Katee Of The Day | Lifestyle Blogger

It's been so long since I've last swam in the ocean, get sun and salt in my hair and skin, and just feel the sea breeze. Definitely one of the things I was really looking forward to during our Phuket trip. It's crazy how island hopping used to be a normal traveling activity that I took for granted, and after 3 years of getting holed up in little Macau, I needed it more than ever!

Read More:

PHUKET 2023 | Revenge Travel Diaries

ELEPHANT HOUSE SANCTUARY | Gentle Giants

Watch our Phuket Vlog here:

I won't even get in the details of our island hopping tour to Phi Phi Islands because honestly I don't remember which place is which. All I remember is the surge of tourist, especially in Maya Bay, the 1st location we visited. So much visitors that they prohibited swimming within the bay, which I personally believe was a great idea to preserve the beauty of the place.

Another thing that upset me was this obnoxious group in our tour boat. Being in tour groups, I know it's inevitable to be pissed with fellow travelers. I just don't appreciate it when the group started being pricks to our lovely tour guide. Our tour guide was telling us all facts and history about the places we were visiting, all while controlling the flow of the tour. I was interested in hearing the facts and understood that maybe not everyone did. But once they started being rude to her for "talking to much", I was pissed.

I didn't mean to start this blog post in a sour way, but it is what it is. I've had better island hopping experiences in Boracay, Koh Samui, etc., and although Phi Phi Islands didn't reach my top 3, the tour was still worth it. So don't let my negativity sway you from this trip, because it really is a must when you visit Phuket.

Other fun activities during the island tours were snorkeling and jumping off the speedboat. The 1st time I've made contact with the sea was when I jumped into it and remembering how it stinged when the salt water entered my nose. It's a sting I've missed though, so no regrets there!

Towards the end of the trip, I got to sunbathe on the last island. It was after lunch so you can imagine my relaxation with a full belly and the warm afternoon breeze. A few advices I'd like to give to my fellow bloggers/vloggers: don't bring your most expensive cameras. Truthfully, as much as Adrian and I wished we brought our DSLRs for certain moments, at the end of the day I'm kind of glad we didn't. Phones nowadays do really fine, and are so much easier to use with the help of waterproof cases.

The only camera I brought was my underwater cam (that kept dying because the battery is old) which only managed to take 2 minutes of footage. We brought our own snorkeling goggles and waterproof bags. Honestly, try traveling light in these situations. I've learned through experience that it's the best way to look at it if you prioritize still having fun while creating content.

I wonder when will I get to enjoy the sun and sea again. I can't wait! Till then, yah girl is signing off!

Much love!

~Katee Of The Day

Photo Credits: Adrian C. (@dash_ad)

I don't know what it is, but I make sure every year during my birth month, I will give back to animals in need. It started 2 years ago when I visited Anima and donated food to their sheltered dogs. Last year I organized a dog walk with Masdaw where we played, fed, and donated the collected funding to their sheltered dogs. Let's just say that this year I celebrated with even bigger dogs. We got to meet these gentle giants: Moob, Pui, and Dookdik over at the Phuket Elephant House Sanctuary. Compared to other elephant shelters around Phuket (and I think there are a total of 5?), this shelter was located the nearest to our hotel resort. The sanctuary is also fairly new, operating a little under a year when we visited last May 2023.

Read More:
PHUKET 2023 | Revenge Travel Diaries
PHI PHI ISLANDS | Craving for Sand & Sea

Watch our Phuket Vlog here:

The sanctuary had a total of 4 elephants all saved from previous unfortunate situations that vary from being enslaved or groomed for entertainment. Most of them scarred with wounds and one of them even blinded, it makes me feel at ease to know that they are now in good hands and living the rest of their lives at peace.

We only met 3 of them since one of them was sick the day that we visited. We chose "program B", totaling 3 hours of learning, walking, bathing, and feeding the elephants. Workshops were also included but more on that later. Keep reading as a try my best to type these all out from memory (it had been 3weeks since I got back from Phuket as I'm preparing this post :P).

I'm guilty for being one of those tourists that ever tried elephant riding. As I've mentioned in my previous post, this is not my 1st time in Thailand. For the number of times I've traveled to Thailand, I can recall at least 3 times riding on elephant backs. I'm not proud of it. And now that I've grown and can contribute more, I promise to never ever support places that uses any animals for entertainment purposes anymore. Which leads me to my next point: are elephant sanctuaries like this also using elephants for monetary gain? The answer is yes.

The difference is with the care and treatment used on the elephants. You can argue that they might just be treating the elephants a certain way because that's what the tourists expect. But on the other hand, the elephants were given so much freedom to roam or do really anything they wanted at least when we were there to witness it. They teach you the proper way of feeding them, the places you should avoid touching due to trauma, and how to read each elephant's emotion and needs. I'd place my bets on being pro-elephant sanctuaries. Besides, they need the money to maintain the surrounding land and feed the elephants daily.

You know what I didn't expect from the sanctuary? Chickens. There were so much darn chickens around and it's funny that sometimes they tend to piss off the elephants too. I regret not doing the mud bath, all you have to know is that we were with the wrong group of visitors. So much regret that when it was time to bathe at the lake I was the only one who went in the water. Even Adrian didn't but he had his reasons.

We ended the tour program by making paper out of elephant poop. Something I'd never thought of doing ever but here we are. They prep the poop, do all the nasty work before you even get your hands on it. And by the time you start the workshop, you're dealing with a bucket of wet "washed" poop that feels weird but only smells like wet cardboard. You don't get to keep the ones you made since they take a total of 2 weeks to fully dry into paper sheets, however you do get to bring home ones that were made prior from other visitors.

I wanted to share more details about each of the elephants we met, but I feel like our guide did a way better job so I'll leave it to them to do that. Besides, if ever you visit the same sanctuary, I want you to learn about these elephants for the 1st time as well. Which brings me to my next and last point: is it worth to visit an elephant sanctuary in Thailand? The answer is hands down, a thousand times: YES.

Interacting with these gentle giants easily became the highlight of our whole Phuket trip. If I was given a chance to visit other elephants from other sanctuaries, I'd definitely do it. And you should too!

And that's it for me! I miss those big babies already. I don't mean to pick favorites, but Dookdik will forever have a special place in my heart. I immediately was filled with love when I 1st saw her. I hope one day you can meet her as well :)

Much love!

~Katee Of The Day

Photo Credits: Adrian C. (@dash_ad)

Yah girl's been too busy with other projects lately that I couldn't find time to prep the Thailand posts. Can't even start editing the freaking vlog *tears*. But that's alright! Regardless of my tardiness, here's the 1st of many Phuket blogposts: My revenge travel diaries.

PHI PHI ISLANDS | Craving for Sand & Sea

Watch our Phuket Vlog here:

Why revenge travel you ask? For most of us here in Macau, we were hindered from traveling for the last 3 or so years due to the pandemic. Now that Macau gives little to no sh*t with covid, it's finally time to get back on a plane ride.

Before the pandemic happened, one of the places I wanted to visit was Phuket. I've been to Thailand several times, but never Phuket. However, there was no direct flight from our airport so Adrian & I decided to put a little bit more effort and fly from Hong Kong. To understand how tired we were, we left our place at 2:00am, arrived Hong Kong via bus at around 3:30am, checked-in our counter at 4:30am and waited for another 3hrs to board our 3hr flight. HK Express lives up to their name though: no fuss & on time. But yeah, by the time we arrived Phuket International Airport, we were drained.

Always research travel distance, commute rates, and alternatives when traveling. Places like the airport are notorious for over charging tourists so it's nice to have a bit of a negotiating hand. After buying our 8-day unlimited Wi-Fi, it was now time to head to our hotel. It was only 15-20mins away from the airport averaging at a price rate of ฿400, but airport services were charging us a minimum of ฿650, so I walked away to discuss with Adrian our "other alternatives" until..... what might be the highlight of our trip reached out to us.

Let's just put it this way, we saved up to MOP$2000 (about ฿8,600) by agreeing to join a 120mins program. All we had to do was attend and listen; by the end of the trip we got an island hopping trip around Phi Phi islands for free, a complimentary meal at one of the famous restaurants in Phuket Old Town, and 3-free commute rides that were almost 1 hour duration each.

Luckily I didn't pre-book everything so we really used up all the complimentary gifts we were granted for listening to a guy sales talk us for hours, thinking we were a rich young couple.

We checked-in at Andaman White Beach Resort, and it was an amazing place! Private beach access, 24-hour reception, complete facilities, and super delicious food. You'd think breakfast buffets at hotels are usually not that great, but not there. Every morning, we filled our tummies with really really good Thai food, enough to get us going for the rest of the day.

BUUUUUUT.... we did have to wait 2 hours to get checked-in since their check-in time was at 2pm still. And we waited an additional 20mins after that because our room still wasn't ready. Another problem we've encountered was the "cash" only transaction for the room deposit and no nearby currency exchange. The spa was also under renovation the time we visited so we didn't get to try that either. Other than those, it was really great staying in that hotel.

I'm separating my blogposts for the Elephant Sanctuary and our island hopping trip at Phi Phi Islands because honestly they deserve their own spotlights.

Aside from those, it was just a lot of travel times. I guess it's time to say that I didn't like Phuket as much as I thought I would. To get from one place to another, it was always an hour or more drive which really took up a lot from the trip. Additionally, we went at a bad time. Apparently May is their rainy season so we really experienced daily heavy rain. Lucky for us, we were either still back at the hotel or indoors, and more importantly, our plans were not cancelled due to the weather.

Below are a few things that I just want to highlight about the trip:

1. Phuket Old Town

Is a great place to go IF you have time. I won't necessarily say that it's a "must visit" place but it is nice to pass by for a few hours. Lots of beautiful architecture, variety of cafes and restaurants, and a great area to shop for souvenirs.

2. Bolt at your own risk

If you do a quick search of how to commute around Phuket, you'd definitely come across an app called Bolt. It's cheaper than Grab and taxis, so we definitely booked car rides from Bolt more. Only catch is they're not entirely "legal". More on that in my next point below.

3. Bangla Road / Patong Beach

It might be your scene, but it definitely wasn't ours. Immediately as we entered we were greeted with a police check point and nearly had to go to the police station along with our Bolt driver. Fortunately she just dropped us off and charged us higher than intended. I'll just say it, Bangla Road is Phuket's red light district. Over crowded with bars, weed, and exotic dancers. We couldn't even find a decent seafood restaurant because it just all looked too wild for my taste. We did buy weed there though, if there was anything to do there, it's probably that.

4. Bangtao Beach

IS SUPPPPEEEERRR CONFUSING. Not the best way to end our trip. We got lost even after our driver drove us. And please check beforehand if you do plan to visit or stay at Bangtao Beach, most areas are private. We had to walk our way out in a super dark alley that felt very unsafe just to meet our driver.

5. Nai Thon Beach

Is serene and where our hotel resort was located. I made a good choice staying at this area to be honest. Only downside is its far location from everything else, and the lack of night life. Both of which weren't major problems since our hotel and Bolt accommodated for most.

And that's about it for now. Safe to say that I would choose Koh Samui over Phuket anytime. It was a great experience, but it just didn't make the cut for being one of my fave destinations. Anyway, stay tuned for my next post, until then....

Much love!

~Katee Of The Day

Photo Credits: Adrian C. (@dash_ad)