Bangkok and Phuket (Final part)

Having filled our bags with bargains, we left for Phuket the same day. On landing in Phuket, we booked the PhiPhi Island tour for the next day. It is highly recommended that one book such a tour because of two reasons. Firstly, PhiPhi Island is accessible only by ferries and travellers who are not a part of such packages are charged more. Secondly, passengers who book a tour at the airport are given a free shuttle to their hotels. Public transport is nonexistent and taxis are very expensive. Our hotel, Ibis Kata was an hour’s drive from the airport. Had we not booked the tour for about 1000 baht, we would have spent 800 baht just for the taxi back to the hotel! Click for details on Ibis Kata We woke up early the next day as the PhiPhi Island tour was from 8am to 6pm. We were picked up and dropped back at the hotel. The ferry to the island takes about an hour. The magnificent scenery is perfect for pictures and refreshing for the eyes. Swimming, snorkelling, photography or just sitting on the beach reading a book are some of the activities one can indulge in at PhiPhi. The ferry also stops by Monkey Island where one can feed the monkeys.

After a good day we hit the sack back in the hotel only to wake up to heavy showers. Since it rained very very heavily right through the day, we spent all of our last day in Thailand within the hotel premises. 🙁 We were unlucky not to have been able to visit the James Bond Island. The next day we flew back to Singapore with fond memories and a firm decision to go back to Phuket someday! Food in Thailand: Thai food is worth experimenting with. Since more than 90% of Thai population is Buddhist, I expected most of them to be vegetarian. Given the above fact, being a vegetarian myself, I had expected not to have a tough time. But much to my surprise, most Thai people are non-vegetarian and life is tough for the strict vegetarian travellers. My roommate is non-vegetarian and she provided insights on the non-vegetarian food in Thailand. Breakfast is mostly never a problem as most hotels serve an array of breads, jams, fruits and juices. For lunch, the tour guides make arrangements for vegetarian food if they have been notified earlier. They set up a wide variety of food. For vegetarians, such meals usually consist of a salad, a soup, fried onion rings, boiled vegetables and rice, as can be seen on my plate!

Street food is very delicious in Thailand and very inexpensive as well. One can have a filling non-vegetarian meal for just about 20 baht. All types of meat, fruits, breads are on sale at all tourist hotspots.

At the Floating Market, one can experiment with various flavours made by the locals and sold off boats.

I ordered a mango-rice dish which included one sweet ripe mango, two types of rice and one packet of coconut milk. The local fruits are very delicious. The lychee-like mangosteen (I forget the local name 🙁 ) is a must have!

10 other dishes I ate for dinner at and around my hotels in Bangkok and Phuket were… 1.    Rice with cashews, lemons and a local vegetable – hated it!!

2.     Thai fruit in milk, coconut, cream and sugar – loved it!

3.    Spring rolls – loved it!! Its not really a Thai dish but it was very well made!

4.    I forget the name! 😐 It had some noodles and local veggies in it – hated it!

5.    Vegetarian Pizza – always love this one!

6.    Vegetarian Set meal – Comes with three veggies and rice. Well made!

7.    Roommate’s dinner – a roll with a meat and vegetable filling

8.    Crepe with banana – due to unavailability of anything else vegetarian!!

9.    Fried tofu with mushrooms – thumbs up!!

10.    Noodles with boiled vegetables

Life is definitely easier for non vegetarians, who don’t have to look too hard for food! They also have more variety including crabs, ducks, fish, frogs and insects!! Vegetarians should go mentally prepared and as I did, carry some bread or buns just in case nothing is to be found! That’s all for now. Let me save some money & plan my next trip..:)) Supriya Kurpad, an engineer by vocation decided to leave her job and pursue further studies in Singapore where she currently resides. In her free time she loves reading, exploring local places and vegetarian food besides globetrotting!! Looking for vacation rentals in Thailand? Click here