Phuket

I said goodbye to Mike at the Gold Coast Airport and hello to Veronica for our Trip to Phuket, Thailand!! It was a long 8 hour flight to Kuala Lumpur where we had a 5 hour layover and waited for Stef Hendry who was flying from Sydney to join us. It was here I got my first culture shock by walking into the bathrooms and finding what was basically a hole in the floor. A bit different to what I’m used to. 

We then boarded the 1hr 20min flight to Phuket and had a lot of trouble equalizing the pressure in my ears on this flight. I had started to get the flu 2 days before leaving the Gold Coast so my nose was blocked up making it hard to pop my ears. We landed in Phuket and that’s when I got my second culture shock. People were following us asking ‘Taxi, taxi?’ We were offered a taxi for 1400 THB each but ended up getting a shuttle for 150THB. The taxi people were saying the shuttle was cheap because of the 2hr wait but we got a ticket and hoped straight on so there was no waiting around. Don’t believe everything people tell you.

Our first day we spent at the markets learning the art of negotiation. I thought I was doing well getting a t-shirt for 300THB but at my next merchant I got it down to 200THB so I did ok . We then spent the afternoon sitting in the pool bar due to the 30 degree heat and met some other Kiwi’s and Aussie’s staying at the hotel. We decided to go and book a tour for the next day and with the written price of 2800THB we ended up paying 1600THB. Everything can be bartered!  We had a night out on the town and I took my first Tuk Tuk Ride (one of many).

Day 2 was action packed. We went Elephant Trekking, Quad Biking, a Fish Foot Spa where the fish eat the dead skin off your feet, an Elephant Show, Monkey Show, Lunch and probably the highlight for me, White Water Rafting.   

The guides were very entertaining and slightly crazy. The would say things like ‘Sexy lady go ‘Waaaoooww’’’ after our screaming down the rapids. Our guide even picked flowers for us from the side of the river! We had a real laugh on our trip and we were well looked after so we just had to get a photo with our guides!

We decided that a morning at the beach followed by a half day city tour would be a good plan for our third day in Phuket. We relaxed on the beach for a couple of hours and Veronica continued to shop with all the merchants walking past. 

The city tour included a trip the Kata viewpoint, The Big Buddha, a Cashew Nut Factory, a Honey Factory, Phuket Town and a Duty Free store. My highlight on the trip was probably being blessed ‘Good Luck’ by a Monk at the Big Buddha and then having an impromptu stop on the way back down the hill to feed Pancake the baby elephant some bananas. 

We got back to the hotel and went for a swim and a beer in the pool bar. This night we headed down to Bangla Road which is where all the pubs and ping pong shows are. Every few metres there is someone asking if you’d like to see show! They really seem to love Australians in Phuket because  a lot of the bars have Aussie theme’s. We stayed out quite a while that night taking in all of the sights. I only saw 1 couple that were both ‘European’ whereas all of the other white men walking around were holding hands with a Thai girl. It definitely looked like some men only go to Thailand for 1 reason!

As I mentioned before we stayed out quite a while that night and in the morning Veronica and Stef were too sick to go to Phi Phi Island so I ended up going with 2 guys we had met at the resort and had already booked on the same tour we were going on. The seas were a bit rough so we ended up going out on a big speedboat and sitting up the front so it meant losing my stomach a few times but not my lunch. We were given sea sickness pills before going on the boat so I never felt sick during the day. First we went to  Maya Bay on Phi Phi Leh, the Beach that was used in the movie The Beach. This had soft white sand and beautiful blue waters. Then they took us sightseeing to see the Viking Caves and Monkey Island. The boat then stopped for snorkeling which I opted out of and I’m glad I did because people came back with small stings from jellyfish. Next it was off to the bigger island Phi Phi Don for a buffet lunch. 

Back on the boat we headed out to a party island. On the way we had to go into and through a storm so we all got pelted with rain. Luckily I had remembered to bring my rain jacket so it wasn’t too bad, I felt sorry for the guys that had no protection from the sideways rain. We reached the island and it was time for a beer before heading back to the mainland for our final night in Phuket. 

I had such a great time in Phuket with Veronica and Stef. I really have to go back as 5 nights was not enough time to do everything, I really wish it had been 7 or 8 nights! The Thai people are so friendly and helpful when they can be but the language difference does make things a little bit harder and slower. The only Thai I have learnt so far is Kob Kun Krab which is Thank you and I have used it a lot. I’ll try and learn some more Thai in Bangkok which is the next stop.