Phuket - Day 2

On the 7^th August, we were very tired by the long  journey and was not feeling to wake up in the morning. I was not feeling to wake up in the morning. But I got up and stepped in the Gallary of our room, I was taken aback by  the beautiful cloudy morning waiting to greet me. Also the scenic ocean view was a bonus. 
 We immediately brushed our teeth, had a coffee and went to Karon beach which was at 15 minis walking distance from our Hotel. Below is the pic of Karon beach.

Ocean was roaring like Lion and as the waves hitting see shore hard no one was daring get inside the waves. But the scene was very beautiful. Sky was cloudy and gray, the ocean waters were white, foamy, and sand was white too. From beach we can see some of the Islands in the Andaman Ocean looking like bonsai from the distance. One island was looking like a green Broccoli bunch. After some photo session we took a small walk in the lanes of Phuket. I saw this lady selling some food  items on the streets. I particularly like the bike which can carry your stuff and when needed can be used as a street shop. We can find such bikes  many in Phuket on streets.

Also I noticed most of the hotels have open kitchen at the entrance. Customers can see the hygiene maintained and the way it is prepared. We returned to hotel with the excitement to explore more of the Phuket in remaining three Days. We got ready and had a nice breakfast. For remaining day today we had booked “Hongs by Starlight” tour by John Gray.  August, we were very tired by previous Day’s he long  journey followed As decided at 11AM exactly the John Gray’s Canoe trip driver came to receive us. I really love the punctuality Thai people have. It was a long one and half hours journey to the Dock.  Shortly we landed on a big boat. We were the only Indian couple in the tour. Most of the crowd was from Australia.  The tour started with the introduction from the captain to the crew members and what all will be done in the Day. The Breakfast served was light and delicious followed by Phuket’s famous juices. The view on the way was spectacular. So many small Islands welcomed us on our way. Lush green, stiff slanting high rocks were truly breathtaking.  Water was green, the typical fresh ocean green. Phuket was at its best, as it was cloudy we sat on the overtop deck.  Below are the pictures of one of the island the sharp edges of the rocks hanging from the roof of the Hongs.

After an hour or so our boat was parked at place one ocean and we were educated about canoeing by our captain. The small Islands in the Andaman sea have caves inside them, these caves are called as Hongs. They can be explored during low water time only. Usually around 2PM the water level falls and the gates of the caves are opened ( I remembered Khulaja sim sim dialogue from Alif Laila). Captain told us safety measures like how to protect ourselves while crossing the sharp rocks and not to touch any rock on our way as canoes are really small boats and some touch can influence the direction of the canoe which can be dangerous inside the hongs.  In one canoe two tourists and a sailor were accommodated. I sat at the front my husband behind me and our sailor at the rare of the canoe.  Below is the picture of a canoe.

Our Sailor’s name was Chap. Chap was around 21-22 years old and was tattoo loving person. All around his body he was painted, he barely knew English but few English words and our expressions completed the conversation for the rest of the day.
This was the first time I was seating on the boat so close to ocean, I have to just stretch my hand to reach water. I have done banana boat ride in past but this boat was lower that banana boat. I don’t know swimming so I preferred to wear Life Jacket.  I was excited as it was my first canoeing experience. We went inside caves which had so narrow entrance that one has to lie down completely (as shown in below pic)  in the canoe to pass through it, once you are inside its dark, as dark as night. Chaps torch which was mounted on his head showed us the spectacular, amazing treasure nature has saved deep inside these caves. The roofs were carved with natural salts and water dripping from the rocks. The rocks inside were hanging from the roof like a dripping drop, they were indeed very sharp. Sharp enough to cut your skin and make a serious damage. But I was so mesmerized by the beauty of mother earth that the dangers of rock didn’t scare me.

 Inside some caves there were beautiful trees and fishes, crabs and other marine animals. After visiting many caves we were on our way back to the boat when the storm struck the Pha Nga Bay and it started raining.Our canoe was like a small leaf dangling on the waves. It was little bit scary but I enjoyed. After coming back on the boat we had some free time for swimming in the Andaman ocean. We had a great time, now we were hungriest and I must mention food was delicious.  It was a fairytale ambiance, it was raining outside and we were having hot and tasty sea food, followed by was equally seducing coffee. Krayton is a show piece made out of natural things like flowers, leaves and banana stem. Thais offer it to ocean on every full moon night and make a wish. They believe these wishes are fulfilled. With the help of Chap we also made our Krayton. Below is stuff required to make a Krayton.

And below is how it looks after crafting.

Making and offering our Krayton was a total spiritual experience. No one said a word, the impact was long lasting. This brought an end of our wonderful day in the
Hongs by Starlight.

Phuket Trip

Below are some spectacular views from Phuket

 

Above is the Karon beach on the early morning of 7th Aug.

 This is the Karon beach early morning in rainy season.

This is one of the island I clicked on the way to canoeing.

Kha noi island from the closer distance.

One of the cave in the Andaman oceans of the Pha Nga Bay of Phuket.

 On our way inside the cave. 

 Islands from the rear side of speedboat.

10 Must see/do things in Dubai

This is my list to help you plan your visit to Dubai.

1) Burj Khalifa and Dubai fountain

Burj Khalifa and Dubai mall  is the main attraction of Dubai. Red line metro station has direct stop to Dubai mall. Travelers are allowed to go 124th floor of Burj Khalifa. It is advised to book for the Burj Khalifa before a week of actuall date you are planning, as advance booking is much cheaper. The best time to visit Burj Khalifa is 5:30PM to 6:30PM in Nov-Mar and 6:30PM-7:30PM from Apr-Oct. So that you can enjoy the day view of Dubai and when sun disappears beyond horizon you can have stunning view of Dubai in night. The roads, cars and building look simply adorable from above. Also you can enjoy astonishing view of Dubai foutain from above. It is one of the best experiences to see fountains from the top.
At the ground floor of Dubai mall you can have look at the fountain show. DO NOT LEAVE DUBAI WITHOUT FOUNTAIN SHOW. It is one of its kind. The Dubai mall also has very good but expensive shops. But restaurants are very good  and offer authentic test, particularly the lebanese restaurants.

2) Desert Safari

Desert safari is a surprisingly good experience particularly if its your first visit to any desert. The Dune bashing or driving in desert is enjoyable. Here you get the true sense of UAE's nature. It is advisable to book with very good tours to get the real fun out of it. Dubai has golden sand desert, sunset is awesome and beyond your imagination of what fun desert can offer to you. You can also have camel ride, henna tatoo,etc. This is included in most of the tours. You can wear arabian cloths and get yourself clicked. The food served is Arabic food generally  Hommus, Kaboos(Arabic bread), Taboulah, Fatous, Kababs(delicious) are on the menu. Belly dancing is also enjoyable. 

3) Burj Al Arab and Jumeirah beach

Burj Al Arab. Yes, the only 7 star hotel in world. There is a photo point on the Jumeirah beach from where you can take photo with the Hotel building as a side view. And there is another photo point at the wild wadi water park to get the photos with the front view of the hotel building. Both the photo points are at walkable distance from each other. Jumeirah beacch is one of the famous beach in Dubai. You can relax and spend some time here.

4) Dubai Museum

Dubai Museum is very artistically desinged and is very informative of UAE's history. They have a shourt documentary film about Dubai's growth n past 80 Years. It also provides information about Dubai's heritage and ancient culture.

5) Dubai Creek

Dubai creek is salt water lake which divides Dubai in two main areas, Bur Dubai and Deira. Crossing the creek via Abra(small wooden boats carrying 10-15 passengers at a time) is a fun ride. Dubai creek is at its best in early morning. At night most of the tours offers Dhow cruise dinner but my experience is not good and will suggest not to waste time and money on dhow cruise dinner.

6) Dubai Gold Souq

Gold is famous in Dubai...naaahhh...Dubai is famous for Gold. And you will be convinced after visitig this market. Souq is arabic word meaning market. You will see tones of Gold in the market but no police(Here law and order is maintained strictly for the residents and travelers ). Desings are too good to resist the temptations to buy ornaments. Also Dubai's gold quality is also authentic and pure. If your country's custom department allows, its worth carrying some beatuful jwellary:)

7) Atlantis hotel by monorail

Hotel Atlantis is situated on Dubai Palms Island which is a man maid island. You can have a Helicopter ride to have an airial view of palms. But if you prefer to go to Atlantis by monorail even then you can see most of the palm fringes from the train. It is recomendade to go to Atlantis before sunset and enjoy Sunset on the front side of Atlantis and return after sunset via monorail. The view of the sun immersing in the sea is simply beatiful and the scattered colours add to the divine beauty. Also Atlantis has some awesome food serving restaurants but you needto book in advance for it to reserve your seat.

8) Dubai Dolphinarium

If you have never seen the Dolphine show visit to dolphinarium is must for you irrespective of your age. Dolphines and seals show is very entertauning and knowledgable. I promise you will fall in love with Dolphines after watching this show. I love that Dolphines are treated respectfully.

9) Dubai Marina

Dubai Marina is the perfect place to see the Dubai night life. Visit this beautiful place for a Dinner. The lighting and boats will steal your heart but don't forget to notice the twisted building. Dubai Marina is directly connected to Red line metro. You can get down at the Marina mall station to visit this beatifully streched road along Marina.

10) Dubai metro red line ride

It is a must do, as you get to see many stunning views of Dubai like Golf course, Emirates towers, DIFC, Dubai airport via red line metro ride. But on weekend evenings Metro is crowded and you can hardly find seat. So its good to go in the afternoon. On Friday mornings metro is closed till 1PM.

This is my list. These are very selective places to be covered if you are planning for 4 Days 5 nights kind of trip to Dubai, But Dubai offers much more than this also for sure.  Share your experience of Dubai with me.

Dibba/Musandum - An Oasis in Desert

A trip to Dibba/Musandum was a treat.

It’s been eight months we are living in Dubai. At times I feel like going back to india and visit my parents. but this is not the right time to take break out of the job(As it’s just four months I have joined my new job). I was really bored of humid and hot climate of Dubai. It was then we boarded a van for dibba. Dibba is a coastal region at the northeastern tip of the United Arab Emirates(UAE)/Oman peninsula on the Gulf of Oman. To get there one has to cross the border of UAE and step in the Sultanate of Oman(yes this is how it was written on Dibba information board). No visa is required to go for a full day tour at Musandam Dibba(this applies if one has UAE Visa). The beautiful Dibba in Musandam peninsula unfolds a full day of sheer fun and relaxation. Winters had just started in the middle east when we visited Dibba.  It was 6AM in the morning,  the climate was foggy when we started our journey from Dubai to Dibba. All the sky kissing buildings were glittering in silver shades(the tallest Burj Khalifa was the most beautiful ). From window of our van it looked like a beautiful portrait. The windy road led us from range of white mountains to another range of completely black mountain, followed by a range of yellow, red hills. As if nature has painted these mountains in its own colors. It was simply awesome. All the hills with no trees, yet they looked amazingly beautiful. Here, cement factories were also located. Huge mechanical factories indeed. 

Then we entered the Dibba- Al- Fujerah province. Anyone could figure out that this is very well designed and managed city. The day being the 40th national day of UAE, all the buildings were decorated with national flag of UAE. The flowers were beautifully arranged on both the sides of the road. The roundabouts were very stunning, making mark of Emirati heritage We reached dibba by 10 AM. Then a wooden cruise(such type of cruises are called as Dhow cruise in UAE) took us in the blue and beautiful Arabic ocean. The breeze was very cold. When the morning sunlight touched the surface of ocean. It looked like thousands of diamonds are shining. The sky was blue and so was water. Water was too clear to see the reflection of the sky.

After being on the cruise for 1 hr we reached a place where cruise was stopped in the water in the middle of the ocean. Then started the real fun of water games.

First time I had banana boat ride. It was amazing. As I don’t know swimming I was allowed to go for banana boat ride on Swapnil’s risk(Swapnil is a real good swimmer). Sometimes while turning th in the sea the banana boat gets twisted and all boarded passengers fall straight in the water. Thankfully our boat ridded safely but other boat twisted in the ocean in front of me. My heart came in my  mouth.

After that followed a speed boat ride. It was fun.  The driver of the boat was very enthusiastic. He took us deep in the sea with hooping speed and took a drastic turn as boat made a 70 degree angle with the surface of the water. It  was terrible yet exciting. After this romance with water, boat took us back to the cruise. I was surprised when some young boys were jumping from the top of the cruise in the ocean.

Swapnil also wanted to jump. He just expressed his desire and guessed the depth from the roof of cruise then looked at me. I was sure, though he is a good swimmer he won’t be courageous enough to jump in the ocean from 12 meters, at least not when there are no safety measures around.

But he made his mind (I think he wanted to impress me). And jumped from the top of the cruise. He was so happy as if he had discovered his childhood. After some swimming in the salty Arabic ocean we boarded our cruise. I must mention here that water was very clean and clear. After all this fun we had a very good lunch on the cruise and headed back to the port. Now I was feeling as if  I am in heaven after hard work in water, had a nice lunch then I was laying on the roof of the cruise and cold breeze touching like a soft feather. I couldn’t ask for anything more.