March 28th, 2013 - The Sea Cucumber

Topping today’s list of strange creatures: The Sea Cucumber.



We ran across this little guy during low tide at Ao Yon beach. By little, of course, I mean disconcertingly large. Bigger than my hand, smaller than a breadbox—you get the drift. It didn’t do much…mind you, it was trapped in a puddle so I can hardly judge (I’ve done less in a day without being trapped in a puddle, so I think we can give it the benefit of the doubt here).



We are fairly certain after having poked it with a stick (humanely and with the utmost care for the Sea Cucumber’s physical and psychological wellbeing) that this is the bottom of the Sea Cucumber.



Geogirl and I stared at it for a while. It may or may not have stared back, we couldn’t really figure out which end was which. Regardless, we thought it necessary to share these pictures so that you, too, can experience the nightmare/really weird dream-fuel that is a Sea Cucumber.

- LuckyStar

March 25th, 2013 - Storm at Panwa Beach

We took another trip to Panwa Beach today. It was sprinkling a bit when we left, but by the time we reached the beach it was pouring rain. Not pouring rain like it does in Canada, either. This was a torrential downpour. Even our love of rain couldn’t stop us from seeking shelter after a few minutes of getting pelted by it. We waited out the storm in On the Beach, a restaurant at Panwa Beach, and enjoyed some papaya salad and drinks while watching the sea churn in the distance. The Big Buddha and all the lights and hills across the water were almost completely invisible through the storm. It was much more fun to watch from inside, but the ocean during a storm is a beautiful thing to see.

A picture can’t do this storm justice, but trust us, it was staggeringly powerful.

March 13th, 2013 - The Wasp Saga Continues

Our landlord stopped by today to deal with the Wasp Problem for us. Now, I don’t have a ton of experience with exterminating insects, but my granddad (hi grandpa!) has a pretty practical way of getting rid of wasp nests. It involves some very sneaky ninja work, where you take a plastic bag and go out at night when the wasps are asleep (or so you hope) and you knock the nest into the bag and tie it up before they catch on to your devious little ploy and stage a counterattack.

March 11th, 2013 - Land of the Lost Flip-Flops

Have you ever wondered what happened to that flip-flop you lost years ago to the cruel and crafty designs of the ocean? Well, we found it!





Like socks taken as sacrifice by the dryer gods, lost items all have to end up somewhere. Turns out that Ao Yon beach is the Land of the Lost Flip-Flops. We’ve passed by this particular palm tree dozens of times and only today noticed that it is covered in flip-flops.  From the bottom of the trunk to the very top, dozens upon dozens of mateless flip-flops that have washed up on shore have been nailed to the tree. It’s quite a sight. I kind of love this place.



- LuckyStar

March 8th, 2013 - Pancakes at Panwa Beach

We took advantage of the shuttle bus today to visit Ao Yon Beach, which cuts a considerable distance off of the trip to Panwa Beach. Under normal (walking) circumstances, it’s about 3 km, so you can imagine how thrilled we were to avoid that. And because Panwa Beach is so gorgeous, here’s another picture:

March 7th, 2013 - The Free Shuttle Bus

You’ll never guess what our hotel offers: free shuttle bus service.

Yet another example of my unparalleled talent at finding the most difficult possible way of doing something, only to find out much later that there was a simpler solution right in front of me all along.

That’s right, we’ve been walking all this time when there was a shuttle bus right there. In fact, I think we even stepped around the bus a few times on our way out, so intent were we on completing the 3 km roundtrip walk to Ao Yon Beach, or the 4.6 km walk to Cape Panwa Village. Yep, I sure earned that university degree; it serves me well.

Regardless, we were quite thrilled to discover this. The bus comes every two hours and drops people off at Ao Yon Junior Beach (meaning that it is a far shorter walk from there to Secret Cove) and to Panwa Bay Village, where we went for dinner tonight. We stopped at Live India for the second time and had some absurdly delicious masala kofka, mixed vegetable korma, and bombai aloo.

And then we walked home. Because that’s what sandy-feet do. They walk. Even when they don’t have to.

- LuckyStar

March 4th, 2013 - Panwa Beach

Panwa is just a tiny corner of Phuket, but it has plenty to offer. After having explored the main areas of Panwa (primarily Cape Panwa and the Ao Yon beaches), we’re now pushing out a little further to see what else we can find. It’s a slow process, mind you—we are going to be here a while so we’re trying to draw it out as much as we can—but a worthwhile one.

Today we wandered up the hill, then up a few more hills because wow this place is hilly, past Ao Yon Senior and Ao Yon Junior beaches and all the way up to Panwa Beach. We’re talking a 40 minute walk, at 3.1 km one way, so a good trek but not unreasonable.

Wandering past Ao Yon beach.