Finally on a boat

Wednesday February 20th

Yesterday's disaster status was confirmed when I woke up this morning covered in mosquito bites and with sunburn. I'm not really sure how the mosquitos turned up last night to feast, I was in the same place as I had been the previous three nights with no problems. The sunburn appears to be in a crescent shape on my left shoulder, so my guess is that after applying suncream to the exposed part of my shoulder, me t-shirt moved slightly, and left a patch exposed.

I only noticed the sun burn when I lifted up my back pack to put it on this morning, and felt the sting. I was moving off Phuket today, back to the mainland and the town of Ao Nang. To get there is was a 2 hour journey on a ferry, a very pleasent ride, but not that exciting. Passed by some strange shpaed islands, so I got a picture or two of them, to make up for missing out on James Bond Island.

Ao Nang is more what I was expecting of a Thai beach resort than Patong, its a lot more low rise, and is really just a big row of shops and bars stretching along a big beach front. It still has all the usual facilities though, including Starbucks, BK and McD. But already I prefer it to Patong, although I fear the nightlife might be quieter.

Getting a room here was a lot easier and cheaper too. I was met off the boat by some guy touting his guest house, I went to have a look at it, and it was nice enough. All done in about 20 minutes. The only thing was he said it was 20 meters from McDonalds (and I was figuring they wouldn't be building miles out of the city centre - assuming its not a drive thru) but it is a bit further. Still its only 8 minutes from the beach so its close enough.

Spent the rest of the day wandering around and on the beach. Didn't sit for an hour like last time though, I know my limits.

Despite its size there are still two Irish bars in Ao Nang. We are back to better levels of representation although I think there are more Swedish bars here. As I was sitting wondering where to go out for the night, two Irish lads went past on the back of a van playing some Irish song. They were playing in one of the bars, so I decided to see what was happening there. It was deserted, only about 10 people, and I don't think any were Irish. I was talking to a Scottish couple, and there were some English as well.