India and Thailand - Part V

Bright and early Monday morning, we checked out of our hotel and headed to the airport for our flight to Phuket. We flew Bangkok Air, a boutique airline that, get this, allows ALL passengers to enjoy the lounge and the complimentary refreshments while they wait for their flight. Consider us fans!

Our flight was quick and painless; only about an hour and a half. Upon arrival at Phuket airport, a driver from Naka Island, the Starwood resort where we were staying, was waiting for us. He immediately showed us to the Toyota Camry (the bimmer option was an extra $30) for the 30 minute ride to the marina. From the marina we took a boat to the island where a golf cart awaited us at the end of the pier. So many modes of transportation for our journey!  The hotel staff then did a small welcome ceremony with us that involved drinking a cold lemongrass concoction and each taking a swing at the gong while we made a wish for our time at Naka Island. From there we were shown to our villa where would spend the next five nights.

On the boat in the marina before our first trip to Naka Island

Approaching Naka Island

Our villa was amazing.  I made a villa tour as a reminder of what the layout was like.  The bathroom was screened in but essentially outside.  The bedroom was air conditioned which made the nights more comfortable, but I really enjoyed the fact that the bathroom was outside.  Of course with the humidity, my hair was never looking its best, but hey, it's vacation = no stress, no worries!

We had a ride around the resort on our assigned bicycles the next morning before heading to the pool.  Parts of the resort were quite hilly so I ended up riding and walking with my bike.  We stayed around the resort until early afternoon and then we headed to Phuket Town. We decided to go ahead and go into Phuket on Tuesday so that we could have the last 3 days of our time at Naka Island without further interruption and also because it made sense to go into town early in the week so that we could go to the grocery store for some drinks and snacks so we wouldn't end up spending a small fortune in the minibar over the coming days.

Pool at Naka Island

Immediately upon arrival in town, we spotted an area with street food stalls so Mo sampled a couple of things. He's more adventurous than me when it comes to unidentified edibles.  Then we just spent some time walking around trying to get our bearings and checking out the Sino-Portuguese architecture around town.  It was a bank holiday so many shops and restaurants were closed and in general it was pretty quiet.  While we were walking around we came across a restaurant that I had read about, called Cook, and decided to have dinner there.

The Thai owner of Cook used to cook Italian at a mega resort so when he opened his own Old Town cafe he fused the two cultures.  There were many traditional Thai options, but there was also a green curry pizza with chicken and a pork curry coconut milk pizza.

After a delicious dinner, we decided to have a Thai foot massage.  Hey, when in Rome...The typical Thai foot massage parlor is a long open room with a long row of plush reclining chairs.  The massage is mostly concentrated on your feet and legs, but they also massage your shoulders and arms for a portion of the time.  An hour-long foot massage (including a fairly hefty tip which seems to be expected but not required) was approximately $5.  If I lived there, there is no doubt I would be springing for one every week! The two ladies that gave Mo and I our massages were really nice and even tried to chat to us in English a little.  They both thought Mo was good looking and asked if he was a Bollywood star!

After our massages we went to the grocery store and picked up some drinks and snacks for the rest of our time on the island before we met the driver from the hotel and headed back to the resort.

The next several days were all about relaxing and enjoying some time at the pool.  A couple of the more memorable moments were the owl we spotted one evening when we went to Z Bar for drinks at sunset; the Korean honeymoon couple that wore matching speedo for him and one piece swimsuit for her in a bright, iridescent, solid color--a different color each day but the design of the swimsuits did not change (wish I had a photo of this); and the food served at the two restaurants at the resort.  We had the pleasure of chatting with the executive chef, Ian Thomason, on a couple of occasions.  He spent many years in London working at different restaurants including The Savoy Hotel before settling in Thailand.  Both restaurants at the resort were really good and one of them in particular was quite affordable, especially for a resort of this quality with a captive consumer!

Mo enjoying a swim in the pool

On Friday it rained quite a bit.  So I took advantage of the situation and went for a back massage and facial. By the afternoon things cleared off a bit and we spent the last afternoon at the pool.

Saturday came way to fast and it was sad to say goodbye to Naka Island.  The only silver lining was that between our return journey to Mumbai and the following one on to London, we got to spend a bit more time with Mo's dad.  He met us at the airport and we headed home to relax, have dinner and take a shower before our flight later that night.

The long flight back to London was uneventful and we arrived early on Sunday morning.  We had a bit of extra time to settle in since Monday was a bank holiday.  We hadn't realized that when we booked the trip and probably would have stayed the extra day in Thailand, but in the end it was nice to get back and have the extra time before getting back to reality on Tuesday.  All in all, it was a wonderful vacation with the perfect mix of family, tourism and relaxation.

Note: This is the fifth and final installment of India and Thailand...FINALLY!