I had my fill of Phuket’s hectic energy, so I chartered a tuk tuk to take me to one of the more local beaches.  (A great hint for traveling is always ask your cab or tuk tuk driver for the best beach and also the best food!)  And, local it was, me being one of the few tourists (thank God!). I traveled up hills and through jungles, past elephant camps and finally arrived to the incredible beauty of a jade colored lagoon which spilled into the ocean, turquoise in color, warm waters, pounding waves…hardly a soul in sight.  I was grateful for the lagoon as the waves seemed a little…

Stepping onto the island of Phuket was a bit like stepping into a very beautiful house.  But once you are in that house,  you soon discover it is owned by a hoarder and there is not one bit of space for anything more, not even you. I have never seen more shops, restaurants, and bars packed into one space in my life, and anything else that you may want to enjoy. A spa where you can go stick your feet in the water and have the fish nibble the dead skin off of your feet? They’ve got it.  A store that sells fake iPads for$100?  That’s there, too.  I was…

So, I am used to having blisters on my feet when I travel, but it is new for me to have blisters on my hands. Today, I chose the new, the adventurous route. I had planned to take the train to Ayutthaya, a city of temple ruins. Looking it up on the internet, I discovered that I could actually take a minivan for much less cost and it would take only one hour instead of two. Interesting that it didn’t mention this in my guidebook, but I decided to do it. I went to the correct subway stop only to find a madness of many minivans, a market that was…