Before we had took off back to the UK an old school friend of mine had posted online about needing a house/cat sitter for 3 weeks and she would like someone she knew to take advantage of the offer. She lives in Phuket, and the dates she needed lined up perfectly with our plan for South Thailand.
After our visit home my mum and her husband decided to visit us. Anyone who knows them knows they have only ever travelled long haul once and they hated it. To be fair to them, it was an horrific journey but it was the only one they had done so this was a big deal!! My mum hates travelling. But they decided to come, and we had a house and a car to make them more comfortable.
We arrived at the house in the early hours of the morning with a plan of dropping off my friend at the airport and collecting the grown ups in the same trip. That was obviously too simple. The flight from the UK was delayed so they missed their connecting flight in Doha, meaning they had to spend a night there before carrying on to us. It delayed them a total of 12 hours. On top of that our friend also had a delay, so we had got up at 4am for no reason!!
Once they finally arrived we took that night to settle in. Then we rolled into a fully packed week.
We headed into Patong and introduced them to some local cuisine. We took a stroll on the beach and watch the insane parasailing staff literally holding on to the parachute cables with no safety equipment. We saw the sights of walking street and had a few drinks people watching which was more than interesting.
The next day we headed to a National Park. When we arrived we paid a 200THB per person to enter. Inside the park was the Gibbon Rehabilitation centre. It's a small hut and a sort of viewing platform, where you can see the gibbons that are still in enclosures. Although you can see through the fences that aren't always easy to get a good view of. They have plenty of space and tons of greenery. There are information cards displaying details about each gibbon and their history. The little hut shop has a staff member or 2 that can give you the info on what they are trying to achieve and you can buy all sorts of merchandise or even adopt/sponsor a gibbon.
The park also had a couple of waterfalls so we headed for the nearest one. The walk was slippy and tight and obviously uphill. Some of the walk was a bit nerve wracking and we didn't realise that all of the park staff would be sprinting up this path at lunch time to dive and swim while taking their break. It was a hot and sticky walk and we had to stop a few times but it was pretty once we reached the top. You could edge into the water in the rock pools and relax in the cool stream, and if you were a bit of a daredevil you could climb the side of the waterfall and jump into the plunge pool below! We watched the locals doing this and often almost hitting the rocks, it was a bit terrifying. We spent a bit of time relaxing and cooling off, then headed back down for some lovely fresh fruit and drinks.
On the way back to the house we stopped off at the Bodhi dog shelter. This place was a lot smaller than I expected it to be, and only had 5 people there at the time. There were so many dogs. All ages, shapes and sizes, all in the same area. It was heartbreaking but so good to see them being looked after and cared for so well. By the time we were done our visitors were exhausted and it was getting late so we got takeaway Thai food and relaxed at home. Perfect.
Next was a day of drinking! As you do on holiday. We spent the day having a few cocktails and beers. We visited Hooters where the food and drinks where amazing! Then we headed off to a cabaret show. Simon Cabernet. We arrived to a proper theatre which wasn't expected. We headed to the bar for more lovely cocktails and then headed for our seats. The show was brilliant. All of the performers mime in each song but the set up is great and the costumes are out of this world! Some seem professional, others are comedy (that where really funny) and some novelty numbers. My favourite by far was the Disney version of Chicago's Jail House Tango featuring the villains. Cruela Devil, Ursula, Maleficent and the Evil Queen. It was so well choreographed and had all of the audience laughing along. Once we left our private transfer was waiting for us and we headed back to the bars.
We had expected the following day to be a complete write off so we had planned a beach day. We got a taxi to Laguna beach and settled on a huge beach bed lounger at Xana beach club. The pool was just behind us, sun loungers right in front of us and the sea lapping away in the distance. We spent all day lounging and drinking listening to brilliant chilled out music until about tea time when rain set in. Even then we refused to let go of the day, the lounger was covered so we could sit comfortably watching the rain. Perfect beach day!!
The last full day with our visitors was going to be a busy one. We had booked a boat trip to Phi Phi. We drove ourselves to the pier which was a complete nightmare! We got stuck in crazy traffic and ended up arriving at the pier 30mins after we had been told to arrive. Not that it mattered as it quickly became clear that we wouldn't be setting off anytime soon. First off we were added to the wrong tour group, then we were moved and were the only people at the tour office. Over the next 50 minutes the office filled up and we finally were given information on the days itinerary. We loaded onto the speed boat and headed off.
Through the day we stopped at some amazing sites. Our first two stops where to see the Viking caves, the famous beach at Maya Bay. As beautiful as Maya Bay is it's completely saturated with boats, fumes from engines and tons of people!
Next we pulled up at the beach in Phi Phi. Our boat guide (the owner of the company) pointed out all the main places and showed us where we could get lunch. There were around 30-40 people on our boat but he went out of his way to make sure we were seated and looked after. When we finished our food he even went and bought us ice creams!! Phi Phi island is world famous and anyone you speak to has pretty much been there, and although it was beautiful, it was massively overcrowded. The edge of the beaches were bumper to bumper with speed boats and long tails, the beach was crowded and the bars and restaurants were crazy busy.
From Phi Phi we visited Monkey Beach and watched the monkeys playing and chasing each other up and down the rock faces (the tide was in) then headed to another island called Koh Kaynock, where we got chairs on the beach and paddled in the sea. It was beautiful.
On the way back pretty much everyone fell asleep. I get terrible sea sickness if I don't take medication but that same motion that causes the sickness also sends me right off to sleep. By the time we arrived back at the pier we were shattered again. It had been such a long day, in the baking sun and napping. It's tiring enjoying yourself and being lazy. 😉 We all had quick showers ready to go back out, we couldn't stay in on their last night. We went to an area called Boat Avenue. It had been recommended for places to eat and it's Friday night market. It was Friday. We had amazing food at a bar around the corner the strolled around the stalls. There was everything. Food produce, cooked foods, ice cream, drinks, jewellery, makeup, clothes, bags, sunglasses, wooden carvings, a barber and nail artists!! We picked up a few souvenirs and finished our night off with another few drinks.
Our last day had rolled round so quickly I couldn't believe a week had passed. The flights home were tea time flights so we drove out to the Big Buddha. We didn't expect to be there for long, a little walk around then head back. Wrong. By the time we had left we had been there for about 4 hours. With lots of smaller statues, the blessing tree, the view points, the little stalls selling keepsakes and leaves for the blessing tree and information dotted around in different places, we loved it! There were even monkeys in the trees, but I stayed well clear! We hung a blessing leaf and sat taking in the views, watching the rain sweep towards us across the hills before heading back down. The walk up and down was much easier than I thought it would be and it's certainly a place I'd recommend to visit.
After a lovely week it was time to say goodbye to my mum and her husband. Although we don't have that long left travelling it still got a bit emotional, doesn't everyone hate saying goodbye to their mum! We set them off on their way and headed home. Now it was time to take advantage of having a place for longer than a few days. Relax, recoup and plan.
