Quick Phuket Trip: Amari Resort, Discos, and Phi Phi Island
Posted by Stuart at 09:46 PM on September 19, 2005I spent this weekend in Phuket in Southern Thailand with my American friends Mark (who lives in Bangkok) and Clayton (who lives in the US). We got a fantastic package deal: Round-trip airfare on Thai, two nights in the 4-star Amari Resort, airport shuttle and free breakfast buffet for only 5,000 baht (US$125).
One of the days we were there, was spent relaxing in our rooms or at the pool. I usually don't like to do that when I travel, but this hotel was so nice and the beds were so comfy, it was hard to get out of them. Not to mention we spent most of the night before and well into the morning dancing at the Tiger Disco and then Safari Disco.
The other day we were there, we took a boat trip to Phi Phi Island. Unfortunately, it rained the entire day and the seas were quite rough, so it was not a very pleasurable a trip. One cool thing that we did see, however, is a group of cliff-dwelling monkeys. I didn't know that monkeys could swim, but these monkeys were more than happy to jump into the salt-water ocean to retrieve bananas that we threw to them from our boat.
Not only were the low clouds hanging over the island of Phi Phi, an overwhelming sense of sadness and tragedy filled the air as well. Almost everything and everyone on Phi Phi was washed away during the tsunami last December. Nine months later, there are still huge piles of trash and rubble lying around, as well as buildings that had their bottom floors washed out. I didn't see a single smile the entire time I was there. Phi Phi must be the saddest place in Thailand.
But, other than the visit to Phi Phi, the trip was very relaxing and fun. Now it's time to get back to the huge pile of work that I have waiting for me. But maybe I can find some time to post a few of the pictures I have taken on the last two weekends.
Thats a great package price. I spent a lot more than that to stay in a motel that had no hot water (even though they said it did) To get all that for $125 is amazing!
Good to read your comments. What's the condition of Phuket post-tsunami? Has it recovered well enough to be OK for a holiday?
Unfortunately, that too is the case on the Gulf Coast. Not only from Katrina whose rage and effects (i.e. additional wind and rain pressuring the levees on Lake Ponchatrain to break) destroyed half of New Orleans, Biloxi, Pascagoula, damage to Mobile, and completely wiped out many villages on the bayous and waterways of Southern Louisiana and Southern Mississippi ........ not to mention Ivan whose storm surge demolished multi-million dollar homes and shacks and shanties in Gulf Breeze, Pensacola Beach, and Perdido Key .......... as with the Tsuamni, there is still rubble and trash and homes that are without walls or roofs ..... people who have lived in trailers for the last year in their front yard as their homes are being repaired. People who are still homeless.
The only difference is the massive loss of life with the Tsunami, in comparison to Katrina and Ivan, and the level of development and economic advantages on the broader scale.
That does not mean to diminish the effects of any of the three catastrophes, it simply reinstates an age old fact .... mother nature can not be controlled. The seas are unyielding, the rivers are always alive, the wind is forever in motion.