
Destination: Khao Lak. Nestled in a beautiful nature reserve, a mere two hours drive north of Phuket, Khao Lak is a quiet town with pristine beaches and the Andaman sea that overpowers with its ferocity and beauty. Normally any trip we make to Thailand (especially the islands) would only involve vegetating on the beach with no other activity involved. But this time proved to be quite different. We actually drove around town and to the surrounding areas to check out the many sights this town had to offer.

One of the sights we saw was a beautiful Buddhist temple that was being built by hand by the monks who reside nearby. Seeing the construction of the temple literally transports you back in time—to an age when wood was actually sawed by hand and the entire construction was being done without machinery. At the periphery of the temple is one of the most secluded and quietest tree lined beach that you will ever get to see. We were there for more than half a day with not another soul in sight.

We also managed to visit a hot spring about a half hour’s drive from Khao Lak and dipped into the pond that collected the water. Once you get over the initial trepidation about getting into yellow coloured water as well as the heat of the water in the middle of the day, it is extremely therapeutic. We came out of that pond with no body aches whatsoever. The rest of the afternoon we spent taking an elephant safari. The most amazing part of the safari was not walking through the woods on the back of an elephant, but being able to pet the elephants. With every sweet word I spoke to the elephant, she nodded back and kept reciprocating with touches of her own. One of the hardest things I have ever done is walking away from the adorable elephant at the farm—I so did not want to leave her!

Like I said before, most of my trips to beach towns have been all about lounging on the beach and getting a tan. This one was different thanks to all the exploring we did, which made it one of the best trips we have ever had. Thailand never ceases to amaze us with all it has to offer and as usual we cannot wait to go back there!
XOXO
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Written by Fleur Xavier and Nethra Raghuraman on Jun 09, 2014