Around South East Asia: Part Fourteen
In which I explored Phuket
25.09.2025: Tour Day2, City1
Good morning from Phuket! I woke up at 6am, had breakfast with Devashree at 07:15am.
We were busy with photoshoot for half an hour until Joey arrived. Also a drizzle interrupted our shoot. We boarded the bus at 08:15am and drove towards our first sightseeing location.
Often called the Land of Smiles, Thailand is located in the heart of mainland Southeast Asia, bordered by Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, and Malaysia, with coastlines along the Gulf of Thailand and the Andaman Sea. It features diverse landscapes, including mountains, central plains, and beautiful beaches/islands. Phuket is the largest island of this country, called the pearl of Andaman sea.
We passed by the Patong beach. Today we had the group introduction. My seat partner was Smitha. She is part of the group I mentioned yesterday. They are a kitty group of ten members of which apart from her and Rashmi Koti, are doctors. Rashmi had organized this tour for them. Post the intro, everyone started munching on snacks. Kamini Patil brought a bag full of snacks, all the backseat members enjoyed the same. She had joined the tour with her sister Sharmila Bhoir. Kamlesh briefed on the day's itinerary and then we dozed off. After the three hour drive, we halted at the pier for the boat journey.
We boarded the traditional longtail boat at 11am, wearing a life jacket, for sailing towards the island.
The boat ride was half an hour towards the Phang Nga Bay. We got the taste of salty water on the way due to the wind and current.
Phang Nga Bay is a protected marine area between Phuket and Krabi. The bay's most distinctive feature is the limestone cliffs and tower karsts that rise vertically out of the emerald-green water.
Ao Phang Nga National Park is safeguarding the limestone formations and extensive mangrove forests. Most travellers went for canoeing in the limestone caves.
Anupama Bajaj, Devashree and me were waiting on the pier, chatting with Kamlesh. It took around 45mins for all to return. We boarded our boat again and sailed towards the island of the day. It took 20mins to reach the venue. We were given 45mins to explore the same.
James Bond Island (Khao Phing Kan & Ko Ta Pu)
A pair of islands made internationally famous by its appearance in the 1974 James Bond movie, The Man with the Golden Gun. The Main Island from where we take photos is Khao Phing Kan, which is made of two forest-covered cliffs joined by a small beach.
Ko Tapu (the spike rock) sits about 40m offshore, 20m tall, limestone karst that juts out of the water. I explored the area with Lalitagauri Kulkarni and her sister Padmini Gumaste.
Done with the photos, we boarded the boat for a 30min ride to Koh Panyee, floating village for lunch.
It had self service pani puri stack. They were preparing bhaturas on the go. I had lunch with Kamini, Sharmila, Devashree, Neha Tamboli and her daughter Mantra. Post lunch and washroom break, everyone got busy into shopping. We boarded the boat for the last ride towards our pier and then boarded the bus at 03:30pm. We deposited the life jackets, some had coconut drinks, some shopped for hats. We got an icecream treat.
Everyone slept till 05:30pm. Joey waked us for the Old town orientation and walking tour. We explored two streets, enjoying mango juice, shopping, etc.
There was a Buddhist temple, Wat Mongkhon Nimit, known for its pagoda style architecture. Since I was wearing shorts, could not enter the same. So I clicked photos from outside.
We got back to the bus, drove towards the show venue, reached there by 7pm. More on this in next post.
