Our week in Phuket

Phuket - an interesting introduction to Thailand!

We arrived sore and sorry in Thailand after our Kinabalu climb and spent a couple of days recovering in Phuket town. After a couple of days we decided to head to the famous Patong Beach of Phuket - famous for a couple of reasons, but notably the very obvious sleaze and sex industry. Think of Patong Beach as a "schoolies for 60 year old men" - where old men walk around the streets with a young beautiful Thai girl hanging off their arm. We nicknamed these men "OGGs" - Old Gross Guys. Not the ideal place to relax on the beach, but a very interesting place to do some people watching and enjoy a different kind of night life.

Banglor Road in Patong is the epicenter of OGG land. At night it is shut off from traffic and becomes the most bizarre display of everything from lady boys, ping pong shows and OGGs. We did manage to find this great bar tucked away that did 2 for 1 drinks and had fantastic bar tenders who spent all night entertaining us with their bottle juggling skills. I also ended up taking them all on in a connect 4 tournament that ended up earning Brendan a couple of free beers!

The nicest thing we did at Patong was have a picnic on the beach as the sun set. We managed to find this store that sold cheese and crackers (a rare thing in South-East Asia) so we grabbed them along with a Singha for Brendan and some home made Pina Coladas for me and settled down for a lovely pre-dinner drink. It was amazing watching the final parasailers of the day set against the backdrop of the sunset.

Another highlight for me was the canoe trip that we did that took us around some of the 42 islands that surround Phuket. Although we endured the incredibly touristy "James Bond" Island, the canoeing that followed was incredible. With a guide helping us, we went into a series of partially submerged caves that are only accessible when lying flat in the canoe and pulling yourself in hand over hand using the rocks. One of the caves was so tiny that you can only make i through at the exact moment the tide is right - otherwise you end up getting stuck! This cave opened up into a lagoon walled by magnificent cliffs on all sides. It was really quite stunning.

In terms of food - Phuket would not be high on the must go to eat list. Given the enormous focus on tourism, the demand is mainly for western food, or highly watered down Thai food. However, we did manage to find a few gems - mainly from street vendors catering to the locals who worked in Phuket. In particular, a spicy baby mango and chili salad with a whole baby crab (shell and all) mashed into it with a mortar and pestle was amazing (though the lips were burning afterward from the quantity of chili used). We also had an amazing dinner at a reggae bar on a cliff top south of Patong Beach. There is no way this place would have got planning approval in Australia - as it perched precariously over a cliff top, but it meant we had fantastic views of the sunset as we ate some great Thai food. It was a good way to wrap up our week in Phuket.

We are now in Phi Phi Island (the vibe here is something like schoolies for 25-30 year olds). Probably heading off to Krabi soon, but we will keep you updated.

Until next time...
//Kate