Monsoon and Motorbikes: A Long Weekend in Phuket, Thailand

I am a Planner. It’s what grounds my otherwise impractical personality (comprising the rarest Myers-Briggs, shout out INFJ), what drives my obsession to fill endless notebooks, and what has guided me to a career managing creative projects. Planning for travel is just as enjoyable to me as the travel itself: I mine food blogs, Google translate reviews, and order specialty books. But for a long weekend in Phuket, Thailand—just days after I arrived to Singapore—I went in completely blind, and was the better for it.

Back when I was in New York and Andrew was in Singapore, he called to say that there was an opportunity for him to attend a digital media conference in Phuket. (I am seriously in the wrong line of work.) I thumbed to the Phuket section of my already worn Lonely Planet and told him that the island, full of pricey resorts and tourist traps, wasn’t recommended even for us flashpackers. He countered that the conference was at a five-star resort on the beach… and afterwards, we’d been invited to join in on a staffed villa with some of his colleagues for the weekend.

Twist my arm, already.

The conference was held at The Slate (formerly Indigo Pearl) on Nai Yang beach. It’s on the northern part of the island, which is both convenient to the airport and less sleazy than most of Phuket. The flight is just an hour or so from Singapore, but the differences were apparent immediately: three people to a motorbike on the road, stray dogs running everywhere, armed guards at the resort gate. This whole trip felt a little surreal, though I’m sure my jetlag played a factor.

It was both monsoon season in Thailand and the middle of the week when we arrived, which meant that the beautiful, spacious resort was almost empty. Conference attendees ran to sessions under huge umbrellas while I sat on our balcony and watched the rain turn on and off like a faucet—the most intense downpours I’ve ever seen.

While Andrew was at meetings the first two days, I worked from the room, prepared for the million things I needed to do when we got back to Singapore, and explored the funky little beach town outside the palace walls. I don’t mind being alone, but the famous Thai hospitality eased any awkwardness I felt about being an interloper at a conference. The resort staff brought me plates of fruit and other treats, and arranged for me to take a yoga class as well as enjoy a jetlag-busting Thai massage. The 90 minute treatment in their outrageous spa (one building was literally a giant basket on stilts) was followed by a full tea service and cost less than a Park Slope mani-pedi. Suddenly moving to Southeast Asia seemed like a great idea.

I tried them all!

Spa tea service

Another highlight was spontaneously joining a Thai cooking class organized for the conference attendees. I think people genuinely got a kick out of meeting the American wife who had never been to Asia before, and I was offered opinions on everything from the best local discount airlines to how to eat a durian (with your fingers). While there are plenty of Aussies, Brits, and to a lesser degree French and Dutch expats living in Southeast Asia, Americans are less common. Of course a favorite topic for everyone we meet this fall has been American politics, and many SEA locals and expats alike are fully informed about the US presidential election. (Could I name the Prime Minister of Australia before moving here? No, I could not, though for everyone’s benefit, it’s Malcolm Turnbull.)

Green coconut curry with chicken

Papaya salad

The sun finally came out on Friday afternoon—just in time for me to snap a few photos of the resort. Let’s pretend it looked this this all week. Luckily, it stayed nice for the rest of the weekend.

Conference wrapped, we relocated to a villa nearby with a group of fellow Singapore-based expats. The weekend was organized by Andrew’s college friend Wen, who also recently relocated to Singapore from NYC. Wen and her boyfriend Tai moved a few months ahead of us, and have been invaluable for their advice, introductions, and excellent company.

Like the resort, the Phuket villa was essentially a concrete compound on the outside but spacious and pretty on the inside. Rooms surrounded an open kitchen, courtyard, and saltwater pool. Best of all, the very affordable rental came staffed with a maid/cook and butler, who helpfully took on everything for the group from grocery runs to dishes to booking taxis—the sort of logistics that take up most of the weekend with a group rental. One could get used to this.

Friday night was spent getting to know one another over a late dinner at a casual local spot right on Nai Yang beach, chairs and tables in the sand. The fresh, flavorful Thai food everywhere we went did not disappoint, though it is very true that “mild” means spicy and “spicy” means inedible to Westerners. This dinner was also my first time trying my new favorite dessert, ripe bananas in a hot soup of coconut milk.

After breakfast at the house and a morning swim on Saturday, the house staff arranged for motorbikes so that we could get out explore the island. I was more than content to ride on the back of Andrew’s bike. It turned out to be the best way to see Phuket, which has numerous winding, hilly coastal roads that offer spectacular views and take you through small villages away from the main highway. We spent the entire day riding along the beaches, stopping for a dip and a coconut, jumping back on the bikes, and repeating.

It was the first time I had really seen local life outside of a city or resort in SEA, and there was so much to take in that now seems much more familiar to me: entire families balanced on one motorbike, glass bottles of gasoline for sale on the side of the road, chicken, geese, and dogs running everywhere, shrines adorned with flowers, cigarettes, and Fanta bottles, and vendors on the beach offering massages, fruit, trinkets, and beer. Kids waved to us and people would come out of their houses to ask if we were lost if we stopped the bikes to regroup.

A BBQ dinner back at the house capped off the long and hot but invigorating day, and we flew out early the next morning. This trip was definitely a teaser reel for Thailand, and I can’t wait to come back to explore more of this country. The beaches are of course spectacular—and I’m still in awe that they are a mere hour or so away from me—but I especially want to travel up to Northern Thailand. To be continued!