fun in the sun

My idea of a perfect vacation is to go someplace, be rooted there and relax for the whole duration. When people talk about vacations, cramming infinite number of places in a matter of few days, covering hundreds and thousands of miles every day, I pity them. I ask them, “are you going to set a world record visiting the most number of places?”. All one needs is a break from the routine and a break from anything remotely stressful!

Along those lines, I planned a vacation to Thailand, with the wonderful company of another couple - close friends of mine who joined me and my wife and off we went to Bangkok, in the “smooth as silk” Thai airways, and took another flight to Phuket - the tropical paradise!

We stayed in a beach facing resort in Phuket away from the hustle and bustle of the towns for 4 days. Our villa was located in the hill and there was a rope car to reach the room, which was a welcome change from the routine escalators and the elevators! The resort had its own private beach and a large pool where we played throw ball and catch almost all the time.

We hired a car and travelled across the tiny island whose borders or not more than an hour’s drive in any direction. I was reminded of Vizag when we negotiated the sweeping curvy roads that bordered the coastline! Dark green on one side and Blue green on the other, the whole package wrapped in the silky blue velvet blanket of the sky - a breathtaking vista it was!

One of the days, we took a boat tour to the nearby Phi-Phi islands which are a group of tall rocky structures in the middle of the ocean. One cannot help wondering how long those rockies were enduring the repeated battering of the sea waves!

The tour included snorkeling for an hour in one of the islands and it was one hell of an amazing experience. Even though my wife was not a confident swimmer, she too was able to enjoy the colorful treasures that were living under the crystal clear waters of the Andaman Sea. We wished we had more time (and energy) for snorkeling!

We also visited the Wat Chalong temple. An interesting custom in this beautifully decorated temple was that a large number of crackers were being burst for every 15 minutes or so. We also visited Cape Promthep, the southernmost point of the island to catch a glimpse of the sunset, but were a little late. But the twilight bordering the summit was a good sight to behold!

Any trip to Thailand would be incomplete without a couple of the famous dry massages. And ours was no exception. Having not been massaged too many times in life, it was a different experience for me and the relaxation is too good to describe.

After four amazing days of relaxation in Phuket, we returned to Bangkok - the City of Angels - and spent the next couple of days there. We stayed at the Baiyoke Sky Hotel - one of the tallest buildings in the world (i guess it is around 20 something in the rank). We stayed in the space zone (60+ floors) with a wonderful view of the concrete jungle of Bangkok.

Apart from being in the hotel, the only thing we did was to shop-shop-shop till we dropped! In fact we never traveled more than 2kms from the hotel, which is smacked right in the middle of the shopping zone of Indra Market! We purchased for ourselves and for all the relatives and cousins and friends! So cheap, yet too good!

Bangkok is known for its notorious traffic jams, still we were able to reach the hotel from the airport (about 34 kms) in 30 minutes - thanks to the superfast metro train. I could not help wondering why not we learn from others, when we are trying to build world class infrastructure in our own cities! Will we ever get a train from the Hyderabad city center to the airport?

As we sat in the Thai flight, back home, the vegetarian food was over, by the time the flight attendant reached my seat. I was a little upset, but as it turned out, everyone in the flight attendant hierarchy were summoned to look into this issue and they showered me with various items - doughnuts, toasted breads, fruits, bowls of sweet dishes, salads - and in a short time I have to tell them firmly to stop bringing me anything at all or I might upset my stomach!

With loads of goods, and lots of memories we came back from our dreamy vacation in Thailand! Must I say, I cant wait to go back?