I arrived back in Thailand two weeks ago. I know I'm so far behind on blog posts...only a couple entries got posted from my three months in Bangkok last year and nothing from my two months in the UK...maybe one day I'll catch up. Maybe not. But I can at least try to share what is going on currently. If I only tweeted maybe it would be easier...here's the short update from the past six months.
Two amazing months in the UK (captured on fb...maybe one day here also!)...arrived back in Seattle in time for Thanksgiving and Christmas with the fam...but the goal was never to be in my parents basement all winter, so when I found a good price back to Bangkok, I jumped on it. I was all set to leave and had jumped through all the changing hoops to return (visa etc) and was about to complete the last step and apply for my Thailand Pass on December 21 (-with all the same information that is required for the visa!!?) when Thailand cancelled the Test and Go program (that had been in place just over a month which allowed vaccinated visitors to enter with a pre-departure negative covid test and one night in a hotel while waiting for negative arrival covid test results) literally because of one omicron case, reinstating the full quarantine again for all vaccinated arrivals. This I was not going to do again - but there was another option and that was to take advantage of the Phuket 'Sandbox', another scheme allowing visitors to fly directly into Phuket, be tested on arrival and on day 5 while being free to go anywhere on the island for the week of quarantine. A beach quarantine sounded much better than being locked in a hotel room for a week so I was grateful to be able to find and quickly book a decent fare on Qatar Airways leaving on the same day that I had intended to depart Seattle.
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| Moon over a foggy late afternoon Seattle departure |
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| If this was my last sunset, I'd be ok with that... |
I wasn't sure it would happen to be honest and I wrestled with the decision to travel during the days of Omicron given the increased contagiousness. Though I have travelled throughout covid, I have travelled cautiously and followed all the rules and guidelines everywhere I have been. But with Omicron raging, the logistical risks were greater because if someone tests positive in Thailand either on arrival day or five days later you are sent to Thai hospital purgatory for an unknown amount of days - SYMPTOMS OR NOT - which you or your insurance will need to pay for and insurance usually doesn't want to pay for anything if you don't have any symptoms. So you can see why I was a little more anxious - but knowing I was leaving from Seattle and everyone else would have been vaccinated and tested on the plane and being armed with an N-95 mask, I took my chances. And thankfully (very thankfully) I received negative results on both my tests this past week. This report by journalist Jonathan Miller reveals what I might have faced if I had tested positive. This article got the attention of Phuket's leadership!
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| Appropriate greeting! |
And so ironically, the change in plans and accompanying frustration and anxiety allowed me to explore and enjoy Phuket for my first time ever and have some other first time experiences including the following highlights...
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| Moon upon arrival at 6:40AM in Phuket |
The moon upon landing! That's not the sun at the end of the wing but the moon lit up in a fiery sunrise coming into land at Phuket's airport.
Speaking of Phuket's airport, it's been a longtime bucket list wish of mine to visit one of the handful of places around the world where you can stand on the beach and have big planes come screaming in over your head or knock you over with their powerful jet blasts upon takeoff. This box has now been checked!
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| Wind and sand blowing courtesy of Finnair |
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| Jet blast can push the water back from the sand! |
There's a small national park right next to the airport which adds to the charm and quietness of the area (because most tourists don't want to pay the 200 Baht entry fee). After watching planes in the heat of the day, I took a quick dip and snorkel over some shallow coral right off the shore. There were only small fish (beautiful nonetheless) but surprisingly perhaps to both of us, I ran into a large honeycomb/leopard eel which was really cool to see though I kept my distance! Photo not mine.
Honestly, if I was returning to Phuket for a few days, I might just find a small guest house/hotel around the airport and enjoy the solitude of this beach/national park and plane watch. That would be just fine with me.
As this whole area of Thailand is famous for it's islands, snorkeling and diving, most snorkel/dive trips will take you off of Phuket to other smaller islands but I found plenty of fish to entertain me at the rocky points at the ends of the long beaches that I stayed. And at Freedom beach - another first - seeing a pair of large cuttlefish playing in the sand together! I was happy to be reunited with parrot fish since I now have quite an affinity for them after my months swimming with them in Bermuda. |
| View from my room |
I stayed at two Hilton properties (because points...see full Tripadvisor reviews here)The Phuket Hilton is a sprawling property on 75 acres with beautiful views everywhere you look, but I never get tired of views like this looking over the trees to the ocean.
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