Honeymoon Adventures

I wasn’t planning to write about my honeymoon yet – I haven’t even told you about how I met my husband or about my wedding! But I couldn’t help it! My article about my honeymoon got published in the AirAsia Travel3Sixty magazine this month so I think that calls for a celebration!

If you want to check out my article for real you can check out the October edition of Travel3Sixty here. It’s so weird to see such a big picture of Rev & myself in a magazine and know that thousands of people are going to read about us!

So here’s the article that was published (and some pictures to go with it!):

One of the first things I did after my boyfriend proposed to me in October 2010 was to log on to www.airasia.com to book our honeymoon trip! Even though we live in Bali, we wanted to explore another part of the world and had our sights set on Phuket. The day I checked for flights from Bali to Phuket, the new direct route had just been introduced and there was a Big Sale! We decided on one week in Phuket and another in Bangkok. My husband-to-be loves travelling and I knew that he’d love exploring these new places.

Flying into Phuket was like flying into paradise. Islands littered the sparkling green water and we couldn’t contain our excitement for what lay ahead! We picked up the tourist map at the airport and hired a scooter for $5/day and off we went exploring Phuket. The drive down the coast was breathtaking! We eventually came across Yanui Beach. There was a small bay where we lay in the sun, swam and slept until we witnessed our first Phuket sunset. It was beautiful.

The rest of our days were spent going on tours. The first took us to Phuket Fantasea, a mini theme park with the main attraction being a colourful show filled with Thai culture, flying trapeze artists, magic, elephants and much more. The second was the Phi Phi tour. Our first stop was Maya Bay, a dream setting where tourists visit daily because this is where The Beach was filmed. Next, we headed to Phi Phi Island where we went snorkelling in crystal clear water with beautiful corals and hundreds of fish. Lastly, we lazed around on the white sand of Khai Island before returning to the mainland.

The final tour took us to Phang Nga, about 90 minutes north of Phuket where we visited the Buddha Cave and went bamboo rafting in a pitch black cave. Later, we visited James Bond Island and a Muslim fishing village built on the water – both worth seeing!

Our next destination was Bangkok; the complete opposite to everything we had known the week before in Phuket! We were now in a bustling city of traffic jams, highrises and exotic smells. I had told my husband that we could go elephant riding in Bangkok. However, I had neglected to tell him it was a two-hour drive from Bangkok!

We are beach lovers so we enjoyed Bangkok a lot less than Phuket. However, we loved the shopping there, especially Chatuchak! The market is HUGE! You could spend all weekend there and still not see it all! Every stall had something different to offer.

We also visited the reclining Buddha and Grand Palace. It was interesting to see how people in other parts of the world live, pray and eat. Culture is an amazing, complex thing. The rest of our week saw ‘sunbaking’, swimming and, more shopping at Khaosan Rd, the backpackers’ paradise. Here, we booked our day trip to Kanchanaburi. My husband was finally able to go elephant riding, which he enjoyed tremendously. We also checked out the World War II Museum and bridge that was built by POWs from WW II.

All of that brings me back to where I’m sitting right now, on a plane on the way home to Bali, as I write this story. And I can only say one thing: We can’t wait until our next adventure!!

So there we have it! My first article in a real magazine!

If you have any questions about anything I’ve written, about organising your honeymoon, booking flights (especially cheap ones) or travel I’d love to answer them – just send me a message on Facebook or comment on this blog.

Be blessed!

Jade Tanzil