After arriving in Phuket (pronounced Poo-Get if your Thai and feck It if you're Irish), we hauled our bags to the nearest guesthouse in the resort of Patong Beach. I was still dazed after stupidly smashing my head again on the roof of the boat (this is starting to worry Angela who thinks I will have the IQ of a boxer by the time I get back to the UK - apologies to any boxers reading this),and we somehow managed to get a room in Charlie's Guesthouse, which it turns out is more used to renting by the hour rather than per night.
After freshening up and a quick bite to eat, we headed to the beach. We were dazzled by the amount of bars and tacky tourist restaurants we saw on the short walk through Patong. The beach was no different and was massively over-developed. Having spent the previous night on a deserted beach on Ko Phi Phi it was a bit of a shock. Everywhere you looked there were parasols and sun-loungers while people on speedboats, jetskis, and parasails weaved dangerously in and out of swimmers. It seemed a real shame as the bay must have looked fantastic before the lure of tourist dollar turned it into some sort of South East Asian Benidorm.
Unfortunately a lot of the places we have been to in Thailand are similar. I guess a lot of it is a response to the devastation wreaked by the tsunami (there are tsunami warning signs, evacuation routes and alarms everywhere) but I think southern Thailand generally is over-developed.
I spoke to a couple of diving schools, but their prices were massively over-inflated (I will wait until we get to Ko Tao tomorrow), we soaked up the sun and sights and sunk a couple of well-earned beers.
A day was enough for us here and after getting back from the beach we booked a minibus to Sura Thani and ferry to Ko Pha-Ngan for the next morning.
.....Chris has become fatigued (or can't be arsed finishing this off so I have taken over).
Phuket was a disappointment, but maybe we just chose the wrong place to stay...I did not realise how big the island was and we are guilty of arriving in Patong - not liking it and getting on the first bus out of there. We could have hired a scooter and explored some of the other beaches but as we are running out of time in Thailand we decided to cut our losses and head for the east cost islands of Ko Pha-Ngan and Ko Tao.
After a day taking in the sights of Patong darkness fell and the town lit up in a blaze of neon...and out came the Thai Go Go girls and ladyboys! Since we had one night only we decided to fully embrace the debauchery and hit the town. We went to a few bars where you get a complementary Thai girl at every table, these girls were stunning and Chris was like a kid in a sweet shop, he did not know where to look first. Luckily they were showing the match - Arsenal were paying Boro but don't ask Chris what the score was i still don't think he would be able to tell you.
Next stop was a bar where we were dragged in by a ladyboy, he got us settled with some drinks, came back over and made us play Jackpot, connect 4 and some random hitting nails into a block of wood with a hammer game (Chris's DIY nightmares returned). We also made friends with the girls (boys?) and by an amazing coincidence one of the girls I had got talking to was on our minibus to Sura Thani the next morning. It was great chatting to all the girls and I think they were pleased to be nattering to me rather than some 50 year old skanky sex tourist (of which there were many).
The main street was packed with bars all with glittering arrays of dancing ladyboys, here we met two 19 year old boys from Finland....I think it was a eye opener for them, so much so they were hammered - as was Chris. They provided him with lots of material and I had to walk along with the three of them saying "you like ladyboys", "no YOU like ladyboys" Chris in his full volume Borat voice.
Next morning we were on the minibus at 7.30am - the journey turned into another nightmare trip and because of a delay with the ferry transfer we did not reach Ko Pha-Ngan until 8.30pm. We were tired and had no where to say but luckily met up with a couple from Holland who were also heading for the northern resort of Haad Yao. They recommended a place called Highlife. This turned out to be a real gem, wooden huts with hammocks and sea views, a restaurant with a tasty looking menu (they had Cornflakes!!!!) and a lovely pool. However the first hut we looked at was an older style, Chris pulled what he thought was the bathroom light only to find he was holding onto a giant cockroach (Jules you would have loved it), when we did find the real light switch it didn't get any better - the bathroom was full of them! We politely declined this hut and were shown another, this turned out to be much better. We later discovered the absence of cockroaches was thanks to our resident lizard who lived behind the bathroom mirror and was over a foot long, he looked like a mini crocodile.
We stayed on the island three days and it was very relaxing, although the weather was a overcast and windy for a couple of the days so we did not get much opportunity to work on our tan. Needless to say everyone reading this at home will be full of sympathy. On our last day we hired a scooter and drove around the island checking out deserted beaches, we found some real beauties and put the scooter through it's paces by taking it down (and back up) some very steep dirt tracks....luckily it didn't rain or we would still be stuck on a deserted beach somewhere.
Yesterday we got yet another ferry to Ko Tao. I would say that Chris has been doing very well on the open sea but he went diving today and his seasickness has finally caught back up with him.
We are staying in the diving resort of Sairee beach which is a mecca for divers, this island is world number 2 in issuing PADI certificates. Most of the dive centres offer discounts on accommodation and we spent our first night at the Big Blue dive resort, where the rooms were cheap but dreadful. Our little hovel stunk of drains and peroxide (?), this was too much even for Chris so we decided to check out and look for somewhere better. We stumbled across a BAN'S diving resort and had a look at the rooms, the first was luxury but the more expensive one they showed us was exquisite and we just couldn't resist. It is the most luxurious room we have stayed in since leaving home and has hot water which is a rarity on this island....the cold showers are painful.
Chris did two dives today while I had a lay-in and spent the morning chilling around the pool. He saw lots of fish and navigated through underwater tunnels but the visibility was not as good as he expected. The snorkeling however is great and we have been splitting our time between baking on the beach and peering down at the underwater world.
We have two more nights of luxury then we are off on a catamaran-bus combo to Bangkok in time for Christmas.
In case we don't get a chance to wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year:
MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPY NEW YEAR!!!!
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