It's All About Thailand & Dubai

After an exhausted Asos basket, 17 hours flying, one quick stop off in between at Dubai the isle of Phuket came into sight, finally. After a quick car journey to the hotel, the suttle calls of a poolside cocktail could be heard, and those calls should never be ignored. Once that was gone the adventures began, to kick it all off was off-road quad biking because how else would you explore a new place these days. So after dosing ourselves in mosquito spray and a quick test to see if we were competent on the quads, it became extremely clear that to let me lose on the motorized beast was not a good idea. If I am completely honest I would have made the same call. I had never quad biked before (which was clear from the test) but it was the great way to see the island, lead by our guide we had access to explore the dense jungle the pinnacle of the tour was a panoramic site to see the whole west side of the island. The tour lasted two hours costing us the equivalent of £13 each completely converting me to wanting to quad bike further hopefully in the driver's seat next time.

We soon wanted to discover areas just off the island so using a different motorized machine this time a boat, the first stop was to Maya Bay on Ko Phi Phi Leh island. The location is characterized by its white soft sand, crystal waters and sky to match its also the same bay a strange map led Leonardo Dicaprio in the film 'The Beach'. You can understand why Danny Boyle used the bay to depict paradise, as soon as you jump off the boat onto the icing sugar the locals call sand it feels more like an artificial Hollywood set. After a spot of lunch and then snorkeling off the Ko Phi Phi Leh island coast which I couldn't partake in due to a cold sore inflicting on my fun, we ended the day visiting a local fishing village.

As a lucky coincidence, a friend of ours was studying in Vietnam so decided to pop on a flight and come to join us for a few days. So the next adventure involved investigating the spiritual side of Thailand the best way to see the temples is to book a tour which we learned quickly trying to do it ourselves the day before. The greatest benefit is having the local knowledge to explain not just the religion but how traditions and shrines differentiate from temple to temple with their associated significance. The most impressive is the 45m tall marble statue of a sitting Buddha, which is extremely iconic to the Isle of Phuket since its construction in 2004.

After having such a wonderful time in Thailand waving goodbye from the plane was sad however the adventure was far from over. Since we knew we would have to catch a connecting flight in Dubai why not make a mini break out of it, so that's what we did we booked a hotel for one night and had less than 24 to explore the city of the future. Prior to our arrival, we spoke to a few tour guide companies explaining the time crunch and one offered what can only be explained a whistle-stop tour of everything Dubai had to offer. So after a jam-packed three and a half hours visiting pyramid shaped hotels, the famous palm, the Burj Al Arab, a replica of Istanbul's Blue Mosque and trust me much more. We spent the rest of our time relaxing in the world largest mall which was a retail culture shock in its self with a full-sized T-rex skeleton proudly posed casually next to one of the world largest aquarium holding 2,64 million gallons. After such a busy day we finished the day watching the light and fountain show hosted by the Burj Khalifa if you ever go to Dubai do not miss this it was awe-inspiring the five minutes flew by watching water dance at the base of the tallest building in the world. On that note, this post has been a little bit longer than usual but there was simply too much to talk about upon reflection the trip can be summarised by nature versus urban.

Hannah