Day 87-88: Koh Samui to Phuket, Thailand

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Thursday, April 23rd

After a fantastic breakfast we went to wait for our boat to the mainland. Two hours later we ended up at a different pier than the one we expected and from there we got on a bus to Surat Thani. Here we expected to get onto the mini-bus to Phuket but instead we were transferred to a different location were we had to wait for an hour.

On the transfer we met two Australian sisters also going to Phuket. At the place we were waiting there was a very mean little Thai man who shunted the girls around for no reason and tried to confuse them in an apparent attempt to rip them off. He left us alone, probably because the girls looked like easier targets for his harassment.

We had a terrible lunch but finally we got on the mini-bus to Phuket. It was hot and cramped, but at least we were on our way. It was our first time in months moving faster than 120km/h and it was a kidney-shaking, bone-rattling ride, with the driver over-taking on blind hills and bends. It reminded us of our mini-bus trips in Laos, only faster.

When we stopped for a break the driver said he's not going to Phuket town, but said that if we pay him he'll take us. We declined his "kind" offer since the tickets we paid for was to Phuket town. We were interested to see where we'd end up, but since we just drift from place to place it really didn't matter where he left us, as long as it was somewhere in Phuket province. One thing was for sure, we'd rather spend more money and find other transport than give in to this extortionist.

As we got close to Phuket town the driver stopped at one of those "tourist information" offices (read travel agency) where they wanted to "check our destination". In reality they wanted to sell us hotels and tour packages. We told them we already had a place and wasn't interested. We got back in the bus and was eventually dropped in Phuket town, which was pretty much where we wanted to be.

After saying farewell to the sisters we got our bearings and headed to the oldest and most famous hotel in Phuket. It's called the "On On Hotel" and they shot scenes from the movie "The Beach" here in room 38. We got room 44 just around the corner. It's a strange place. It's old and a little dingy but it's got great character and we felt instantly at home there.

After a shower we went in search of dinner and free wi-fi so we could research the dive and snorkeling scene here in Phuket. Rumour has it that Phuket is "to-dive-for". We found a fantastic little restaurant and had a marvelous dinner. We also found a few possible dive outfits.

Today's highlights:
1. Making it to Phuket.
2. Getting a room in a cool old hotel.
3. Wonderful dinner.

Friday, April 24th

We woke to a rainy Phuket and after our morning ritual we set out for breakfast. We ate at a nice place owned by a lady from New Zealand. We did a recon of our budget and spending for the last two weeks and chatted to the owner about New Zealand and Australia. Her opinion was that even though New Zealand is gorgeous, there's not enough money there to live comfortably. She said we're better off looking at Australia. It's interesting cause everyone has their own gripes about their country of origin. We'll just go see what's what and draw our own conclusions.

After booking another night at our hotel we walked around looking for scooters to rent. For some reason neither of us felt very comfortable with getting a scooter here and renting a car will murder our budget. We decided to give the local bus a go.

In the afternoon we became the proud "parents" of Santi & Jonus, a breeding pair of Gibbons at the Gibbon Rehabilitation Project in northern Phuket. By adopting them we help pay for a year of their upkeep. We chose them because Santi (the male) was born on Christmas day 1999 and they have a good chance at breeding and being released back into the wild. We plan to adopt them each year until they are released. We couldn't meet them because they limit human contact with the Gibbons that could be released back into the wild but we did get a whole information pack about them and will receive news about them via email. For more info or to adopt your own, see http://www.gibbonproject.org

We had taken the local bus the 20km to the national park and the driver said he be back at 4pm. We waited for him from 15:45 to 16:15 but he didn't show. Because there's only one road in and out of the national park we decided to start walking down the road. When we reached the road to Phuket there was still no sign of him so we continued walking in the hope of running into him. It started raining softly but that soon passed. At one point a scooter stopped and the guy said he'd take us for 40 baht. This was a pretty good price so we decided to hop on. After about 1km he inflated the price ten times to 400 baht. We scolded him for trying to rip us off and told him to stop. We got off and he left with nothing. We were more than a kilometer closer to home for free. We continued walking and laughing about our situation. We hadn't seen a single local bus since we got off the one that took us to the park.

A while later a mini-bus pulled over and even though we expected it to be outrageously expensive we asked anyway. It wasn't like we had anything to lose. The friendly man was on his way to pick up some clients and was willing, for a small fee, to take us to the main road through Phuket. Here we had a better chance of getting a bus. We gratefully accepted and had a nice chat with him. He dropped us off and we sat next to the road waiting for the local bus.

By 6pm there was still no sign of the bus. The police nearby seemed to be making fun us and it was still 12km to town. We had little option but to start walking and hope for the best. One place we asked wanted to charge us 400 baht for a taxi. They were unwilling to negotiate so we continued walking. Soon after that a guy on a scooter stopped and said he'd take us for 200 baht. Talita tried her best to negotiate it down but it was near dark and he wouldn't budge so we accepted it.

We got back to our hotel just before 7pm, totally exhausted, sticky with sweat and very happy to be back. Being parents is hard work!

Total highlights:
1. Adopting Santi & Jonus.
2. Making it back to our hotel.

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Photos

Room 38
Famous and stuff

Jonus & Santi
our children

We're alive
and drinking beer!