adventures further afield!
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