Thailand Part 2: Koh Yao Yai

After leaving the bustling city of Bangkok, island time was on our agenda. We flew into Phuket and took a ferry to our next home, the island of Koh Yao Yai. Located between Phuket and Krabi, it is a remote island with small fishing villages, beaches and plantations. Our resort, Santhiya, which is an absolute dream, is built into the cliffside of the island and is only one of three resorts. After a rough and stormy boat ride in and running down the dock in the pouring rain, we arrived not really able to grasp the beauty of where we were. Until we took our truck ride up the cliffside to our room, for this view.

We absolutely loved the true Thai character of our resort. The woodworkings throughout were so detailed and hand crafted. It was truly magical! And it didn't end there... the infinity pool perched at the highest point of Santhiya had unparalleled views of the ocean, you couldn't tell where the pool ends and the horizon begins. Breakfast was served up here every morning, talk about coffee with a view!

The next morning was time for adventure, by moped that is! We rented a moped to hop around on and explore this little island in leisure. We stumbled upon a lone beach, saw how the locals live their daily lives, and hiked to the top of a fantastic viewpoint. No drivers license needed haha!

After exploring by moped, we decided to venture out by boat. We had walked down our beach and hired a local man to take us on his traditional wooden boat to the most popular sightseeing areas. It was a full day trip and we had the boat to ourselves! We stopped at the famous Maya Bay (made famous by the movie The Beach), Monkey Beach, Phi Phi Islands and a few small coves. The water was an amazing shade of turquoise with limestone rocks rising up straight from the water.

As our last evening was approaching on the island, we enjoyed the sunset from the pool and had a traditional Thai course dinner. We were sad to leave our tranquil little island to head back to Phuket, but we had a date with some rescued elephants!

Last stop on our Thailand journey, Phuket Elephant Sanctuary. After spending some time in Africa, I knew that I did not want to be a part of any kind of tourism exploiting elephants. Searching online for quite some time, I was lucky enough to stumble upon a brand new elephant sanctuary right in Phuket that takes in elephants that have been part of the tourism industry most of their lives. We were able to visit the sanctuary and walk around the grounds to see the elephants enjoying their lives. It was amazing to be so close to them and hear about each of their sad, but now happy, stories. Buying these elephants out of their current situation can be extremely costly, as well as their upkeep throughout their lives. Being able to contribute to such a cause was a great end to our trip and put a lot of things into perspective. The sanctuary has taken in two more elephants since we visited in November 2017!