Back in August we took a 10 day trip to Phuket. We stayed near Karon beach, which is away from the busy Patong beach area.

We did a little research and had a fair list of things to do including visiting a tiger sanctuary, a trip out to James Bond and Monkey Islands, Snorkelling etc.

What transpired was a little more adventurous than what we both expected – Eddie decided we’d hire a motorbike (and I went pillion) and suddenly we found ourselves discovering hidden beaches and bars, totally free to hop on and off the bike and see Phuket off the beaten track.

Tigers

One of the first things we did was visit a tiger sanctuary – we were a little nervous as we’d heard stories of animals being drugged to make them more docile and tourist- friendly. We spoke to the handlers and could also see with our own eyes that it wasn’t the case here, the tigers were full of life and pretty playful and cheeky.

This fella is called Mark and was one of the bigger tigers. We also got to see some sleepy baby tigers and playful infants – they were playing around and jumping on each other just like domestic moggies, only scaled up a lot! They’d jump up and come crashing back down to earth.

Elephants

Another day we were riding along the road when we spotted this guy, Rambo, being playful with some other tourists. We hopped off the motorbike and fed him some bananas and he gave us a big kiss with his trunk, amazing!

Just after meeting Rambo we discovered a gorgeous viewpoint overlooking Karon beach, we were pretty roasting in our motorbike gear and took some shade under a pavilion.

Hotel

We stayed at the Movenpick Hotel and you could see the beach from our hotel balcony. It was a beautiful hotel, lots of couples and families too. I think the highlight was the pool bar – it was pretty hot most of the time and it was a great place to chill in the evening before dinner and after an active day exploring.

Eddie would go!

One night in a bar Eddie met a guy with a tshirt saying “Eddie would go” and had to find out more – he went on to tell us about a surfer called Eddie Aikau and his legendary death. It was actually a pretty fun night despite the initial topic. Pretty sure I beat Eddie at pool that night, at least that’s how I remember it 😉

The verdict

We did spend a bit of time in Patong but we’d recommend staying near Karon beach instead – it was a little more chilled out, friendly and dining out was cheaper too.