Phuket - Our Last Stop In Thailand

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The last stop before the border crossing into Malaysia was in Phuket on the west coast of Thailand.

In Ko Tao we booked ourselves some tickets which would take us via boat and bus right the way over to Phuket. We checked out of our bungalow at 8:30 am and set off on what turned out to be our longest travelling day so far.

After a 5 hour boat journey and a 5 hour bus journey we finally arrived in Phuket town centre at 1:30 in the morning and were all shepparded into one hostel. It was cheap and cheery and to be honest we were all so tired from the journey that we took it!

As there isn't a great deal in the town centre itself we decided to head out and stay the rest of our stay on one of the many beaches around Phuket. We went for Karon beach which is one of the quieter beaches and areas and found ourselves a decent little hostel.

The weather over the three days was brilliant - bright sunshine so perfect for hitting the beach. We spent the first day on the beach and having a look around the shops at Karon. The second day we walked about 4km down to the next beach which was Kata beach which was also really nice, and the 3rd day we got a Sawngthaew over to the main beach at Patong Beach. Patong is the busiest beach by far and we found that out when we got there! Although it was really busy it was a nice place to spend the day but we were glad that were staying somewhere a little quieter!

Phuket was affected by the 2004 Tsunami that hit the west coast of Thailand. Things now seem to be pretty much back to normal although there were constant reminders of what happened three years earlier. There are now huge concrete warning towers mounted on the main road that runs along the beaches that apparently sound like air raid warnings sirens to alert people if there is the threat of a tsunami in the future.

Apart from that we didn't really do much else. The majority of the time was spent on the beach and having a look around the local shops. We saw the first heavy rain showers that caught us out on one evening and meant we had to hide in a shop for 45 minutes until the downpour had passed!

We really loved Thailand and just hope Malaysia is as nice and the food is as good 😊 !!

Craig & Nikki

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