Up close and personal with elephants, monkeys and 'ladyboys!'

Day 3: City tour.
Our half day city tour kicked off the next morning with a drive from our hotel through Karon and its neighbouring beaches Kata and Patong. While some elements were similar to the tour in Bangkok like the gem factory stopoff, it was worth doing to see the more distant attractions on the island. We began by checking out the postcard-perfect scenery at Kata Viewpoint and Phromthep Cape, where there was also hundreds of carved elephants - said to be guarding the Lord Brahma statue at the top.

The next stop went one better than the wooden variety though...I even had my first elephant kiss. We could have gone to a monkey or snake show at the animal park, but we saw just as much by heading around on our own accord. Plus we 'stumbled across' some chained up monkeys and after that we weren't really keen on seeing them perform.

The final site on our tour - before the obligatory gem factory visit - was Wat Chalong. Afterall, what Thai tour would be complete without visiting a temple. With origins thought to date back more than 200 years during the reign of King Rama II, it was easy to see why this was the most famous of Phuket's 29 Buddhist temples.

Mid-afternoon we were dropped off in Patong - the main beach resort on the island. This place absolutely pulsates, day and night. In fact we loved it so much that we went back the next night. Before hitting the beach we had some lunch and decided that we couldn't leave Thailand without getting ourselves some suits. So we found what seemed to be a reputable enough looking place, and within an hour had been measured up, paid up and were back out on the beach. (The turn around time for tailored suits is amazing, with our pick up time 9pm the following day!)

Before we checked out the Patong nightlife, we took turns to have a shower at the beach facility, which basically consisted of a toilet, tap and a big bucket of water to wash your...
All part of the experience though. The beach front bars were great place to chill afterwards, and then by chance we came across the main area of markets and bars at the end of the main drag. Speaking of drag, that night I had my first photo with a lady-boy (who screamed at us for not paying for the experience), and excitingly, a monkey (well actually it was a gibbon, but close enough). We also played Connect Four against the staff in one bar and to ensure that our trip was complete, checked out a 'ping-pong' show...very entertaining! About the only thing we didn't get around to doing was a Thai boxing match. Still, there's always next time.

Day 4: Our last day!
We were pretty sad when our final day in Phuket rocked around. We decided to spend it relaxing at the resort's pools and down on Karon Beach before heading back to Patong late evening to pretty much repeat the events of the previous night, it was so fun. We did however see the sun down with a jetski ride, as neither of us had ever done it. Then, like the day before, hit the bars and markets and finished up another busy day back at the hotel at 1am.

Day 5: Long-haul to London.
Get this for travel - with stops, it took us 35 hours to get to London from Phuket - that's longer than going from bloody New Zealand!
We got picked up from our hotel at 9.30am and taken to the airport which took 45 minutes. Then at 12.50pm we flew back to Bangkok - arriving at 2.05pm. We then had a six-hour wait in the airport, with no public showers when Joel had the itchiest peeling back known to man! (I killed some of the time by getting a 30 minute neck massage for about NZ$5. Criminal really. Wish I'd had one everyday. I also consumed two dinners back to back after the first one (satay kebabs) was about the size of three of my fingers! Was very unlike the rest of our Thai meal experiences.) So anyway, at 8.30pm we flew out to Dubai, arriving at 2.30am. We had a three hour wait at Dubai, where we had no local currency to buy even a water. We then departed 3 hours later at 2.30am local time, arriving in London at 7.05am UK time. ...Makes me tired just recalling it but for 10 days in Thailand it was all worth it!

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