Chaing Mai to Phuket - Beaches, scams, and sunset free bars.

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6th November 2010

We awoke today knowing two things for sure - we didn’t have a yoga class, and we were flying out of Chiang Mai. Both of these things saddend us as we had liked Chiang Mai and really enjoyed our Yoga. We had our breakfast and returned to pack up our bags, managing it much faster than the last time we had had to do it in Bangkok - Lou even commented on the difference a hangover makes to the speed of packing.
Once this chore had been achieved we moved our bags to the locked storage room in the hotel and headed out to explore what Chaing Mai had to offer in Wats (temples) We had a map with the various important Wats on them that the hotel had provided so set out into the heat.

We toured the various Wats not really knowing much about them as the majority of them are actively used temples with people praying, and as such are not so much of a tourist attraction as most things we have looked at on our travels. We sat quietly in each Wat in turn, bare footed and respectfully. There is a very calming effect to being in these spaces of worship that we appreciated, along with the welcome relief from the heat and sun.

After we had seen our share of Wats we returned to the hotel to wile away the rest of the day until our flight. We sat around the pool catching up on some admin and passing time. Having had a late breakfast we didn’t feel the need to eat until late in the afternoon, and when we felt the first pangs of hunger we headed ot the nearby market that we had been taken too only the night before whilst doing our cooking course. We had at the previous visit spotted some authentic looking sausages that I was keen to try. On revisiting the stall there appeared to be two different varieties so we opted for one of each to share. Biting into the sausages on a stick we were quick to realise that they were not what we had been expecting at all! They were neither authentic sausages nor the local Chaing Mai spicy sausage speciality, one was a sausage made up of flavoured rice, the other of rice noodles contained within the sausage skins, both were however delicious. There is a market for these things at home!

We returned to the hotel, but I was still hankering after a little more to eat so headed out on my own leaving Lou to read her book. I returned to the market and had a real desire to find some belly pork which they sell from stalls all over town. Needless to say the one time I wanted some I couldn’t find any! After about 30 minutes I gave up and returned to Lou.

We had earlier asked reception about the cost of a taxi, but it wasn’t cheap so opted for a tuk-tuk to the airport instead. Whilst flying may make a long journey short the waiting around to get going often cancels this out. Today had been a day when this seemed the case - arriving at the airport we still had a good three hours to wait and the day had felt like it had been all about passing time to get to our flight.
After looking about for a short while we parked ourselves on a bench and read. We eventually boarded the flight and were on our way.

The flight was swift although a little bumpy, and when we touched down in Phuket we were a whopping 45 minutes early despite taking off on time! I’m not sure what the pilot - pressed turbo maybe? We collected our luggage from the carousel which I only mention because after the belt had stopped moving and everybody else had left, my bag had not been seen. I was just going to ask somebody where it was and start to complain when I spotted two girls picking it up from the inside of the belt where it had clearly fallen off on a bend. The relief was immense although looking back there was actually little of value in the bag and all would have been easily replaceable.

We exited the airport and started to wait for our pre-arranged pick-up. The disadvantage of being early was that it hadn’t arrived yet. We stood outside repeatedly saying no to the offers of taxis / hotels, getting very bored of the hassle when our guy eventually arrived. He was shocked that the flight was early, and then told us we should have called to let him know as he could have arrived much sooner. Everybody assume we have a phone, we don’t -calling people isn’t so easy without one!

After a very pleasant trip in the dark we arrived at our accomodation exhausted, and ready for bed. We settled in and fell asleep almost instantly.

7th November 2010

We had stayed awake long enough the previous evening to be given a map by the lady who runs the dive shop we are staying above. As the shop doesn’t open until 10am she had already explained where we were and where to go to get food, so we set out to get breakfast and see what Phuket had to offer. Before we even got to a shop a girl on a moped had stopped us asking if we spoke English, when we said we were she launched into a speil about the scratch cards she was giving out. How the hotel that is doing the promotion was destroyed in the Tsunami in 2004 and was only now re-opening having been re-built and this promotion was guaranteed to win us something even if it was only a t-shirt of “guaranteed dubious Thai quality - will shrink in the wash and fall apart quickly” We were stuck by this point and humoured her until it appears that Lou has a card with the jackpot on it! She got very excited and said that we had to go to Patong (2 beaches to the north) to claim the prize which was either an iPad, Blackberry, or a weeks free 5-star accommodation! I saw iPad and got excited, while Lou was rather more reticent about following through on this promised gift.

Eventually I convinced her to go and we got in a taxi. The girl had already warned us that we would have to invest 90 minutes of our time being shown about the resort to qualify. My iniitial enthusiasm was waning as Lou continued to tell me that she didn’t like the whole thing. We had our taxi paid as they promised and asked us the same questions the girl had to check we qualified, but luckily for us they didn’t have anybody to show us around so we got to peel off the sticker to see what we had won. By now I wasn’t surprised to find out it was only the “free” accommodation. Had we been able to use it instantly it may have been appealing but we have to wait for ages before it can be used - in other words come back to Thailand another time. All in all it was a total con, but we did get a free taxi ride in both directions and in doing so discovered that Patong is a hell-hole, it is what I imagine Ibiza to be like, full of clubs and idiots!

The other thing we had discovered was that there was actually some surf. So on our return to Kata beach where we were staying we headed straight for the beach. The water looked an appealing turquoise and there were some waves. The downside was the beach was totally obscured by sundowners which you had to hire for the day. Something I was not keen on doing. We walked along the beach and eventually decided it was time to return to the room to change our attire for some more concerted beach time. I explained to Lou that I was leaving the money in the room so I didn’t have to leave it on the beach unattended. This somehow wasn’t what she understood and on arriving at the beach was not happy that we didn’t have any money to get a bed!

So she lay on the sand reading while I went for a swim, before we switched roles. The water was delightful after being away from the sea for so long, but it wasn’t the turquoise tropical water of brochures, and whilst pleasant was not the water we are still searching for. We returned to the room to change and get ready for dinner. We headed out to go to a bar that the owner of the dive shop had recommended as a good place to watch the sunset. On arrival at the reggae themed bar we ordered a beer each and sat down. It was at this point that I realised that the bar was in the shade and we wouldn’t see sunset as it would be obscured by the headland and the trees. The recommendation wasn’t really achieving its purpose! We drank up and wandered back onto the beach until we could see the fast approaching sunset. It was going to be obscured by the clouds that had come in over the course of the late afternoon, so even from a sensible vantage point wasn’t going to be impressive. Instead we decided food was in order - we opted for a very cheap, but very tasty Pad Thai from a guy selling food on the side of the beach. We wandered back to our room tired and with mixed feelings about Phuket. Whilst it clearly wasn’t what we had been expecting, the quieter Kata beach (in comparison to Patong) was O.K. It isn’t what we are looking for though and we started to discuss our next move….

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Photos

Mini Pasty
Actually a chicken curry pastry, but looked like a pasty

View from the reggae bar
Complete with hanging flags

Great Pad Thai
Both cheap and tasty

Lou "Bailey"
Utilising bar hangings to make arty pics