Kata Beach, Phuket!

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Phuket this weekend was amazing! I almost wish we had done more than just lie around on the beach the whole time, but since we were only there for a day and a half, basically, I’m totally cool with just lying on the beach the whole time!

Well, of course it wasn’t literally the WHOLE time. We actually got really lucky because Alyssa has family in Phuket (She’s half Thai) and her families’ relatives own a Hotel on Kata beach in Phuket where we were able to stay for free!

Marissa, Alyssa, Nikita, Emily, Genny, and Christen and I all went together by overnight bus Friday night to Phuket. The bus was definitely not the best way to travel, but it was cheap and now I can say I’ve taken an overnight bus to Phuket from Bangkok! Ha! We hardly slept at all, it was loud and rickety and we stopped often (maybe every two hours) for the drivers to get out and walk around, to fuel up, or to drop someone off on the way. Every time it stopped I woke up. But actually, it’s really nice to have one deaf ear sometimes. I used my towel as a pillow, turned my deaf ear up and every sound was nice a muffled and it was easier for me to sleep that way. Except that meant that I couldn’t roll over and get comfortable because on my other side I could hear everything and that didn’t lend for good sleepage.

I finally awoke right as we were crossing the bridge into Phuket! It was perfect timing to wake up! The sun was up and bright and when I looked out front I saw a big banner that said WELCOME TO PHUKET!

We got to the bus station around 8:30 in the morning and Alyssa’s aunt came to pick us up – we piled into her car and she drove us to their house where we all changed and brushed our teeth and tried to look like human beings again after a sleepless night in stiff chairs. We went to breakfast and had some Dim Sum which was actually really good and a great way to start off the day, nice and light and delicious, and of course I had a bunch of coffee and started to wake up nicely! After breakfast she drove us all to Kata beach, about 20 minutes away from Phuket city where her Aunt lives and where the bus dropped us off.

We stayed in the hotel called Casa Del Sol – and even though the name of the hotel was in Spanish, most of the signs in the hotel were in Russian, then English, then Thai lol. A lot of the more touristy places (like Phuket) have a lot of Russians, Russians actually make up the majority of the tourists in Thailand – its like how all American spring breakers go to Panama – all Russian spring breakers go to Thailand beaches! Lol. We got to our room and had originally planned to go see a Big Buddha statue, and a temple, and do some Dino Put Put which had been recommended on multiple travel sites – but instead, we just went to the beach! I think something happened with a communication error between us and Alyssa’s aunt that made it so that we didn’t think we would get beach time on Sunday – (we got plenty of beach time but it’s whatever). I think we though that Sunday her aunt was going to take us around Phuket City and we wouldn’t have time on the beach so we spent Saturday on the beach instead – that was totally fine with me!

So we changed into our bathing suits and walked down to the beach! It was only a 2-3 minute walk, maybe not even a quarter of a mile away – super close! We bought an umbrella and claimed a spot right by the water. The beach was packed! I mean packed with tourists, so many everywhere! I almost was a little disappointed, I like more deserted beaches, more private, and they feel more special, but the water was warm and blue and the sand fine and white beneath my feet and that’s all that mattered! The sun was so hot and bright I could hardly stand it, I was really glad we got that umbrella!

We got to the beach around 12:00, maybe 11:30 in the morning, played around in the water and sand for a bit and then went to lunch. The restaurants on Kata beach are all really expensive, I mean, that’s to be expected anywhere that’s a popular tourist destination, but that was okay with me, I had planned for that. I got probably the best dish of sautéed vegetables that I’d ever had in Thailand. It was happy hour at the restaurant also so we all got 99 baht cocktails, which were really strong! After about an hour or so we went back to the beach and stayed there until about 5:00pm. Once we started getting hungry for dinner, we all went back to our hotel, showered, and changed. We walked around for awhile trying to find someplace to eat that was relatively cheap, and ended up just stopping at a restaurant that looked okay. We were so hungry that by the time we found the first restaurant with relatively good prices we walked right in lol. I got some “American” food but that was okay with me because I had been craving a sandwich actually for a while and satisfied that craving by getting a tuna salad sandwich, and some French fries 😊

After dinner a few of us wanted to go out to party, so we walked around trying to find a good bar, but Kata beach is more family friendly, and the only bars were playing live music that was just a dude and a guitar singing some soft, smooth relaxing beach music. Sometimes that’s great, but we wanted to dance and party and that just wasn’t cutting it. We had heard about a beach close by that had a big party road that was just bars and bars and bars as far as the eye could see. We took a taxi to Patong Beach, a good 15 minute drive. We were in the taxi and saw that we passed a couple restaurants and bars before it stopped, so when we got out we walked back down the road to look at everything we had passed. Nothing was really hopping, and we were starting to get disappointed, when we decided that the Taxi probably passed all of this for a reason, and we walked back to where he dropped us off. DUH!

Just a corner away from where we got out of our taxi, was the party street! It turned off the main road and we saw neon lights and beer signs and people everywhere! This is where we wanted to be! We stopped in the first bar we saw just to get ourselves started – it was all pirate themed, but the drinks were really expensive and Alyssa wanted to dance really bad so we had one drink and then headed on. We walked all the way down the street, just to get an idea of what was happening around us – because there was just so much! We passed a few clubs that were going super hard, saw strippers and pole dancers at just about every place we passed, drag queens out on the street getting paid for having people take their pictures with them, music and people and drinks and just everything everywhere! I couldn’t stop smiling and just saying “What the hell am I seeing right now? This is fucking crazy!!!” – Turn Up Thailand! That’s for damn sure. There was one club that had tigers everywhere and strippers with tiger tails on their underwear – it was three floors of lights and music and dancers and tigers! But it was a 500 baht cover charge to get in and we didn’t have that kind of money on us lol.

First we went to this club that was handing out coupons for free drinks to ladies, but it was 100baht to get in – which isn’t free…. But it was cheaper than any of the cocktails we’d seen and we didn’t have to pay for it once we got inside. Inside there really weren’t a lot of people, and the people that were there were really drunk Russians lol. Even the DJ was playing some Russian rap remixes! I got a Sex on the Beach and it was delicious! We danced around for a while, and when we finished our drinks, we checked the menu and saw how expensive the drinks really were and were not surprised that no one was in there – probably the most expensive drinks we’d seen all night! So we left and went on to this one bar we had passed before that looked fun. And that’s where we stayed the rest of the night. It was really awesome – great music, lots of people, great for dancing except that the floor was so sticky, at one point I stepped and my shoe stayed on the floor and my foot pulled the thong part out of my flip flop! The guy I was dancing with was a magician though and put it back lightning fast for me – I have no idea how he did it because that is the most frustrating thing in the world – to put that thing back into that tiny hole of the flipflop from whence it came, I can never do it!

But I got free drinks from guys all night, danced up on a table in front of a window, and met a bunch of people, only one of them was from America (she was from Chicago), the rest were Russian, German, Australian, French, Filipino, and Thai.

We got back to our hotel room at almost 4am and then woke up at 8:30 for breakfast! The hotel provided a complimentary breakfast that really wasn’t all that great, but I ate it with vigor anyway. We packed up all our stuff, checked out, and headed to the beach again! That day we decided just to get a spot in the shade, close to the parking lot under some trees. Marissa brought her hammock and hung it between two trees, and that’s where we stayed the rest of the day. Nikita had rented a Jetski the day before and took everyone out, but I didn’t go because I’m not really a big fan of jetskiing, but she rented it again on Sunday, and I decided I should go, just to say I’d been on a jetski on the Andaman Sea off of Phuket Thailand. And now I can say I’ve done it, and I can say I wont do it again. I don’t know, I just don’t like trying to hang on for dear life while slipping and sliding and getting seawater in my face and mouth and nose and eyes constantly. It’s just not what I call fun.

Afterwards I was a little grumpy. I was confused as to why people think Jetskiing is so fun, and why I think it’s terrible, like, do I do something wrong? Is there a way to relax and enjoy it? I was scared, and aching, and nauseous from all the seawater I’d swallowed, and I was tired from the night before. All I wanted to do was take a nap, but I couldn’t fall asleep with so many people around me. Everyone went off to lunch and Marissa and Genny went back into the water, and for a good 30 minutes I was left to guard all our stuff and couldn’t sleep, even if I could. When they got back from the water they wanted to go get a banana pancake – so I asked if they could get me one and a new big bottle of water while I continued to guard the stuff.

I was tired of feeling grumpy, and since I couldn’t sleep, I decided to meditate. I sat my towel out in the sun and sat cross-legged, with one foot above the other and my hands in my lap. I listened to the waves and people speaking in languages I couldn’t understand. I saw the sun through my closed eyelids and cleared my mind. I think I actually meditated deeper than I ever have, ever, in those 15 minutes they were gone. I was actually very aware of the fact that I couldn’t hear on my right side at all. With my eyes closed, everything in front and to the right of me was bright and light from the sunshine, but on my left everything was dark, I couldn’t see with my eyes closed on that side because I couldn’t hear what was over there either. I couldn’t tell if someone was walking past me on my left, but I could tell to my right and in front. It was the strangest feeling to not be able to sense anything on my right side. I saw shapes moving in front of me behind my eyelids, dancing spirits and people sitting around me in a circle. After a time I didn’t hear peoples voices anymore and just hear the birds and the sounds of the sea. I wasn’t thinking about anything and was just letting my mind see and hear what it wanted – except for the nothingness on my right. It almost felt like there was a presence on the right, a figure that blocked out the sun. At one point I felt like there was somebody behind me, and when I looked, a Russian had come and seated himself on the other side of Marissa’s hammock.

After a few more minutes of meditation, I was sweating profusely by this time but it didn’t bother me at all, and a thought occurred to me – “how long are they going to take? I wonder if they got the pancakes already…” I opened my eyes and sitting next to me was a plate of banana pancakes! I turned around and Genny was back! She had just sat them next to me before I opened my eyes, but I hadn’t sensed her at all because she came up on my right side. My empty, dark side. I felt much better after that meditation though. I ate my pancake, drank my water, and was happy!

When everyone came back from lunch we went back to the hotel for a little bit because some people wanted to use their public showers (the people taking the bus back to Bangkok). They also stored luggage for free so Marissa and I sat our backpacks in the storage room and went for a brief walk around Kata beach in search of some post cards. We came across this little shopping center that was covered, and quiet, and just about empty. I bought a new bathing suit because they actually had different sizes and weren’t all “one size”. Oh yeah, I lost the bottoms of my bathing suit last weekend in Koh Samet when I went skinny dipping – oops. So all weekend in Kata I just wore some shorts and my bathing suit top, which worked fine. I also bought some Muay Thai shorts for Patrick, and Marissa bought herself some shorts too. But there weren’t any post cards so we kept walking. We remembered seeing a place by the beach that sold post cards so we went back that way and found a really pretty post card with a picture of Kata beach – and we got some icecream 😊

On the way back to the hotel, we also stopped by this place that had really pretty beach dresses – I didn’t want to spend any more money so Marissa said we could just stop in and look around – and, well, you know how that ends. We saw some tank tops that said I *heart* Phuket on the front and Phuket Thailand on the back…. They were cheap, and we didn’t know when or if we’d ever be back in Phuket – so we bought them! Haha

It wasn’t quite time to go yet when we got back to the hotel, so Marissa and I got out my cards and went and sat by the pool and played Speed for a few minutes until Alyssa came and got us. We all piled into a van and headed to Phuket City. Alyssa’s aunt talked to the driver over the phone and gave him directions back to their house. We hung around her aunt’s house for a little while, the people who were taking the bus back left for the bus station, while Alyssa, Marissa and I went with her cousins to a nearby Market. By this point I was getting really hungry, I hadn’t had anything to eat really since breakfast, except for a midday pancake and some ice cream, but that’s not really food. When we got to the market, we walked the entire length without stopping, I thought we were looking for a specific place to eat so I didn’t say anything. We passed so much delicious food and fun little trinkets, I wanted to stop so many times, but I figured we could have time to stop on the way back. But when we got to the end of the street, we just stopped, and Alyssa asked if we saw anything we wanted to eat. Marissa and I looked at each other and said “everything”! We were standing by this little grill that was serving up kabobs, so I bought one and it was delicious! It had a really good barbeque sauce on it, like nothing I’d tasted before!

After that my mood was instantaneously lighter! I was ready to keep walking and trying new foods! Marissa came up with a term to describe the grumpiness you get when you’re really hungry = Hangry! Both of us were pretty hangry as we were walking down the market, but that went away as soon as we had our first bite of kabob! We then bought a little hot dog type thing to share. It was sliced sausage in a bun of sorts, but the bun was so light and fluffy it just about melted in your mouth – delicious, "aroy"! We had passed a stall that was selling these dumpling-like things that had faces decorated all overthem! Some were of spiderman, some hello-kitty, I got one that was blue with a cat face on it. I have no idea why or how it was blue, but it was like a sweet breading-dough-thing that they steamed before they gave to me. Inside was some barbeque pulled pork. It was super tasty! I was proud of myself for being able to ask her how much they cost in Thai, and then understanding when she told me the answer 😊 “Taw-rai” is how much, and she said “Sip bet” which means 18 baht! We wanted something sweet next and passed a stall selling waffles, so I got one that was drizzled in white chocolate and nutella and just about died it was so good. We were super happy and content by the time we finished up at the market!

We met up with Alyssa’s aunt at the front of the market again, and her and her uncle were going to take us to dinner and then to the airport! Dinner?! But we ate at the market! But we went to get more food anyway. I think Alyssa neglected to tell them that we all filled up at the market because they ordered us this huge spread of food at the restaurant and I felt so bad, I could hardly eat any of it. Em leow is how you say “full” in Thai, and I kept telling her aunt that, but I don’t think she got the point. I tried to be kind and tasted each plate of food that they ordered, and was actually kind of glad that I’d eaten at the market, the food at the restaurant really wasn’t that great.

After dinner they drove us to the airport. We thanked them a bunch and gave them the wai, in respect. We checked in and got in line at our gate just in time to start boarding, it was really perfect timing! Except that our plane was a few minutes late, however, that didn’t stop us from getting back to Bangkok on time! The plane started moving towards the runway while people were still finding their seats and putting their luggage in the overhead compartments. It seemed like everyone had JUST gotten settled when we started to take off. I fell straight to sleep as soon as we were level in the air and woke up again as we started to descend to Bangkok, about 35 minutes later. The flight was supposed to take about an hour and a half, but they seriously booked it and we landed in Bangkok right on time, 45 minutes after we departed. It was about midnight by the time we landed, and all the transportation desks were closed except for this stupid long line at the taxi counter that we weren’t about to wait in. There were these guys standing by the door that offered to take us to Salaya for 1000 baht, crazy expensive, but we were tired, it was late, and it was either that or stand in line for who knows how long. So we accepted their offer and I was proud of myself for being able to give directions in Thai 😊

We got back to Salaya around 1:00am and then the next morning I had class at 8:00 and a quiz in my Thai Language class at 10:00. It was a crazy crazy weekend, the only relaxing part being on the beach for 5 hours a day! But it was probably the best adventure I’d had yet! And I was really happy that we planned it all by ourselves, KEI hadn’t taken us, and I wasn’t tagging along with someone elses plans, these were mine and Marissa’s originally. It was my idea to go to Phuket, she planned a lot of it – even though our plans didn’t really happen, we had a great time!



Now back to studying for midterms! haha

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