phuket!

at the last minute, chris and i decided to fly to phuket to visit my uncle gin before heading back to the US. we hadn't seen him since we've been in Thailand and we'd also not been to the beach, so we thought it'd be a perfect opportunity to do both. we stayed with my uncle (on the second floor of the tour agency where he's a manager) and got to spend some quality time with him, mostly while eating, and some of his friends.

the first night we got to phuket, our uncle took us to his co-worker (and friend's) house noom. noom's current partner is a swedish guy who owns this crazy three-story house on a small hill overlooking patong beach, one of the major beaches in Phuket. this house features two pools (one on the second and third floor), a fantastic view with balconies/decks all around, and more. noom & his partner were hosting a barbecue and we gorged ourselves with fish, shrimp, pork ribs, and bell pepper skewers. in the remainder of our three-day trip, we ate TONS of other yummylicious food, including lots of chinese-thai style food, including pork & mushroom hot pot, shrimp wonton & noodle soup, fish noodle soup, and pa tong ko (or you tiao in Chinese, a yummy pastry). we also had some great seafood, which phuket is renowned for. our uncle took us to a local place with his friend pui, and we all feasted on fish from the Andaman Sea, mussels made with this yummy ginger and basil sauce, crab, and giant prawns.

our second day in phuket was spent on an all-day boat tour of Koh Phi Phi and the surrounding environs. the highlight of this trip was the amazing snorkeling we got to do at Khai Nok Island where there's a HUGE coral reef with tons of fish. this was chris's first time snorkeling and he had a good time (despite still recovering from his sprained ankle). we also got to enjoy some beach time on the white sand beaches of the different islands, feed some monkeys from our boat at 'Monkey Beach', and peek into a cave renowned for swallows' nests (which they use to make bird's nest soup, super expensive and famous among Chinese people). you used to be able to go into the cave to take a tour and climb a bamboo ladder, but the cave was bought out by a private owner a few years ago and now it's closed to the public. it was kinda weird to be a tourist-for-a-day, but we got to sit next to the only other thai family on the boat and they chatted with me for a bit before our trip ended for the day. (commonly asked questions, which they asked once again: are you thai? what about chris? what do you do here? can hiv/aids be treated? when you 'grow up'/finish school, are you going to practice medicine in the us or thailand? etc.) overall, we had a good time even though the waves were pretty choppy and it wasn't super sunny, and we were happy to return home to our uncle's place at the end of the day.

our third day in phuket was pretty uneventful since my uncle came down with a bad chest cold and spent half of it sleeping. we hung out at the office for half the day, watched some movies (the pursuit of happyness, little miss sunshine) and watched the tour agency staff play some cards. in the afternoon, we ran some errands and stopped at a local jewelry store (Gems Gallery), which claims to be the biggest jewelry store in the world (i don't know if this is true, but it is pretty big). my uncle's good friend pui, who used to work for the store for twelve years and helped set up the chain in Phuket, helped me pick out some pearl jewelry and then hooked us up with a major discount. chris joked that i could finally put the commonly heard 'you didnt get me a wedding present' to rest. all in all, im very happy with the purchases, which include earrings, a necklace with a single pearl, and a pearl ring. yay!

now we're back in chiang mai after a long trip from phuket. there's no direct flight from phuket to chiang mai, so we had to take a flight from phuket to bangkok and then connect from bangkok to chiang mai. the chiang mai flight was delayed (something about a plane being disabled and blocking the runways) for about half an hour. in any case, door-to-door it took about six hours to get home. we're pretty knackered now and are just chilling out for the rest of the night, but things need to kick into high gear tomorrow. i can't believe my year off is almost over...more reflection on this point in a future post.