Phuket, Thailand is a southern peninsula bordering Malaysia and Myanmar and surrounded by the Indian Ocean and thousands of tropical islands. This is where Dulce and I spent our first 5 days in Thailand. And we LOVED it! For me, Phuket provided nature and peace, some Thai culture without intensity, and most importantly, the greenest, most beautiful and comfortable waters I’ve ever swam in. I knew I would enjoy Thailand but I didn’t realize just how much I would love it and how much I would want to return.

We rented a car, and while I was a little nervous to drive on the left side of the road at first, it quickly became easy and automatic. It’s Monsoon season and off tourist season, so traffic really wasn’t bad.

We started our trip with 2 nights at the Hot Springs Hotel & Spa in the country and northern peninsula. It was remote and peaceful and we got to see an interesting way of Thai life. The hotel was nice and comfortable, the hot springs pools were natural and salty, some hot and some cool. The staff were slow but friendly. We really enjoyed it.

We also took a full day boat tour to Phi Phi Islands (pronounced pee-pee) and swam and snorkeled and swam some more and it was AMAZING! Amazing!!!

The next day we moved to another location (Kamala Beach) for 2 nights, an Airbnb in a high rise. It rained a lot while we were here but we kept busy and enjoyed the beach later when the sun came out. We spent a full day at an Elephant Rescue camp and learned a lot about Asian elephants. We paid a little extra to help pay for the elephants’ care. All of the elephants are female, most are in their 40s, and each one is assigned a single caregiver who lives with the elephants 24/7 – that caregiver becomes their best friend! We could see how attached they were – when the caregiver for one was out of sight for too long, the elephant (whose name is Po) started to bark to call him! These creatures were stunning and sweet and gentle. They were rescued from work camps and circuses and entertainment centers, and which are all illegal but somehow tolerated. We fed them and gave one of them an exfoliating scrub in the ocean and showered with one (Po). She flapped her ears with joy and you could really feel how much she enjoyed the treatment! They each get 4 baths a day but they don’t all always get the full scrub down. We also made elephant vitamin balls and learned about their nutrition. It was truly an extraordinary experience.

But wait, there’s more! We also took a Thai cooking class! We learned how to make Tom Yum soup, Pad Thai, Thai curry (I made green curry and Dulce made red curry), and green papaya salad, all from scratch! It was the best Thai curry I have ever had. Also the best pad Thai I’ve ever had!

Finally we got to enjoy the beach a little and then moved to an old apartment in Old Town Phuket for one night and did some shopping before we had to pack up and leave for Bangkok. Stay tuned for more…