"Monsoon Season?"

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After meeting up with Amy in Bangkok, the three of us boarded an overnight bus to Phuket, a small island on the SouthWest coast of Thailand. After a bus transfer and some waiting around, the entire took about 15 hours- most of which was spent napping or watching Pirates of the Carribbean. Out of Bangkok I was seated next to an Irish guy named Delwyn, who made good conversation and excellent eyecandy. "You know you're going to be in the North during monsoon season, right?" he asked. "Of course!" (which was true.) But that got me thinking about what "monsoon season" really meant, perhaps a telling omen of the days to come.

The bus ride to Phuket from Surat Thani was absolutely breathtaking: imagine tiny, oddly shaped mountains covered in a carpet of moss and mist, majestic rock formations that looked like dripping candlewax and lush groves of rubber tree plantations. I stared out the window the whole three hours.

We arrived at our hotel in Patong beach without much incident, had a meal at a rather pricey restaurant and explored abit of the beach walk. The following day we went to the beach, planning out the rest of our stay- perhaps a bit of island hopping? After some investigation, however, we saw that this was a bit out of our price range. We continued to debate our options into the evening when we were caught in the quintessential tropical storm. We were drenched within minutes and ran back to our hotel for cover.

The next day was not much better. We were forced indoors by heavy rains and spent most of the morning watching old Hollywood flicks and napping. Luckily it cleared by the afternoon and we took a tuktuk to the nearby beachtown of Kata. Kata Beach was significantly less touristy, with a definite surfer vibe. I ached to rent a board but it was too late in the evening by that point. After dinner and a drink at the "Ska Bar"- Jamaican themed- we were going to explore more when Amy suddenly fell ill. We have since deducted it was from her drink, but at any rate we had to cut the night short.

Today we were given a change of pace. We signed up for a guided tour around the island of Phuket. While definitely more "tourist" than we would like to admit- plus the fact that we were the youngest touristas there by at least 40 years- the tour was actually really fun and worthwhile. We went to a rubber tapping, pineapple, and cashew plantation (with free cashew samples 😊 as well as a kayak ride through mangrove groves and a visit to a Gibbon rehabilitation centre, which was really interesting. So, corniness aside, we got to see more of Phuket than we thought and had a great (sunny!) day.

Tomorrow morning we leave for Krabi, where we will for sure be doing some island hopping, so let's hope for good weather eh?

Catcha later,
Emma

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Photos

Patong
Happy to be on the beach! (Despite ominous clouds...)

Patong, Karon, and Kata beaches
The string of the famous Phuket Beaches

Gibbon!
Of the Gibbon Rehabilitation Centre, Phuket

Waterfall
A short hike from the Gibbon Centre

Comments

[mjist]

Perhaps I´m just a fast typer. My record is a two thousand word blog in an hour. I´ve never read over a blog before publishing it, so its strewn with errors and omissions. I don´t have to worry about being so cheap at the moment, because here in Bolivia I pay 2 Bolivianos an hour. There are 7.2 bolivianos in a dollar - so i´m not exactly breaking the bank. Though you could always try to put in a little more detail. I was a little bit dissapointed with the brevity of your description of Delwyn. Have a swell time in Krabi. Oh, and by the way, I´m the biggest gringo traveller around, so you don´t have to worry.