Last week, I wrote about my first three days in the beach paradise known as Phuket. Here's a summary of the rest of my week there.

Day 4

Today, we had a tour of Phang Nga Bay that started at 10:40 a.m., so my boyfriend and I woke up early to eat breakfast and check out the highest infinity pool in our resort, Splash Pool. While we were mid-swim, it started to pour, and the rain drops felt like needles! We had to rush out to avoid the rain and to retrieve our dry clothes, towels, and camera from the beach chairs. Unfortunately, we were in such a rush that my boyfriend dropped our camera. The lens broke, but thankfully everything else was okay. Also, our tour was a whole day of kayaking, so it was an apt day to not have it. During our tour, we still had a blast. We were picked up at the resort and dropped off at a pier, where we took a large motorboat to our tour destinations. At each destination, we were placed on a kayak with a guide. We had three stops, and at each one, there were unique experiences. We went into numerous sea caves, saw bats in one cave, looked for egrets, macaques and more, and admired the marine life beneath us. After a full day of kayaking, we made some traditional Thai crafts with our guide as the sun set. These crafts were floating bowls consisting of banana leaves, candles and flowers. At nighttime, we kayaked once again into a sea cave, where we let these bowls of light float on top of the teal waters. We then took the motorboat back to the pier, ending our day.

Day 5

We originally planned to go to the Phi Phi Islands today, but we wanted to get our camera fixed first. So, we rescheduled our tour and went to CentralFestival Phuket, a huge mall with plenty of shops and restaurants. We ended up buying a new lens at a price that wasn't bad at all for the quality, and then we wandered around a bit. We had lunch at an amazingly cheap ramen restaurant and then dessert at a Korean style cafe. Afterward, we went back to our resort and spent the rest of the day swimming, tanning and finally, getting room service.

Day 6

We went on a safari adventure today! We were first driven to Siam Safari elephant camp, which is renowned for its treatment of elephants. Then, we learned about the buffalos that reside there, rode on a cart pulled by a buffalo and then we learned about many things that are crucial to the culture in Phuket and Thailand in general. Specifically, we sampled Thai coffee and tea with coconut pancakes, learned how rice is harvested and de-husked, learned how coconuts are used for their pulp and juice to make coconut milk and oil, saw how Thai jungle curry is prepared and observed how rubber trees are used to produce rubber latex. Later, we learned about the elephants at this camp and their caretakers, "mahouts." We had the chance to feed the elephants and ride them through the Chalong Highlands, where we could see Chalong Bay and some of the Phi Phi Islands. We ended our afternoon with a Thai feast. Then, we were driven back to our resort. The rest of the day was spent swimming, napping a bit, taking advantage of happy hour at the bar in our resort's lobby, and enjoying a Thai dinner.

Day 7

This was our last full day in Thailand, and we went to the Phi Phi Islands! Again, we were dropped off at Dolphin Seaway Pier after being picked up at our resort. Then, we hopped on a speedboat and went towards the islands. Our first stop was a snorkeling stop in some really clear waters with plenty of fish. My boyfriend and I saw zebrafish, palette surgeonfish and sea urchins. Then, we sped off to Maya Bay. Although there were lots of tourists at this site, we still had fun swimming, taking photos, and enjoying the white sand and clear waters. Then, we were transported to a secluded beachside area where we had lunch and had more than an hour to enjoy the beach. This was my favorite part of the day, since it was less loud and crowded in this area of the islands. Afterward, we went to Bamboo Island, where we had an hour to just swim, relax, and enjoy one of the many clean beaches that Phuket boasts of. Then, we were dropped off at the pier again, and we made our way to our resort, where we had Italian food to end the day.