Khai Nok Island (Phuket)

Khai Nok Island, Phuket, Thailand

Many of the tourists that go to Phuket go there because there are some world-class spots (Similan Islands, Koh Surin & Koh Phi Phi) to go diving and snorkeling around there. If you’re doing a short trip to Phuket, or traveling with family and small kids, the good news is that there are tons of little day tours around Phuket that you can take to smaller islands. My lovely wife and I took a half-day trip to some of the smaller islands around Phuket, including Khai Nok, to simply check some fish out.

Some of the islands are only fifteen minutes from Phuket, which makes for a great half-day tour if you’re on a quick jaunt.

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Take a swim in the clear waters of Koh Kradan

Thailand: Koh Kradan, Trang

This beach in Koh Kradan looks like a little slice of heaven, no? Given that this picture was taken during the busy period of Songkran (Thai New Year) in Thailand, I was fortunate to get this picture before all of the tourist boats started pulling in. Generally speaking, you won’t find any five-star resorts or mega hotels in this area; you’ll find a bunch of bungalow style accommodations steps from the beach.

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Sunset at Koh Libong, Thailand

Koh Libong: Trang Province Beaches in Thailand

Some of the hidden beach gems of Thailand can be found in Trang province, an area that isn’t frequented by as many tourists as Phuket or Koh Samui (in the region you will find the islands of Koh Mook, Koh Libong and Koh Kradan). My wife and I took a five-hour ride from Phuket to get to the islands, and we were amazed at how much different is was than Phuket; it was almost like stepping back twenty years to what Phuket must have been like in the 1980′s.

One of the real treats of the trip was seeing some dolphins and dugongs in the water, which our boat captain said was a pretty rare experience these days. Overfishing in Thailand means that many of the larger sea animals are not seen as frequently.

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Nai Yang Beach Sunset, Thailand

Nai Yang Beach, Phuket Thailand Sunset

Nai Yang Beach is the beach closest to the Phuket Airport, which you will fly over when you land in Phuket. A couple of really cool things about Nai Yang Beach:

1. Not nearly as crowded as the beaches in Patong.

2. There are a number of decent restaurants along the beach (my wife recently told me that this may not be the case now, however, because some of the locals may have had some conflicts with the local government).

3 You can go snorkeling at Koh Wei, located only about twenty minutes off-shore by long-tail boat, and check some tropical fish out.

4. The Beach Club is a really chill place to party or just hang out. The Beach Club is pretty slow during slow season, so you can expect to have the place almost all to yourself in the early evening hours.

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Long Exposure with fire during a Khantoke Dinner in Thailand

Chiang Mai Khantoke Dinner

My wife and I went to Chiang Mai, Thailand in 2007 to go see the “real Thailand”. During the course of our trip to Chiang Mai, we had a chance to see a Thai cultural show over a traditional Khantoke dinner, complete with women dancers, men playing with swords, and men playing with fire.

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Krabi, Thailand: Sunset at Klong Mueang Beach

Thailand: Krabi

While probably not my best composition ever, I’m mainly posting this to show the beauty of the Klong Mueang beach in the Krabi province of Thailand.  If you’re looking to get away from the crowds of Phuket, Krabi  is the place to go to get away from it all. The other benefit of Krabi is the adventurous types will find tons of activities to do in the area, including rock climbing & tons of places to snorkel.

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Relax with Buddha

sukhothai, thailand

A Buddha photo taken on a trip to Sukhothai, Thailand with my wife and brother a few years ago. While I don’t consider myself to be a spiritual person, at least in the traditional sense, I do have to admit to feeling a sense of wonder walking amongst the various artifacts of one of the old Thai Kingdoms (a lot of people don’t realize that Bangkok hasn’t always been the center of activity for Thailand).

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Buddha Shift

Buddha at Sukhothai, Thailand

This Buddha picture was taken a few years ago in Sukhothai, Thailand. I didn’t, however, use any real computer special effects to take this particular picture. I dropped the shutter speed way down on the camera to do a long exposure, then I manually zoomed the lens in and out to see what would happen (I did a quick auto correct on Picnik, as I normally do, to clean the picture up a little bit).

Note: The Sukhothai Airport is one of the smallest, but cutest, airports I’ve been to.

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