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Published: September 21st 2007
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Boco Sor
The Takua Pa bus station Random escapes are always a worthwhile venture, especially when they come packaged with a little excitement, a little disillusionment, a little weirdness, and some extremely short skirts.
When a ruffle is considered a mini skirt, one has to wonder about the perceptions of conservative dressing in this country. Mind you, I was staying in Phuket Town and there are a number of bars there….
Ahh well. So, on Monday we decided to bail on the rain and take a day or two in Phuket Town.
When you get off the bus in Phuket, you are swarmed by a pack of tuk tuk drivers all haggling to get the attention of the passengers. They literally jump out of their skin to grab the farung (foreigner) whom will inevitably pay more than a fair price. Additionally, every cab driver detours from the clients’ destination to a tourist trap. Those that bring an unsuspecting patron to a major shopping outlet set up for tourists obtains a stamp that adds up to free gas and in some cases discounts of tourist priced merchandise. Our driver had a beautiful (couple thousand baht worth) ring on his middle finger…
Anyway, in my quite
Rot Bat
the intercity buses heading out of the bus station-Takua Pa tired state, I dropped out of the bus and immediately accosted the first cab driver to approach.. “Talang guesthouse only NOOOO SHOPPING!!?? KOW JAI MAI???” The poor thing was so stunned at my aggressive nature he stood shocked and stared. His eventual response was a shake of the head and a comment that indicated he had no idea where one of the most popular guesthouses in Phuket was located.
Sigh…We did manage to get going soon after with a different cab driver though. I diligently took map notes as we drove as it was definitely within walking distance and saving a few baht on cab are is always a good thing when possible.
We arrived at the quaint and charming
Talang Guesthouse . A beautiful white building tucked into one of the many shophouses on the tightly packed street about eight blocks from the main wong wien (circle). I have to say I was really pleased for about five minutes. The patroness came out immediately, a lovely little Thai woman, and told us she was booked full. I paused for a minute because I had reserved ahead of time, however, remembering the horrific plane crash a day and a
Lampuan Seafood in Khao Lak
We stopped in Khao Lak for some shopping with Kat who wanted to get some stuff for home. We spent a half hour with the woven bracelet guy! half before, I understood. We all piled back into the tuk tuk and asked the driver if he knew another place.
Of course he did, but for a higher price! We turned a few corners and pulled up in front of the Oriental Hotel. The lobby was nice and air conditioned, with uniformed staff and a nice seating area. They had rooms available for 800 baht a night (about 27 dollars CDN). I had the reception take me upstairs to view the rooms before booking with them. As expected the niceties faded significantly after the first turn. The hallways were musty and the carpeting heavily worn. The walls water stained and wallpaper bubbling in areas. Still it seemed clean. The rooms were musty, but the beds soft and linens cleaned and bleached.
We began to check in when they asked for our passports….
Right, the passports locked away in the apartment in Phang Nga province.
No dice. They shut us down even though Britt had a copy of hers. My question is why the hell do we need to give our passport numbers and visa numbers to stay in a hotel??
By now it was dark
Seang Teaw
Kids playing on a bus while waiting for the intercity bus to come by. and the kids tired and hungry and sick of carrying their small packs of overnight clothes. I played the poor confused farung for a minute but they weren’t going to give.
I asked if there was yet another place to stay within walking distance as the tuk tuk driver abandoned us in search of more farung. They indicated a rooms for let across the street.
Okay…if any of you have seen the Beach with Leo DiCaprio…you’ll understand the rooms for let idea. I won’t go into detail so as not to freak out my father who’s reading this too.
It was an…interesting set up. An outdoor street, covered over with metal roof, electrical lines running underneath the roof, sewer grates plastered over on the street surface and then the whole road painted over with green. The walls all white and the two corridors set with doors labeled A 1-10 up to D 1-10. I rather liked the idea of it in an adventure sort of way…until the cockroack the size of my thumb scuttled past….
For 300 baht a night, what can you expect?
In reality they were perfectly serviceable rooms. Very large, cavernous in
Miles
Loking adorable...good thing because he is acting like a MONSTER! fact with a double bed, two clean towels and a light blanket. There was also a chair, dressing stand and a bricked off washroom with a privacy door.
Aside from the lack of comforts, it was quite clean and the place smelled quite good; cleaner mixed with incense. We booked two rooms for the night and went about dropping our things off and making a list of survival necessities. Namely toilet tissues (I have still to get used to the idea of washing and drip dry) a sheet or piece of fabric to put on the bed (just in case of bedbugs!) and something to eat for breakfast.
We padlocked (!?!) our rooms closed with the provided gear and set out into the steamy streets of Phuket Town.
I rather love the city life and atmosphere in South East Asia. It’s a wonderful blend of life and times, a sweltering mess of clashing (in my eye) colors and smells. We found a “corner” store in the tightly packed shop fronts to buy the necessities on our list and then off again over the sewer grates and crumbling sidewalks, past the food stalls and tourist shops, motocys lined
along the curbs and pots of boiling food and soups.
We found a little café style place on a street corner and popped inside. The kids have been enormously picky and I am laying down the law now. Order it and eat it…period. I gave up trying to entice them with options, they get their plate of rice (this time shaped as a teddy bear!) and one dish to share. Marrin’s choice this evening and she selected sweet and sour pork and baby corns. I had green curry with the hopes that this outfit would believe me when I order it “sai phet” or spicy. They didn/t…sigh. I eat more traditionally at the orphanage!
They both got a treat of 7-ups and we chowed down to the blaring background noise of the city and a Thai soap opera on the TV over the bar area.
We strolled a bit more after dinner until Malie’s legs were sore and Miles got cranky.
I showered the kids and put them to bed before meeting Britt at the street opening of the “rooms” by the plastic table that served as a check in stand. Note for those of you who
are freaking out if you think I have left my children alone and “gone out” for the evening. Britt and I pulled up a couple of chairs at the ONLY entrance to the rooms for let, and effectively were standing guard for any people coming in. Plus, I locked the kids into my room.
So Britt and I pulled up a couple of chairs on the store front area of a closed restaurant and opened a couple of Spy’s as we watched the night’s activities on the street. To the great amusement of the motocy cabbies across the street we settled in to watch them watch us. A few ventured over briefly to not-so-subtly pass us a few times to get a closer look. Then, as one interested young man passed by a second time, a smacking sound started up behind us in the shadows. The cabbie started laughing as Britt and I came out of our seats at the noise in the gloom. A regular car taxi driver had pulled over earlier in the evening and rolled out his sleeping mat in the corner of the restaurant and was sound asleep!
The friendly cabbie laughed as we
The labrinth entrance to our rented rooms
Notice the covered over manholes in the "hallway"! got settled and he pretended to prod the sleeping man. Things settled down after that and we set about talking and watching some more.
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