Ahhh…. Now, what a lovely day it’s been! My original plan for the day included an early start with a GrabCar (the Thai equivalent of Uber) into Phuket City so that the kids and I could get a glimpse of the Sunday Walking Market and be back in time to meet a local guide for the afternoon. But as I was trying to figure out where to go so I could book the car, I happened across the critical information that the market doesn’t open until 4 PM. And I felt immediate relief – I knew that it was too much to squeeze into a day, and it would probably stress me out. (I don’t know how to explain why I had planned on doing it anyway, even though I clearly knew better…) So we went swimming instead.

I have never traveled with a local guide before, and I felt a little hesitant to try it. But I also felt like there is so much to see here, and that it would be easy to fall into the well-worn grooves worn by so many tourists. I wanted to try to break through to hopefully find a more authentic version of this country and this region. It’s probably a naive idea, but still important to me to try. So I found a guide who was willing to work with us. She met us at the hotel after lunch and we were off.

We explored the area for a while, and our guide Ariya told us about herself and Thailand and Phuket. We ended up at the Ming Mongkol Buddha, known as ‘The Big Buddha’. It has been under construction since 2004 and paid for entirely by donations. It is still under construction, and you can see marble tiles around for the construction workers to use. The view from the top of the hill is amazing – you can see all around the southern tip of the island. The design of the monument seems to be a beautiful blend of traditional and contemporary.

The kids were curious and respectful. We saw some people finishing a meditation inside the sanctuary. It was cool, dim, and oddly peaceful, even though there were many tourists walking through. There was a graphic about how to breathe for meditation. We all couldn’t help but compare meditative breathing and the freediving exercises that Tim has been working on.

On the way back down the hill, we stopped to get some drinks. Amelia wanted to try some of the durian ice cream that we saw at the same stand. We all gave it a try… Amelia was neutral about it (or she was taking very seriously my request to be respectful of the local culture and repressed her distaste…. If that’s the case, I set a very poor example. Because I’m pretty sure that my reaction was all too visible on my face!).

We headed back to the hotel and said goodbye to Ariya. If you’re ever traveling to Phuket, I would highly recommend working with her. She was incredibly thoughtful, attentive and kind. Let me know and I’ll get you in touch with her!

We met up with Tim. Although we now had some exciting recommendations for local restaurants, we decided to take advantage of the Night Market, which is only open on Sunday. Unfortunately, I directed our GrabCar to the wrong market, so we wandered around a more local market for an hour before we figured out that we were in the wrong place. Oh well. I did say that we wanted to experience more local culture. Tim even found some fried bugs for sale.

But we did also want to get to our original destination, so we got a taxi and headed to the more well-known, Sunday Walking Market. Duke fell asleep on the car ride, and so he experienced the second Night Market asleep on Tim’s back. We found some cotton candy and dumplings. This night market was stunningly beautiful and vibrant. But we were all wiped out by that point, so we found a taxi…? Converted truck? And rode home in style.