Phuket, Thailand

Phuket is a must see if you're in Thailand! You'll feel instant island vibes compared to Bangkok.

Accommodation:

This Air Bnb was my favorite out of my whole Asia trip because of the AMAZING infinity rooftop pool!! Only $23 a night for pure luxury!

Transportation:

If you thought Bangkok's transportation was bad, Phuket's is 10 times worse! And only because they don't have ANY public transportation! Besides standing on a main road and waving down the next bus you see. There are no official bus stops, lovely isn't it? We thought okay well we will just have to use Grab then (Thailand's Uber) but no! Grab's rates were triple the price in Phuket compared to Bangkok. We're talking $10 for a couple miles!

With that being said, we rented a scooter for about $9 a day. (Gas isn't included, which is about $1 a liter) I suggest taking many test runs first because that thing is hard to drive if you're a first timer! And the rental people don't give you any lessons, just sign here and you're off.

Things To Do:

1. Karon Beach

This beach was beautiful with cheap food and smoothies with lots of shopping nearby. We saw adorable local dogs running into the water and chasing each other around! Bring some snacks and love for them! :) We even saw a giant pig just casually strolling along the beach.

I plopped down with my fresh $1 mango smoothie and took in the beauty. Only one thing was disturbing the beauty...lots of trash. I saw an older lady and man picking up trash along the beach, I immediately jumped in and filled 4 bags with my friend while scowling at the people just relaxing on the beach watching us. Take care of your planet people!!

2. Phi Phi Island

If you go to Phuket, DO NOT leave without going to Phi Phi Island!! It's one of the most beautiful islands I've been on! But, it's a total party scene. I only saw a couple families and mostly drunk young adults. However, this meant the beaches were pretty much deserted since everyone was off in the beach clubs....fine by me!!

We stayed in this adorable beach bungalow for only $10 a night! I was dying with only a floor fan in the humidity of summer butttttt for $10 a night, cmon. I'm sure any other time of the year and it's perfect. The one downside to the bungalow was walking up a steep steeeeeep huge hill to get there - it's a workout for sure! (I'm talking if you fell you'd roll down it steep)

We took the fairy here for about $26 roundtrip. This is the cheapest way compared to the other 2 options by speedboat and private boats. The voyage is 90 minutes long and the fairy is pretty nice with beautiful views on it's open deck.

3. Patong Beach

This beach is the most popular in Thailand and the most expensive. For me, it was so overrated and I much prefer Karon Beach. There's no food on the beach, the food around is expensive, its crowded, there's zero shade which forces you to rent an umbrella, and vendors come up to you every 5 minutes trying to get you to buy something from them.

We did get a nice relaxing massage on this beach though. And there was a cool swing in the middle of the beach making a nice photo.

4. ELEPHANTS!

This is the best place to meet some elephants! PLEASE find an ethical company and not one that claims to be an elephant sanctuary when they are not. We went to the Phuket Elephant Jungle Sanctuary, which is also the cheapest and possibly most ethical in Phuket. We could tell the staff cared deeply about the animals when I spoke to them.

Make sure you have the right address because we accidentally went to the office instead of the camp and was 40 minutes late to our booked appointment. Thankfully everyone was nice about it, and an Australian man that was running the office was kind and pointed us in the right direction. And being late just meant we got to have a PRIVATE session with one of the elephants instead of a huge group. Coming late totally worked in our favor just this once.

We chose the cheapest package they offered which was an hour feeding for $26. Still expensive but whatever, I had to see elephants in Thailand! After the feeding their was a free workshop on how to turn elephant poop into paper! Their poop is basically like dry grass since they eat so much plants.

5. Chillva Market

We drove past this market on our scooter and decided to stop. It's a cute little market with modern and local vendors with cheap prices - definitely worth checking out!