Visit Thailand's largest island for incredible food, amazing sights and moments of pure peace

Suffocating an elephant is not something I want on my conscience, so it's just as well that Tongyib was used to ignorant tourists. Easily evading my misguided attempts to shove a fat banana up her nose, she curled her trunk around the fruit and popped it neatly into her mouth before reaching out for the next reward - a section of sugar cane.

She had earned her basket of treats - watermelon, corn cobs, cucumber, the banana leaf lining and nearly the wicker basket too, until her handler snatched it away - by taking two of us for a half-hour plod up a hill for views over the turquoise sea surrounding the Thai island of Phuket. It was easier work than her previous job of hauling teak logs out of the jungle, although after rather too many delicious multi-course Thai dinners we were probably a heavier load than we imagined.

Delicious food is impossible to avoid in Phuket - it's in the air. Stalls selling grilled kebabs, bananas and seafood are everywhere. That, mingled with the pervasive scent of jasmine ginger, lemongrass, curry and coconut, was a mouthwatering combination.

We watched as ayoung macaque monkey called Khainui demonstrated how he had been taught to twist coconuts until they fall. Quick, nimble and far more efficient than a clumsy person, a single macaque can harvest more than 800 coconuts a day, nothing of which is wasted by the humans who collect them.

After the juice has been drunk, the flesh grated, the milk squeezed out and the oil separated by boiling, the grainy brown residue at the bottom of the pan tastes almost like chocolate. It's a popular topping for puddings.

Foodie's paradise

Indigo Pearl Resort is ruinous to the waistline. Located on the northwest coast near the airport and fabulously designed with an industrial chic theme, it's built on the site of an old tin mine. In fact, Tin Mine is the name of the restaurant that undid so much of my hard work at home trotting up steps every day.

Cheerful chefs stood ready each morning to cook me a crepe or a waffle, stir-fry some chicken rice or poach an egg. Long tables were piled with Asian, English, American, Chinese and continental breakfast foods. A fountain tinkled, manicured gardens of palms and orchids looked as perfect as plastic, and sated people murmured contentedly. Lunch was just as lavish, with multiple courses of fresh Thai food washed down with a Singha beer or two. And dinner? Just don't ask.

There was some foolish talk about a cookery course which would have led to more eating, but instead we got pedalling. We whirred along quiet roads on bikes through rubber plantations where milky latex dripped into cups, past ornate gilt and white spirit houses, grazing water buffalo with white egrets perched on their backs and through small villages where chickens crossed the road for no reason.

A brooding black Buddha sat on a small hill beside a pretty tiled temple covered in curlicues. In the market, baskets of shiny red chillies glistened in the dimness and a little girl stood naked under a hose behind the fish stall. Outside the big red and gold temple in Thalang stood a row of Buddhas, a different one for each day of the week - two for Wednesday - and in a glass case lay the remains of a self-mummified monk.

Cycling in Phuket is a sweaty business - even lying in an open-sided beach pavilion being pressed and prodded by a Thai masseur can be hot work -  so it was a relief to get out on the water. Zipping along in a speedboat, it took 40 minutes from the marina to the glories of Phang Nga Bay - 42 water-sculpted limestone islands rising abruptly from the Tiffany-blue waters of the Andaman Sea. Up to 300 metres high, some of these dramatically undercut islands conceal interior lagoons open to the sky and accessible by paddling a canoe through dark tunnels where tiny bats hang from the ceiling.

Since our canoe was inflatable, it was quite alarming when the passage through the razor-sharp rock got so low and narrow that the man paddling had to force it through - but not as scary as when there was a sudden whoosh of expelled air. Thankfully, it was just the boss releasing some air so we could squeeze through the gap and pop out into the bright sunshine of the hong, or inner room.

A tall mangrove with twisted roots was perfectly mirrored in the still water. Up above the contorted rock a sea-eagle soared. Below, a brown-spotted jellyfish propelled itself gracefully past the canoe.

It was a peaceful moment to savour, unlike the surroundings at the bay's most famous island, featured in the Bond movie The Man with the Golden Gun. Noisy long-tailed boats jostled for space along the beach as tourists swarmed ashore past clustered souvenir stands to pose in front of tall and spectacular Ko Tapu, fortunately out of their reach.

Someplace quieter

Patong Beach is also brash and busy - shops and bars line the crowded, narrow streets, and sun loungers are crammed cheek by jowl along the sand. When those cheeks and jowls belong to sunburnt, portly, middle-aged men in Speedos, it's time to head somewhere classier such as Indigo Pearl's bay, or the pools at Diamond Cliff Resort at the northern end of the beach, well away from the bustle.

After a more strenuous swim there than I had planned thanks to an unexpectedly fast water-slide, I sat by the Ocean View pool with a powerful Snow White cocktail and watched the sun set over the Andaman Sea. The air smelt of jasmine, yet another delicious dinner awaited, and I hadn't killed any elephants that day. What more could I ask?

By Pamela Wade

 

To go

March to mid-October is Thailand's off-season, so there are generally some good deals to be had at this time of year. During these months, the temperature range is tropical, from 20 to 32. It is the rainy season, but don't let that deter you - showers are usually brief and cooling, especially between June and August.

Thai Airways flies from Auckland to Bangkok with a connection to Phuket. Visit www.thaiair.com.

Indigo Pearl Resort at Nai Yang Beach is highly recommended - visit www.indigo-pearl.com. Alternately, try the Diamond Cliff Resort and Spa at Patong Beach - visit www.diamondcliff.com.

For more information about Thailand, visit Tourism Thailand at www.tourismthailand.org.

 

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