Home-made Coconut Oil Suntan Lotion.. You turn Thai in one hour!!

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Or is that you turn "LOBSTER" in one hour.... Bahahahahaha! No wonder another lady comes around to the beach chairs selling fresh Aloe Vera.. they must be working together! ;-) ... and so another day dawns in the Land of Smiles... Wednesday morning I had plans to meet up with Shannon for the day and hang out while Dan went and got a tattoo done. He was getting a huge tribal design over his shoulder and was going to be about 4 hours... We met about 10am and decided a day lazing on the beach was in order! In all the time I have been to Phuket/Patong I have never set foot on Patong beach...

Sunburn in the Rain

Speaking with people the previous day on our cruise they mentioned that is good fun to hire a couple of beach chairs and lounge around watching the action... there are heaps of vendors walking past selling everything from Aloe Vera and Coconut Oil (definitely business partners) to food, shawls, jewellery and drinks... You pay 100 baht per chair for the day and you have a beach boy that comes over to check it you want more drinks and to move your umbrella to keep you in the shade. Even though the weather wasnt THAT sunny we decided to do it anyway as it was still HOT! Abou 20 minutes after we lay down the storm started to roll in.. Shan and I just looked at each other laughing and decided we would 'ride it out'... hell we paid 100 baht for these chairs and we were keepin em! We put our bags under the chairs and lay there in the rain... we were the only two people still on the beach and the Thai vendors were looking at us like we were crazy! It actually started to get cold, but after about 20-30 min the rain cleared up and it went back to being sunny...

I decided to do a spot of shopping from my lounge chair and ended up getting completely ripped off! I bought three beautiful shawls... one for me and two for Mum... only to get them home and discover two were faulty with holes etc! Grrrr... I never ended up getting enough time to go back and find the ladies so they ended up in the bin before I left Phuket... I think in the end I had paid 600 baht for the one! Not happy! We also bought a heap of small jewellery pieces.. shell bracelets/necklaces etc and paid premium price but I was happy to pay that.. it was still cheap (and no I am not telling you how much I spent on them!)... I bought some chicken pieces for lunch off a vendor and it was SO good.. Shan was too scared to try it! She doesn't know what she missed out on!

At some point the Coconut Oil lady came along and it smelt SO good I couldnt resist! Silly girl.. I am STILL sore 4 days later! After about 4 hours on the beach we decided to call it a day and headed back to the Holiday Inn (where Dan and Shan were staying) and went for a swim while we waited for Dan to return... he returned sore but happy.. and the tattoo looked AMAZING.

I left the guys about 3pm and we made plans to catch up later for dinner/drinks down at Rawai Beach. Unfortunately the weather turned shite so we decided to just hang around Patong instead. We called Kane and invited him to come along. We all met at my hotel room where we had a couple of drinks... Shan wasnt drinking as she was really sick (we think she might have had a bit of heatstroke!)

Crazy Night at Little Aussie Town Bar

We decided to head out to find some dinner and the plan was to head to Rock City. Unfortunatley I suggested we go to Davids little bar in the OTop Markets.. Once there we ended up ordering some food from a local restaurant and got it delivered.. and we settled in there for the night. David's bar is SO much fun and a MUST DO on the Phuket trip list! He plays great Aussie Rock music and often serves up a free feed most nights if you are there drinking at the time. David had a fake snake that we put on some fishing wire and sat it across the alley from us.. whenever someone walked/drove past we would pull it across their path.. the amount of people that freaked out was soooo funny and a few of the motorbikes got the speed wobbles! Hehehehehe! Lucky noone crashed!

Everytime someone rings a bell at the Bar it means they shout the whole bar a drink. Fortunately (or unfortunately) for us there was a couple of guys that kept ringing the bell... ALL night! Every now and then David himself would ring it... and it was free shots... even if you didnt want a shot/drink there was one lined up in front of you... we were there all night and a few of us were a little drunk... Some more than others (Kane I wont mention any names!!). Not only were we drinking beer, but we were constantly bombarded with different shots... I lost count but remember Jaegermeister, Sambucca (white and black) & tequila... even that is a little blurry!

At the end of the night our total bill for drinking was 450 baht between three of us! That is $6AUD per person! CRAZY! We lost Kane about midnight and so Dan, Shan and I went to Rock City.. when we got there they wanted money to get in so we were thought bugger it.. we werent intending on staying that long so gave it a miss and went for a wander up Bangla Rd. I was starving and needed grease so we stopped at KFC... I loaded up (and I mean LOADED UP) and we headed home... I remember sitting on my bed watching crappy tv eating KFC... a burger, popcorn chicken and deep fried cheese pieces! So gross! But the hangover was minimal considering the night before!

Shopping up a Storm

Thursday was my shopping day.. as I was due to leave for Surat Thani the following morning. I struggled in the morning due to the hangover but managed to make it out of the hotel by 1pm.. a few hours behind schedule!! I stopped at Oasis and all I could stomach was a fruit shake... I managed to do some shopping then went back to the hotel for a bit... I then headed back to Oasis and had the awesome Chicken and Chips... Being an expert at shopping now I breezed through it and got it done pretty quickly. I went back to the tailors to pick up my dress... I wasnt 100%!h(MISSING)appy with the finished product (the craftmanship was fine.. the design just made me look even fatter!). I asked them to do a couple of minor adjustments and was told to pick it up a bit later that night. I then went back to the hotel, hired a DVD player and set about making sure my 100 DVD's worked. A few were a little dodgy so I put them in my bag and got them swapped over when I headed out.

I went back to pick up my dress, and was not convinced it was what I wanted but I thanked them and left with my 3000 baht dress... it had nothing to do with them.. just didnt do the job I was hoping! I then went and met Shannon and Dan for a drink at Davids bar before leaving to finish my shopping. Once I was done it was about 9pm and I was exhausted. I took my shopping back to the hotel and tried to find a tuktuk that would take me up to Roma's to pickup some takeaway.. they all wanted 400 baht and I was buggered if I was paying that for a 10 minute trip. I eventually decided to walk even though I really wasnt in the mood. As I walked past a motorbike taxi stall I had an idea! They said they would do the round trip for 200 baht.. probably expensive for a motorbike taxi but it was a price I was willing to pay and save the walk!

I jumped on the back of my motorbike taxi thai style (no helmet) and off we went.. It was SO much fun.. but I did feel naughty not wearing the helmet they had offered.. I can't believe I put vanity over sanity! Hehehehehe! My motorbike taxi guy waited while I ordered a serve of Penne Puttanesca and Garlic bread and off we went back to the hotel! Great fun! I pigged out on my bed (seeing a theme here?!) and then started to pack my bags for the trip in the morning!

The following morning I went down to Oasis for brekkie, headed up to see my DVD guy Johnny to say goodbye, found a taxi that could take me to the bus station and sadly I checked out of my gorgeous hotel! The taxi just got me to the bus station with about 1 minute to spare for the quick bus via Phang Nga to Surat Thani. I jumped on and off we went!

Anyway .... Surat Thani and Nok's wedding is another blog so I will love and leave you all... flying out of Bangkok tonight and the internet is atrociously expensive here so the last blog can wait...

Love to all
Reet xxxx

PS Cant wait to get home and see my boy Trent xxx

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Comments

[Chris]

Awwww, all over already - thanks so much for taking to time to share your adventures. Looking forward to seeing how the wedding went - hope you took lots of pics. See you soon Chris xx

[karin0040]

wow
your trip has certainly picked up....where do you put it all??? Have her a great time at Noks wedding.... give her and my boys our best wishes (just tell her we were the shop a holicic sisters from last year) and that the boys still remember the day they spent with her....... keep having fun cheers Karin

[WanderlustTarrants]

Karin
Already been to wedding.. and on way home now! :-( Blog of wedding to follow.. it was beautiful xx

[Dan76]

Hi Reet ~ Good Times!!!
Hi Reet, we had a blast!!! Have you heard from Kane?? Is he still alive?? Rumour has it he has shacked up with one of the ladyboys from Tiger Bar!! LOL Seriously though, was great to meet you, had a fantastic time!! The sunburn has gone now, tattoo healed, all good here. Arrived home yesterday and just getting back to reality!! Take Care!!!