Mr. & Mrs. Vandebilt + kids

We decided a while ago to cut out a lot of our Thailand travel plans because they were overly ambitious. Instead we were going to use the time to relax on the beach in Southern Thailand.

After arriving in Phuket we rented a motorbike and headed to Rawai to meet up with Jon-Eric. We spent our first few hours in Phuket looking for a hotel we could afford. We quickly realized that Thailand or at least Phuket was more expensive than what we had grown accustomed to. We eventually checked ourselves into the dumpiest place we have stayed.

We had hoped to spend our time beach hopping instead we ended up restaurant and bar hopping trying to avoid the frequent downpours. I have never seen rain quite like this. It came down at some times so hard that it hurt.

Thankfully though we had a great host and JE showed us around and had us over for dinner more than once. It was great getting to spend some time with family especially since it had been almost two years since we had last seen JE. He introduced us to his friends Jerry Tony and of course Wa. It’s easy to see why he keeps going back as the biggest commitment of the day was getting to Freebird at 5 for a game of pool.

We did get a bit of sun while on Phuket and we checked out a couple of beaches. Our favourite was the one closest to our hotel which was virtually deserted. You had to drive through a coconut farm to get to it.

Another highlight was the elephant trek. Right around the corner from JE is an elephant farm where you can ride through the jungle on the back of dumbo’s cousin. The driver was a little crazy talking to the elephant for the whole trip but it was a different way to pass an hour on a rainy afternoon.

On our way out of Phuket while dropping off the motorbike we got stuck in the Vegetarian Festival parade. I’m not entirely sure what the story is behind the parade but it certainly had nothing to do with vegetables. It was insanity. There were people walking down the streets rubbing axes on their tongues and the blood running down the front of them. Others had swords and inch round pipes driven through their cheeks. As they walked down the street all of the onlookers bowed and then threw firecrackers at them. It was hands down the loudest strangest most disturbing thing I’ve seen this trip but it was entertaining from the sidelines.