Day 13 : Phuket, Thailand

We have been in Phuket for the past few days. Phuket is like Vegas on crack. You can't even describe that place. "Lady Boys", prostitutes, night clubs, shopping....its wild. You see old, fat European men with 2 gorgeous Thai women, (sometimes not woman at all, but they are so close you have to do a double take).Go-Go bars as far as the eye can see. And crammed into the cracks are trinket shops, internet cafes, and sarong and flipflop stands. In every sense it is Vegas, beach style. Scooter and taxi traffic is non-stop and people are everywhere. For some reason – ignorance, probably – the whole of Phuket island has become associated with its most popular tourist destinations: the beach areas of Patong, Kata and Karon.  Despite the geographical beauty surrounding it, Patong, especially, has become a place to avoid like the plague: it’s basically a conglomeration of chain hotels, cheap digs and sex-themed bars and clubs. Not somewhere to take the kids, then.

But the reasons most travellers opt for Phuket is it makes an excellent base from which to explore the surrounding islands and their beaches (which is what brought us here). Patong beach, long and narrow, is lined with umbrella chairs and beach massage stations offering Thai style massage for dollars. The weather was beautiful and we found ourselves a Bungalow right on the beach with A/C and a pool for the three of us to share.

In the mornings the guys are sleeping in, while I spend my morning reading by the pool, with my coffee and bananas. We rented jet skis one afternoon, which was actually our first oceanic jet ski voyage.

We took an all day sea kayak trip into Phang Na Bay. Phang Nga Bay is a remarkable sanctuary of some 60 towering limestone outcrops, some of which have collapsed in the centre to form hongs (huge hollowed rooms with sunlight above) that are usually accessible at low tide. The water around here is emerald green and the whole area is simply breathtaking, even if the scene sometimes resembes a regatta. Speaking for myself, its the coolest thing I've ever done.
We did all sorts of other fun stuff, you can see the pics for that.

We went out a few nights to a mojito joint, where we met Porni- Johnston's new Sweetie. Nights are fun. We'd always grab, food and beer and just hang out playing the nail not he log game. Its exactly that. Nail a huge nail onto a big log. First nail all the way in  wins. It fills the time while drinking and watching the Lady boys, the swingers and prostitutes. Its quite entertaining. Muay Thai Fights are everywhere and we got catch a local fight for free out in the square. That was a cool bonus.