I realize that all my posts so far are just about work work work. I love my time off and although my work does take up much of my life I still find time to enjoy the weekends and recently I joined my friends for a hike in the mountains of Phuket. This was something new for me as Phuket is mostly about beaches.
Phuket has a mountain range that runs the length of the island and its an area that is never really seen by tourists or even locals. The hills are criss-crossed with narrow paths that are mostly for farmers to get to their crops and to connect the communities that live up there. They are too narrow for cars but perfect for motorcycle or in our case for a cool hike.
We did a three hour hike and it was amazing. I had no idea just how much small scale farming is going on in the hills of Phuket Island, and I have been living here since I was a teenager in college. Every few hundred meters we encountered a different small farm growing different fruits or vegetables. Look at this breadfruit! I honestly had no idea this is how they grow.
Of course there are rubber farmers too. Rubber farming is an important cash crop all over Thailand and even my family had a small amount of rubber trees when I was a kid - I remember my dad waking me at predawn to go with him sometimes for fun. The rubber is often collected in young coconut halves but nowadays sadly they use plastic cups like in this photo...
This next photo is mangosteen - my favourite fruit. In Thailand we call Durian the king of fruit but the Mangosteen is the queen of fruit! I never even knew that we are growing it right here in the mountains of Phuket, literally 30mins walk from my home.
Bananas were everywhere and I realized that if I wanted to get truly organic fruit straight from the farmer then I need to venture into the hills a little more often. But maybe next time I will come with motorcycle hahaha. The hike was quite steep and the weather very humid.
Look how beautiful the path is - most of it was like this! These paths are very very old. They original Phuket people have been using them for generations long before Phuket ever became a tourist destination.
Lastly here are some pics of me enjoying the hike. It took 3 hours and we crossed all the way over the mountains and down to the beachside neighborhood of Kamala. There we enjoyed a cold beer and called a grab taxi to take us home! I think the take away from this experience is to really appreciate what you have in your own back garden. I experienced a completely new side of Phuket that I never really knew was there. I will do it again for sure!
