Just Phuket.

Phuket is an island in southeastern Thailand. It is 30 miles long and 18 miles wide. What I learned here is that Heaven is 30 miles long and 18 miles wide.

I hate to be too hyperbolic about any one place. When you first start traveling, any really nice beach or ancient city can seem mind-blowingly beautiful, filled with some exotic and ancient meaning that changes your perspective on things, etc, etc. Once you travel alot, addictive as it is, often times you find yourself saying “this place is a lot like place x” instead of “oh my god! this place is amazing.”  Phuket is one of those places that is simply like nowhere else, one of those places where you go for the beaches thinking “I’ve seen beaches before” but you quickly realize, “I have never seen beaches like this before.”

The beaches are amazing. That’s the main draw. There are at least 16 major beaches (not including the many small islands near Phuket.) Of these you have your busy, bustling beaches with bars, resorts, nightlife and delicious Thai cuisine of which Patong Beach is the most popular. Then you have your tiny bays with amazing views, like Laem Sing, and your long white-sanded trail of coastline that dips underneath palms while nearly empty of all people, like Kamala Beach. There are beaches everywhere, and all of them that I visited were worth seeing. Even with all of the amazing beaches around, it’s still possible to befriend a local and ask about deserted, unmarked spots that can be found on the island.

As much as tranquil beach lounging is part of the reason to come to here, there are amazing water sports to play and tours to take on the Thai island of Phuket

. Snorkling, scuba diving, and SNUBA (a kind of cross between snorkling and scuba diving) are very popular here in the island’s crystal clear, fertile, shallows. Windsurfing, kite-surfing, and para-sailing are also very common, with lots of operators throughout the island.  There are a variety of deep sea fishing and site seeing tours available, as well as attractions on the land, like the Phuket aquarium and a freshwater fishing park.

After spending the day outside, I always looked forward to enjoying the food and drink on Phuket

. The food and nightlife here are absolute top quality, with a dizzying array of options, both in terms of price and style. Thai food is one of my favorites, and I love it in its simpler forms from tiny beachside vendors, but seeing how the vast amounts of tourist money and foreign restaurant owners have changed the traditional Thai meal into a high class art form is an amazing thing to behold. Many counties like Malaysia and Singapore aspire to have the type of cuisine reputation that Thailand does. You can find delicious Thai food around every corner. There are even Phuket hotels

 that offer fabulous dining right there in the lobby. Everything here is a pretty spectacular sight. Trust me, this is not just another tropical Island. Phuket just might be heaven on Earth.