Charming Phuket

It was a Friday morning and we were flying over the small incredible islands of this part of the world. From far away one could see this, but much bigger. Phuket was going to be our destination for the next 4 days, to be more precisely, a beach town called Patong.
The arrival at Casa del M Resort was about an hour drive from the airport by minivan. The interesting thing was that the van's route did not drop us off at the resort, but all the way downtown from it. The resort was at the high peak of the town. Anyway, someone drove us down and picked us up. We checked into our room and headed down into the shore to enjoy the sunset and grab some acclaimed traditional Thai diner. I had in mind some seafood with pad Thai noodles, steamed dumplings or green curry. Along the way, we purchased the activities for our stay in the island (daytrip on a speed boat to Koh Phi Phi, James Bond’s Island, Monkey’s Island; elephant ride through the jungle, a visit to the big Buddha Phuket in Chalong which is almost as tall as the Statue of Liberty in NY harbor, except that this one is completely made of beautiful white marble pieces.
Saturday morning as planned, we were picked up and headed to the port to join other tourists, mostly Russians and Europeans. The speed boat with about 60 people onboard headed east to Koh Phi Phi Islands. We visited 4 islands (James Bond’s, Monkey’s Island, Kaino, and Krabi where we had lunch. The boat ride to the first stop took about an hour at sea. It was difficult to put into words the feelings that one experienced contemplating that scenery for the first time. In a way, I wanted to take a picture of it in my mind, and went back to live it every other day for the rest of my life. The water was captivating, clear greenish full of small multicolored fishes swimming right below the boat! So beautiful!
On Sunday, we had breakfast at the resort. It was raining, very much tropical weather with all sorts of birds singing through the corridors of the venue. We headed uphill to see the elephants, and watched the jungle. What we didn't know was that these heavy animals were kept chained throughout the day, so they wouldn't run wild and leave their owners out of business. It was my least favorite part of the trip in Thailand. On our way back to Patong, the sky started to clear out and the sun came back out. We visited the Big Buddha’s monument which was very enjoyable. There were about two dozen small golden Buddhas in different positions surrounding the actual temple, and many people praying and meditating. It was a peaceful and serene place to encounter in this island, which not too long ago on a Christmas day, was almost washed out by the Tsunami.
Phuket was one of the most beautiful and enjoyable parts of our trip. However, it was not as clean as our previous location, Singapore. Let's see what awaits us in our next stop, “The Pearl of the Orient.”