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Our second day promised a lot of fun and some really good memories. Simba Sea Trips was highly recommended by TripAdvisor members and we booked two tours with them, the first being Phi-Phi Islands. The tour is run by Geoff and Jenny who are British and Australian respectively and safely chose a place halfway from their respective countries to live after they married. Everybody on the tour seemed to think they were wonderful hosts and we all ended up being very good friends. The tour included pickup and dropoff from hotel, breakfast, lunch, evening snacks, life jackets and snorkeling equipment and was to include a trip to the famous Maya Bay (of Leo Caprio’s ‘The Beach’ movie). We stopped at different islands throughout the day and Sanika had a BLAST playing in the water. She easily forgot and forgave her previous day’s fun at the Patong beach. The excursion took us away from the touristy Phuket and into the exotic picture-postcard type locales in the Andamans. Here are some photos from the trip:

Lunch was served at ‘The Beach’ (Maya Bay) where we all were glad to follow in the footsteps of Leonardo Di Caprio.

 View of ‘The Beach’

View from ‘The Beach’

The day was also very important in my life as I did something that I had never done before – and nothing so adventurous for the past few years. I don’t know how to swim but did not want to miss out on the fun ohters were having. I mentioned it to Jenny and she encouraged me to snorkel with her. She actually held my hand while we headed towards the middle of the ocean and gave me an experience to remember. What I saw beneath, I could not capture (did I mention I do not even know how to swim, leave along having an under-water camera?) and neither can I attempt to describe the marvels of nature that unfolded before me under the sea, but I can only tell you that what I saw will forever remain with me, that I was far off from this world and into a very different one when I was looking underneath and that I cannot wait to do it again. And since everyone wants to get a glimpse of the Nemo fish, it was only proper that I try my luck at it – and I did discover Nemo! Poor Rohit could not do it, although he wanted to do it as badly as I did. He has a moustache and the water kept getting into his mask because of his moustache.

Me (mask on) and Jenny of Simba Sea Trips

 Geoff and Jenny and their team of seamen were seasoned enough to know the best spots for Snorkeling and dropped the anchor of the boat right in the middle of nowhere to give us a chance to snorkel at the best spots. We also snorkeled at every island beach that we stopped at. Tired after swimming and snorkeling the entire day, we came back delighted with our choice for the excursion and on making new friends from all over the world. Sanika fell asleep on the way back.

We arrived at Suvarnabhumi airport in Bangkok and boarded our connecting flight to Phuket. We were greeted by the now familiar (after traveling Thai Airways) Thai greeting of ‘Sawasdee’ (meaning Hello) which my daughter Sanika had learned by heart and which got her some special attention throughout Thailand.

At Phuket airport, we booked a Toyota Camry which took us to the beautiful Amari Coral Beach Resort. Amari Coral Beach Resort is owned by the Amari Group of Hotels which has some really good properties all over Thailand. The resort was ranked 1st among all hotels at Patong Beach area and looked exactly what we wished for.

The rooms promised a fabulous view of the ocean and is a short walk away from the Patong beach which is the main beach of Phuket. Since we were with a child, we did not want any place too far from the main pulse of the city and chose the Amari over other fantastic options like the Momtri hotels. But we also did not want a hotel bang on the noisy Patong beach road (Holiday Inn is a great choice for those who do) and Amari Coral proved to be a calm and serene haven which gave us views of the ocean as well as the nearby Patong beach (see below for the view from our balcony). The hotel is nestled amongst the national forest area of Phuket and is a destination of sorts, in itself. More on that on the 3rd day.

View from our balcony…

After resting ourselves in the afternoon, and having a lunch of a wood-fired Pizza from Amari’s famous Italian restaurant – La Gritta, we started towards the beach at about 4 p.m. The Amari has a private, guarded road towards Patong beach.

The road to Patong Beach…

The road takes a turn and we get a full view of the beach

 After a lot of fun on the beach, as the daylight got dimmer and dimmer, we took off to see the shops on the pther side of the Beach Road. As we were all hungry by now, we bought some freshly sliced watermelon and Sanika had a Chocolate-Banana Crepe from one of the numerous street stalls. Then, we proceeded to Soi Post Office my agenda for the day – buying Benjarong. Since I am an avid collector for my home, my only ‘must buy’ in Thailand was the famous Thai Royal Porcelain or the five-color and 18k gold pottery ‘Benjarong’ which was once used exclusively by the King of Thailand. Since our itinerary in Bangkok did not leave time for the Rivercity Mall which houses the Government recognized Benjarong store, I planned to do it in Phuket itself since the prices remain the same in trusted shops. ‘Siam Ceramics’ in ‘Soi Post Office’ (the lane next to the Post Office on Patong Beach Road – hard to miss) was my destination and I saw some stuff on sale which made it possible for me to spend lesser than I had budgeted. I had budgeted 4500 Thai baht for a souvenir teacup and saucer but I got a miniature tea set for 3000 THB.

Gorgeous Benjarong on display

While I  made my decision in the shop, Sanika amused herself with the friendly women of the Thai massage parlor as they painted her nails. We had given up hopes of getting a Thai massage done since we did not want to leave Sanika under the care of a baby-sitter in a foreign land, but that was about to change. We asked the women if they would keep her engaged while we took a massage from them and they readily agreed. We fixed on the day after tomorrow for our massage and shopped for a beach towel and a cover-up dress for tomorrow’s excursion followed by an Indian dinner in the same lane. By the time we returned, the Beach road had turned into a dazzling display of all sorts of toys, goodies, knick-knacks, fake designer stuff etc. Since we were well-warned that shopping is much cheaper in Bangkok, we wore blinkers on our eyes, turned our backs on all the shops and went back to our hotel.