Hello Phuket

Saturday February 16th

When we left our hero was somewhere in a service station in the middle of Thailand, and John McClane (isn't he running for President) was in a lift shaft. Well today we find out what happens to one of them, and not Det McClean, because they never put on the end of the film. I was a bit annoyed, but then we did have another 4 hours of sleep.

Now comes the messy bit. We arrived in a place called Surat Thani at about 4.30. Up until now there were people going to all parts of South Thailand on the bus. We had to be split up. The only problem, the buses to the other parts of weren't going until 7am. So they dumped us on the side of the road and left us there waiting. When 7 O'Clock did arrive we were transferred to the buses to take us on, and the Phuket bus wasn't a private coach (as advertised) but the normal local bus. At least I didn't have to pay (unlike one or two others who arrived on different coaches). I was a bit annoyed about not having the right type of transport (I guess this may explain why we don't get to keep the ticket), especially 6 and a half hours later when we pulled into Phuket. I had been told it would be about 11 when we arrived, it was about 1.30.

The reason for this is the route the bus takes. The central part of the Thai peninsula is quite mountainous, and the route was an up and over route, on a resonable road, but the bus still couldn't do more than about 50k for the journey, and it was about 250k. And of course there were frequent pick up and set down stops. In fact if I had known how long it would take, it would have been quite a pleasant journey, and if I had known how good the scenery was, I might have had my camera on me instead of locked in my backpack. Khao Sak national park does look like a cool place to visit, but I was heading for Phuket.

My original plan had been to stay in Phuket town rather than each of the resorts and go to a different on each day. However after an hour looking around the two I decided this was not a good idea, and instead went to Patong, the biggest resort on the island.

How to describe Patong, take the worst of all the spanish resorts and combine them. This still isn't bad enough, so replace 99% of the British bars with the girlie bars from Bangkok (you have to leave some, British bars do have one saving grace, they do great fry ups). Now you have the idea. Some may say this is better, I'll wait unil I try a brekkie in a girlie bar.

Anyway I know its wrong to say, but my first impression was maybe God was trying to send a message when he wiped this place out in a tsunami.

I didn't know whether or not to have a nap in the afternoon after the trip, and then stay up for the football, but in the end the decision was made for me as I fell asleep trying to decide. So I was able to stay up to see the late minute winner for Barnsley and Man United's demolition of Arsenal (briefly interupted by chatting to an Aussie bird). So my first night in Phuket wasn't too bad.