I wake up from dozing off and look out the plane window to see a scatter of islands appear against turquoise waters. And so begins our island adventures. Phuket is a large mountainous island in the Andaman Sea that has some of Thailand’s most visited beaches. We only were able to spend one day and one night here.

Phuket Day One:

We hopped in our Grab Taxi and settled in for the hour-long ride to Patong where we would be staying at Lub.d hostel. Lub.d Hostel was the most modern hostel we had stayed at during our travels. It’s very much designed for networking, has a young vibe, and is especially good if you are traveling alone as they organize group events in the town. They had staff ready to assist us in planning our transportation over to Ko Phi Phi and also had a barbeque happening in the common area.

I instantly start sweating when I think of our well-designed room there, because this is where I foolishly sliced my finger with my razor (blood pressure is elevated just thinking about it). After I mentally recovered, we explored Patong beach and were able to relax. We grabbed a drink at Kudo Beach Club and watched the crabs as we enjoyed the warm salty air.

https://youtu.be/sSeVm039MT0?t=3m52s

Bangla street was wild and entertaining (see video above at 3:52). Very different than the relaxed beach vibes. We walked past street dancers, touristy retail stores and many aggressive locals marketing their “Ping Pong Show”. Wanting to preserve our relaxed vibe, we wandered into Aussie Bar and grabbed a drink in their loft while we watched the night life outside.

It was very different from Chiang Mai in that it felt more like a resort city as the shops were inside rather than outside street carts.

We woke up at a fun 5 am to pack up our stuff and catch our shuttle to our 8:30 ferry to Koh Phi Phi on the other side of Patong. We paid 750 Baht for shuttle pick up at our hostel and the ferry fee leaving out of Rassada Pier.