What a fantastic report and lovely photos I cannot wait until our trip in April, we want to do the speed boat trip also, what operator did you book through Jyotirmoy

Thanks for appreciating my report.
Sharrie, Our travel and excurssions were arranged by Thai Vision Holidays.

Thanks jax17. I am happy that my reports hace ignited your fire to return.
My efforts are attempts to reciprocate all the help and encouragement I have recieved from you and others via this great forum.

Hi Jyo

All your reports and photos were fabulous, BUT where's the rest ? I was hoping there would be more.

Cheers Geri

Wow what a lovely report of your trip! Well written, cant wait until DH & I head over to Phuket. Thankyou once again very informative.. :)

26 Jan
Exit from Paradise.

Today the ladies would be sleeping till late. My body clock always works where ever I am and even when I turn in late I wake up at 6:30. It was no exception. I had anticipated some muscle aches after long swimming hours after a gap of years but surprisingly there was none. With a cup of tea I went to the balcony hoping that lady would come again to pray at the small shrine. I didn’t find her, may be she had come earlier. I took a very leisurely bath and went down to breakfast. I have already written about the breakfast spread earlier. After breakfast I walked to the near empty beach through the lane lined with bars now desolate and dirty with tables littered with empty and half filled bottles and glasses and sat down on the sand. There were a couple of stray dogs combing the beach. A lone jet ski guy was making rounds spraying foam. Some how it looked pretty funny.

I was thinking how two days passed so fast, the panorama that we had beheld yesterday, the preparations I had done for months till we left home. The tide and ebb of the sea going on since creation, a flip flop of claiming and disbursing, gathering and losing, a restless process that defines time and its passage. The fat old Sun is now up. There would be a day when the fat old Sun in the sky will be falling with summer evenin' birds come calling, with children's laughter in my ears the last sunlight would disappear*. Right before me was the unbroken chain of sky and sea a sight so eternal and reassuringly comfortable. The eternity promising me that the sun will come up once again when I am one day older, a morning to wake up and also a dusk for the birds to return to their nests.

I was so engrossed in my thoughts that I didn’t notice my daughters who had come and sat just a little away from me. I looked at them and smiled and they smiled back. Thousand words were spoken and there was sunlight all around.

It was getting close to our departure time so we returned to the hotel. My wife insists on checking all the nooks and corners of the hotel room lest we leave behind some of our belongings. Having spent a considerable period of my adult life in hotel rooms and often getting confused at the time of asking for the key at the reception over the number of my room today, I keep my things only at a few designated places. So I don’t need to act like an income tax sleuth looking under the mattresses. We gathered our bags and went to the lobby. After completing check out formalities me and my daughters went out to take some photographs. The van arrived exactly on time and we drove off to Phuket airport.

The Phuket airport is a tidy neat & compact airport. Although it is an international airport it doesn’t have the maddening hustle & bustle. X-Raying of our baggage was done & HKT SECURITY CHECKED stickers were affixed. We had some time but decided to check in and free ourselves from the suitcases. Check in was quick & smooth, got two window side seats. The snacks served on our BKK-HKT flight were absolutely uneatable except the Thai sweet. So this time we decided to eat something more palatable before the flight. On the right hand side as you enter the terminal there are a couple of places selling western fast food mainly. We bought some burgers, sandwiches and as usual my wife propelled herself to a shop selling very yummy looking doughnuts and pastries. The doughnuts turned out very good. After this I went to the money changing kiosk. The exchange value was ok so I changed some US$. The smoking room at this airport is an annexe of a pub. Non customers coming in to smoke seems to ok with the pub management I guess.

The HKT-BKK flight was on time. This time it was a domestic flight and the equipment was an Airbus 320, the most common aircraft plying the domestic routes in India too. There were not many passengers. We were the only Indian people. My trained eyes found an empty middle row nearby. The plane took off smoothly and took us away from the paradise and the octopus’s gardens. After seat belt sign was switched off I moved to the empty row, pulled up the arm rests and fell asleep.
* courtesy PF.

Attached Images

road side shrine.jpg (99.4 KB, 4 views)

Thanks, I can hear the note in your voice that signals the end of something that has been wonderful a whistfulness.
You were leaving there to go back to somewhere that I would find exotic (India).
If you are like me at this point I start to plan my next trip with ever increasing plans for longer stays and to visit more places.
I very seldom cry at films, books or music I am self concious coming from the north of England, we are a hardy lot here you know LOL But the sight of Samui behind me on the plane always has me in tears.

__________________
Kiss
God laughs at people who make plans.

this is the best report i ever read about Phi-Phi and Phuket,thank you.The only thing missing is more about Maya Bay,can you tell us more from your experience?We want to go there in august to spend a night on camping,do you think is safe?
thank you

Yes dear jaxw17, you are right. There was a lump in my throat as the plane took off from Phuket. Fortunately we weren't returning to Delhi. We were bound for Pattaya and then Bangkok. My next report will be on our time in Pattaya. BTW if you are planing to visit India you are welcome and please free to ask me for info.

Dear lilly66, thank you very much and happy to know that you found my report on Phi Phi & Phuket useful.
The Maya beach appeared to be only day tripper's place. Off course I didn't try to get any info on camping or lodging facility there but while walking around the wooded land away from the beach I didn't notice any such infrastructure. There was a cafe and a public toilet which was terribly dirty and stinking.
This place is accesible by sea only. So safety should not be of big concern. But some how my instinct says that you would need some kind of permission from some authorities to camp there but I may be completely wrong and I am a newbie as Thailand is concerned.
Regards.
Jyoti.

Here is my daughter and the corals of Phi Phi.

Attached Images

my daughter in phi phi.JPG (69.9 KB, 10 views)