That second long weekend, the Queen's birthday weekend, I took an Official Leave day on Friday, headed to immigration first thing in the morning to do my 90 day report and get my re-entry permit stamped for October, then headed straight to the airport to catch my 1:30pm flight to Phuket. My lovely friend Brenda is working at a resort on Racha Yai Island, and met me at the airport in Phuket. I had also invited my friend Rachel to join us, and since her flight was getting in later that afternoon we had decided to just spend that first night in Phuket and take the boat to Racha Yai in the morning. Had some delicious Mexican food at Coyote's, and then turned in when we were all in food comas.
The next morning it was off to Chalong Pier to catch the ferry to Racha Yai. Had leftover quesadilla for breakfast, and then found our seats on the speedboat. Arrived at the island about 30 minutes later, bobbled down the floating dock to the beach, and hopped on the truck to take us to the resort.
After dropping our things in Brenda's room, we took a tour of the place, pretended to be filthy rich, then went closer to the beach and enjoyed some delicious gelato. Spent an hour or two on the beach, then grabbed our suits and walked down the road to the Raya resort to go scuba diving.
I don't get all the hype. I really don't understand what all the fuss is about. They're just FISH. I thought it would be awesome and surreal and be like being IN the fish tank...but I still just felt like I was looking into a fish tank, and wearing a ridiculous costume to do so. The weightlessness was more frustrating than exciting to me, and it was much more work to swim with the fins on my feet than I thought it would be. Don't get me wrong, we had great instructors and I'm glad I did the dive (check scuba diving off my list), but it was a heck of a lot of work just to see some fish. I think I'll just stick to snorkeling for now.
We had delicious food at the resort's restaurant that evening, and thanks to Brenda's 50% employee discount, we enjoyed it even more. ;)
Sunday morning we lazily slept in, then headed over to the Raya resort again for some late breakfast. We followed another road to a different beach(not really sure what it was called, just followed Brenda haha), and spent several hours lounging in the shade reading and taking in the gorgeous weather and calming sounds of the ocean.
Went back for more delicious gelato, then hung out by the pool until sunset, when we hiked up the mountain to watch the sun go down. Gorgeous.
You know me, though...can't go outside without burning. Even when I sit in the SHADE, apparently. And yes, I did have sunscreen on.
Finished packing up all our stuff, and had to get going bright and early to get catch the 8am ferry back to Phuket and make it to the airport to catch our flights back home. Made the ferry, waved goodbye to Racha Yai, and when we reached the main island we took motorbikes to the airport, a good 45 minute ride.
Once again, an overall great weekend. And another big thanks to Brenda for hosting us for the weekend. :D
