Sawadee! This means hello in Thai. My husband and I were fortunate to travel to Phuket, Thailand for our Honeymoon and it was nothing short of amazing! The culture, the beaches, the adventures…incredible! I share a bit of my travel planning for the trip in a previous blog. For this one, I’ll jump to the fun part.
Here are my top three favorite adventures in Thailand:
Phuket Elephant Sanctuary
If I could only do one thing for this trip, I wanted to ride an elephant. In researching and asking friends about the way they treat elephants, I learned that the elephants are tortured into submission and obedience in order to be ridden. I discovered that there are elephant sanctuaries designed to rehabilitate these animals into forest life after decades of abuse.
Phuket Elephant Sanctuary is the first ethical elephant sanctuary on that side of the island and the final home for retired working elephants, set on 30 acres of tropical jungle. We were able to observe the elephants bathe and eat. And we got to feed them too!
The sanctuary gave an introduction on the abuse of working elephants, a guided tour around the land, delicious lunch and hotel transportation. I definitely recommend this stop for anyone traveling to Phuket.
Thai Cooking Class
Before our trip, I found a number of blogs through the holy Pinterest and saw great reviews on taking a Thai cooking class. I was a little nervous that I would not be able to keep up, but I had so much fun.
We took a 2 hour class at Pum Cooking School on Patong Beach and made three authentically Thai dishes. First, they introduced us to key ingredients that Thai people use. They showed us how the ingredients would differ based on what countries we were from. (I took a class with a couple from Australia and one from Germany).
After this brief lesson, we got to cooking and it was good! We made the following:
- Green Curry (Green Curry Chicken)
- Tom Kha Kai (Chicken Galangal Soup)
- Tom Yum Kung (Spicy Thai Soup with Shrimp)
Let’s just say that my husband is the cook in the family and if I could do this class, you definitely can too.
James Bond Island Boat Tour
We concluded our trip with an awesome adventure to Phang Nga Bay Island on a speedboat. Fun fact: The 1974 James Bond, The Man with the Golden Gun, movie was filmed here on this Island. Along with experiencing the beauty of the island, we explored caves by foot and canoe. We stopped for lunch on Koh Panyee Island, known as a Muslim fishing island. We were able to purchase this excursion through our hotel and all we had to do was show up. I definitely this boat tour. My husband and I agree that it was a highlight of the entire trip.
Enjoy a few more pictures from the trip. Have you ever wanted to visit Thailand?
