reset day
Its April 16th. We left home 6 days ago. Prior to this trip, the longest trip away from the kids was 4 maybe 5 nights on a Mexico get away. Pre kids Brett and I enjoyed traveling and made an effort to take an annual trip. Some bigger or further away than others, but time together exploring is one of our favorite things. On a typical trip, this would have been the time we would be packing up and heading home. It was actually a really great feeling to know we weren't even half way through yet. So much more to see and do.
We had planned today to be a relax and explore day. Those things don't seem to go hand in hand, but we had no agenda, just a short list of places we had on our list of things to see. On that list were Paradise Beach and Secret Beach. Both very remote and off the beaten path. Most blogs will actually tell you to access them by long tail. We didn't want the commitment of a boat so we ordered a Bolt to take us to Secret Beach. After trekking through the jungle up and down bumpy roads, he dropped us off at the top of the hill and pointed us in the direction we needed to go. We would need to catch a ride on a little truck because it was too steep to walk down and back. So after a short wait in the melting sun, a driver came to take us down the road. Once we arrived at the drop off point it was more walking through the jungle on a foot path. This is pretty much a deserted beach so caution was taken, sorta. We also realized at this point we weren't at Secret Beach, rather at Paradise Beach. We didn't really know the difference but another prime example of the language barrier.
The beach was pretty. Quiet and maybe 4 other people there. Mostly gypsy type travelers who probably slept there. No joke. We found a spot tucked up in the rocks, under the trees because it was quite hot and we planned to read and veg out. That didn't last too long, as there were little crabs alllll over. So we went down to the water to take a dip. Within seconds of stepping in the water, every part of my body that was in the water started to sting. It was so bizarre. I don't know that I was stung by a jelly or if it was the water larva that we heard about. It didn't affect Brett at all though. I was pretty uncomfortable and we didn't have a ton of water to rinse off with. Needless to say, we aren't exactly deserted beach type people. We made our way into the village of Karon and got dropped off at a market for some lunch and shopping. Here we also had our first Thai ice cream. Literally made right in front of us on a cold stone. Once you understand how hot it is in Thailand, the fact that this can be made in an open market its super impressive. We went with Nutella and strawberry. Delicious to the last melty drop.
$8 massage
After our lunch we made our way back to the resort, and at this point my the decision that massages on the beach were next up. For $8 it was an easy decision. Perhaps one of the best massages ever. Bonus, no one stood on top of me. I nearly had her start a second massage, but it was a bit sweaty and time for cocktail hour. We love our spicy margaritas, but really as popular in Thailand as they are in 2023 America. That didn't stop us from trying though. The bartender gave it his best shot and improvised with Tabasco in place of the jalapeño or other pepper. It wasn't half bad and by the end of the afternoon we probably drank a bottle of Tabasco between the two of us. When you are on the beach, nothing really. seemed to matter. We met up with Ang and Matthew at the pool later on and continued the fun making some friends with some Aussies. This was also the first time we went in the pool and it was actually funny how warm it was. Literally a giant bath tub. Hardly refreshing but relaxing all the same. Sunset was approaching and so was a good tequila buzz, with no plans for dinner we decided to head to the beach for a sunset dip. This also happened to be one of the most magical ones while we were in Phuket. The sky was glowing.
