Thailand brings to mind turquoise blue waters highest landscapes, and thriving wildlife. My journey began at Don Muong airport as I took the flight to Phuket.

The first day had me travelling to Big Buddha, one of the revered landmarks on the island. It sits atop a hill and is a 45-meter-tall white marble, statue of Buddha. Driving up hill I came across an elephant safari and opted not to do the ride for ethical reasons but you could go feed the elephants, play with them and that truly was out of the world. The elephants were tamed and did the sweetest actions like kissing the tourist, asking for food and. I would like to believe that they did it of their own accord. The elephant I met was called Anda and he was a baby, terribly cute and his mannerisms were unlike any animal I have seen. The route is dotted with many cafes that have a spectacular view of the ocean and a nice mocktail coupled with the cold breeze and the sounds of waves was a beautiful way to spend the afternoon.

Phuket was all about exploring beaches and the best part is that it is so close to the many other islands that are just a boat trip away. I decided to go on an island-hopping adventure and took a speed boat to the first island, Panak. In one of the many islands on Phang Nga Bay the resort owner told me that the experience would be like no other.

The island had limestone formations and looked ab absolutely stunning. We had to take a look at the island from the boat. As the boat went close to the rocks. I observed something moving in the water it jumped back on to the rock. It was a monkey. The island had monkey around that very simply jumped into the water, swam and come back on the rocks. For someone who encountered monkeys in the wild as notorious little animals that mostly live on trees, this was pretty fascinating. It wasn't the monkeys but the landscape they lived in that had us, many Indians included, in awe.