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Published: February 4th 2009
Chilling on Ferry to Phuket
& catching some rays ofcourse ;-)Greetings all....
Another island done = another blog....
Since it was to be Jay, my cousin & travel buddy, last few days of his 7 weeks travelling we left the decision of the next destination to him. So after a sensational week on Ton Sai, Krabi, & still the highlight of my trip this far, he decided on the infamous island of Phuket! Here we based ourselves in Patong; the mecca for all tourists!
Where to begin??!! My time in Phuket was OK I guess. More because of the company (my 3 cousins) than Phuket itself! Patong beach itself is pretty & very similar to Cape Town, Camps Bay. Except much bigger & warmer water! The beach is packed with thousands of tourists soaking up the sun, jet skiing & para-sailing. Phuket is undoubtedly the money spin of the South Thailand!
Blessed with temperatures in excess of 30 degrees celcius, we lazed in the sun but not as much as our previous destinations. The crowd here (& the island itself) is very different to the rest of South Thailand - & infact to the islands I visited in Indonesia! It is not condusive for much socialising &
interacting without spending large sums of money. There is no hangout spots on the beach & pretty much all the socialising happens in the bars & clubs in the main street. Thankfully our room was equipped with a tv that broadcasted the Aussie open - not my idea of a holiday but it definately was handy ;-)
Phuket, also famous for its nightlife, was not that great! All activities happen in one massive square boarded by 4 roads! There are droves of clubs & bars packed with tourists & relatively expensive. Not only in Thailand terms, but generally! Added to this is the uncountable number of prostitutes & lady boys lining the sidewalks! Judging by the number of prostitutes lining the sidewalks all night every night, I would assume that the global financial crises has hit this industry too ;-) There is no way the supply can outstrip (excuse the pun ;-)) the demand by this much! I dont know if it is "normal" practice or the fact that they are so desperate for business, but even walking in the middle of a 4 lane road & completely ignoring them, does not prevent them from approaching you & even
go as far as grabbing your arm!
Phuket is also the only place we have encountered where there is a cover charge for parties. If you opt for a place where there is no cover charge, be prepared to have lady boys dancing on the tables & stage all night staring at you! Thanks....but no thanks, not for me!
Despite all this I enjoyed my time here - again more for the company of my cousins: a few hours per day lazing on the beach, the sports on the tele & smoking hubbly in our room. Oh, did I mention that there are virtually no smoking restrictions in Thailand. So there are no rules against smoking in rooms & no smoke detectors setting off alarms. The 3 days here was very similar to home ;-) Good company with plenty of laughs, tele with sports & lotsa hubbly! Another fond memory was the free lunch after mosque on Friday. Something I would never do back home was accept free lunch - but we did & we all agreed that the chicken curry served tasted good & similar to back home. For a change, it was also good not to
be the only "westerners" in Mosque on a Friday & therefore not continuously stared at by the locals ;-)
Before leaving Phuket it was time to say cheers to my travel buddy for the past 7 weeks ;-( Jay ( I know you reading this & its been nearly a week now) but still thanks for contributing to an awesome, sensational & amazing 7 weeks & also for the memories & laughs bro! South America next or New Zealand 2011 rugby world cup ;-) See you soon!
Impressions of Phuket:
the good:
- good beach & if you keen for water sports, Phuket is the place to be
- loads of sports bars & most places open practically 24/7
- some really impressive artists in Phuket (in my opinion)
the bad:
- expensive
- setup not easy for socialising
the ugly:
- excessive prostitutes & lady boys that literally dont care about "harassing" you
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Ella
non-member comment
Im going there!
hey dude! haha im going with my boyfriend to phuket in 2 weeks, and i was wondering whether there are hubblys available, or should i take my own one!? hmm. i literally search phuket and hubblys and found your blog :)