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Published: January 14th 2007
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Amazingly we woke the next day feeling pretty good! I can remember lying in bed that morning just being so in awe of the fantastic time we were having and never having imagined we would enjoy ourselves so much. It was just one wonderful adventure after another and yes I am 45 not 10 years old! Talking of beds - our bed at the Merlin Beach was huge, I kept losing Terry!! It was very, very firm which didn’t bother me too much but Terry who does have a niggly back did get some pain. The beach massage did help him though and apparently you can request something softer if it is too much of a problem.
Saturday was spent exploring Patong itself - well as much as you can in a few hours and getting in some serious shopping. Most people tend to shop in the evening but I did prefer it during the day as it was a lot less frantic. I certainly wouldn’t have wanted to do that every day though. We headed down on the 10.00 am shuttle and didn’t take any money with us as were intending to cash traveller’s cheques at one of the
many exchange booths located everywhere. We discovered that most don’t open until 11.00am so had quite a wander around before we found one open. We were happy we decided upon the travellers cheques. We felt more comfortable from a security point of view and they were a much better option than the fee ANZ was going to charge for using the ATM. Each cheque incurred a 30baht handling fee so take large denominations. We got rates around 28.19 for the AUD so we were pleased with that. We had to give our credit card for an imprint at the Merlin Beach Resort when we checked in but they seemed to have a pretty good system for securing it and returning it to us at checkout. We made a small charge to the card when we checked out and so far have had no problems with any other charges - fingers crossed.
We started getting more comfortable with the bartering although we were taken in by a 13-year-old boy that told us he worked every day and didn’t go to school. We didn’t haggle too much with him and bought more sandals than we needed!!! Later Mr Mor explained that
Chaotic Cables
We were amazed at the amount of power cables. children do go to school until they are 16, just like home! We had a look at the huge new JungCeylon complex which although open, only had a very small amount of shops trading. It is certainly impressive and will be great when it is fully operational. Although we did pop into a few shops, in general we much preferred the various markets as that is so different from home. We mainly shopped in the O-Top and Beach Road markets. I liked staying close to the Patong Merlin so I knew there was a nice toilet if I needed it! We didn’t like the smell from the gutters, in some sections it was very strong and we had to move on! We didn’t get that at all out at Merlin Beach. Patong beach itself was not my cup of tea as far as sitting on the beach. We are spoilt by lovely beaches in Adelaide and I wouldn’t have enjoyed sitting with all those umbrella’s and all the people but we are all different and it was still great to soak up the atmosphere.
I was fascinated by the “spirit houses” that are everywhere but in my total ignorance
I was very disappointed that people (I presumed tourists) were leaving drink bottles on them instead of finding a bin. I did get rather puzzled that a lot of drinks seemed to be full. Did I feel silly when I was told they were in fact offerings!!
On the Saturday night we were picked up by Mr Mor for a visit to the Phuket Town night markets. Carolynn & Tony had originally organised this and kindly let us come along. Mr Mor is so recommended on the T.A. forum and deservedly so. His car is first class and he is very knowledgeable and patient. He accompanied us around the markets and happily answered so many of Terry’s questions about living conditions in Thailand. The night markets were not tourist markets so it was great to see the local people in their own environment. Most of the items for sale were set price and so it was nice not to have to barter that night although when it was warranted it was very reassuring to have Mr Mor to negotiate on our behalf. We had intended that dinner would be a sampling of the local food on offer but Mr
Mor was a little hesitant about how safe it was for us so we all chickened out of that one. Shame as there were some very enticing smells although when we came to the stall of deep fried grasshoppers, crickets and some other insects that put us all off!! It was back to Merlin Beach for room service pizza and an early night instead. We had a big day ahead of us on the 31st.
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