Twenty six hours of travel later, we had arrived to our first stop, Phuket. The perfect spot to get a little color and a whole lot of seafood, we spent a few days relaxing on beautiful beaches, exploring some off shore islands and experiencing our first tastes of Thailand.

Our hotel, The Twinpalms located on Surin beach, proved to be the best place to get things started. After settling in, we decided to stay local and grab a nice lunch at Catch, the beach club associated with the hotel. A lunch of unlimited oysters, prawns and steamed blue crab was just what we needed to get us through our slight jet lag. After a few hours on the beach, some seaside cocktails and famous Thai massages, we were ready for dinner. Dining on the beach at Pla, our meal was all Thai and absolutely delicious. We tasted some bbq crab, prawns with glass noodles, prawns in red thai curry and their famous green papaya salad. Each dish was a welcome sign that we had arrived.

Our next day was another beach one, followed by dinner at Baan Rimm Pa. A cliffside restaurant known for preparing Royal Thai dishes, the views were as breath taking as the dishes we tasted. The most memorable, the salad and pad thai, might forever hinder our desire for take out thai in NY.

Our next day was spend on a speedboat exploring the Phi Phi Islands. After feeding bananas to the monkeys on Monkey Bay, it was time for our beachside lunch. A meal fit for a small army, our favorite was the Seabass. Prepared with three sauces, our palates were on a trip around the world with tastes of sweet, sour and salty, all in one dish. Back on dry land, we rested up for an outing to Patong. With our feet in the sand, we enjoyed a few local dishes and a whole grilled lobster. Different from the one back home, this one had no claws, but the sweetest and most tender meat.

Our third day of relaxing on the beach was followed by dinner at kan Eang, our most favorite of the trip thus far. A forty minute ride from our hotel, it was worth the trip. By recommendations of a new local friend, we ordered the banana flower salad and smoked shrimp to start. Both dishes were insanely delicious, and extremely spicy. But nothing that a few Singhas could not cool off. Next up were personally chosen, from a tank of many, lobster and tiger prawn. Simply grilled, the sweet crustacean meat was the perfect pre course to our final dish of sticky rice with mango. The classic Thai dessert, it just sweet enough to tame the fire of our meal.

Our final day was spent sailing about the Phang Nga caves. After a few hours of exploring we were treated to a home made picnic lunch of Tom Yum soup, grilled prawns and chicken curry.

A successful start to an adventurous fun filled trip ahead, it left our palates spoiled with anticipation of whats to come next in Chiang Mai.