Phuket in a Nutshell

So my three night, two day stint in Phuket has come to an end. Honestly, I am so happy to be going home, but Phuket is pretty unbelievable and I am sad to leave it, although it's best explored with company, as solo travel, at least for me, is muy boring/lonely.

Confession. I didn't leave the resort the whole time I was here. Ok, is anyone really surprised? Probably not. I had wanted to go to James Bond Island and Phi Phi and all of that, but my body is still pretty wrecked by the boot camp yoga training consisting of four straight weeks of early morning wake up calls, double and sometimes triple daily 2 hour asana practice in 100+ degree heat, very little food, a bed about two inches thick and harder than a wooden table and daily stress in the form of insects/critters in my 'hotel' room. Ok, I'm half-kidding, it wasn't that bad, but I am still incredibly sore and not in any shape to play explorer on this fine island. Next time. I still had a wonderful time here, though. I did a lot of reading, working on my yoga website, etc. It was nice to just relax. And two full days was perfect for me. No more, no less.

I can highly recommend the Imperial Adamas Resort, if you're looking to come to Phuket. I found a really good deal on agoda.com. My room was large and, more importantly, CLEAN. It had a beautiful balcony with a day bed that was perfect for late afternoon blogging and reading. Employees spoke pretty good English and when they didn't understand, they'd get someone who spoke better English. Service was fast, and any time I walked by any of the workers they'd give me a huge smile and say hello in either English or Thai. Having stayed at, um, another 'resort' for the yoga training, I can tell you this is not customary. But it was much appreciated because as a solo traveler, they were the only people I really talked to!

 

 My joints needed this!!!

I wouldn't recommend coming to a big resort alone, unless it's just for a few days. Most of the other guests are honeymooners (no one makes you lonelier than a bunch of honeymooners!) or families with kids.

Also, Phuket sort of has this crap reputation for attracting two types of people. A) The loud, abrasive people looking to relive their wildest college days, and B) (mostly (entirely?) male) tourists who are on the prowl for an experience of Thailand's unfortunate sex industry. The beaches have supposedly gone to hell, littered with beer bottles, and sun burned tourists packed in like sardines. When you tell expats living in Thailand that you're off to Phuket, they roll their eyes at you and say you'll hate it with this greater-than-thou attitude (not that I had that experience or anything, ha!).

My experience was nothing like I had been warned about. My resort was on its own private beach, and at most I saw four people in the ocean at once. There were three resident stray dogs that were around at dawn and evening, but otherwise were out of sight and not at all aggressive or annoying toward anyone. The only downside to this beach is that the water was super shallow, so while you could walk for probably a mile out and barely be up to your knees, there was no body surfing or swimming to be had. Which suited me fine, as there was a giant infinity pool about 20 feet before the beach started. For me, it was perfect. I'm so glad I went. Don't listen to people when they tell you what you will/will not like!!

Ok, so I gotta finish this up so I can go to bed and get up in the morning and jump on a plane. :/ (hate flying!) Last perk of this place- the airport is 10 minutes away. Over and out!