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Published: August 25th 2008
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Nai yang beach
Some fishermens boats Greetings from Phuket,
Sorry for the delay in writing this blog but I've been working pretty damn hard and there wasn't really enough going on to warrant writing a blog every couple of days. There has been a few cool things that have happened and I'm uploading the photos as I write.
Last week we visited the night market in Wat Naka again and hit the food stalls as soon as we got there. I'm not kidding you, there were the strangest looking things that people were eating, including deep fried insects that were actually pretty tasty. However in terms of weirdness they were not even in the top 5, brains on a stick, pig penis, think you get the picture on some of the culinary delights. No, I did not get pictures of these particular treats because my family read this and me chewing on a brain(or pig penis for that matter!) probably isn't appropriate. After the night market we hopped on a tuk-tuk and went to Patong Beach. Whatever you have heard about this place, in my opinion it was worse. The constant harassment to buy stuff eventually wears you down. I have never in my life
wanted to buy a thai DVD of the film Ghost, but that didn't stop fourteen different people from trying to anyway. After sidestepping hookers, hawkers and drunk foreigners we finally made it to the Banana Disco and had a cracking time dancing to some dodgy techno from the 80's. On the way home we got another tuk-tuk and lo and behold the driver was snorting coke like it had gone out of fashion and going a hundred miles an hour down the road. Luckily it was pretty late and we didn't encounter many other vehicles.
Another awesome thing was going to watch Muay Thai boxing in Patong. One of the thai staff, Roch, is a thai boxer and knew a promoter who could get us in on the sly for thai prices. The scariest thing was that the first fights in the line up were about 6 year old kids smashing the crap out of each other, however it is very culturally very important to them, still pretty shocking. The most brutal match of the night was the women's bout, i have a video of this and when i get a faster connection I will upload to youtube for
Awesome sign
Always good to know when you're in any bar you to have a look at.
On my day off I decided I'd like to have a gander at some of the beaches on Phuket. I'd heard that hitchiking didn't have the stigma that it does in the western world, that was actually spot on. All you have to do is walk along and within 5 minutes someone stops and picks you up. I literally got picked up right outside the project and hopped in a back of a pick up truck along with a few chickens that obviously thought I was some sort of large seed as they wouldn't stop pecking me until we got to Nai Yang beach on the western coast. The Thai people refuse any sort of payment and actually see it as an insult, but I gave the fella a couple of cigarettes and he was really chuffed and kept thanking me profusely. Considering the fact that a pack of thai cigaqrettes is the equivalent of about a quid for twenty, I thought he was overreacting slightly. Anyway I was at Nai Yang and was a little unimpressed, there is a hell of a lot of driftwood and the beach was just dirty. A
redeeming feature was that you could see all the fishermen beach combing and there was the funniest bar in the world. It was called 'Mr Krobi's almost world famous bar', I think the bloke who owns it is an optimist. There was also the best sign there that I have ever seen, its in my pictures. From Nai Yang I hitchhiked a small way further down the coast to Nai Thon beach, again very quiet but a bit cleaner than the last. Didn't hang around there that long as it was frankly dull and I don't usually thrive in a quiet environment. Luckily a load of lads from england were heading down to Bang Thao so I hopped in with them and I was in Bang Thao before 2pm.
Bang Thao is the playground of the rich, and it was painfully obvious that they dont get many scruffy looking students there and was the subject of many dirty looks. I thought it was strange I was getting these looks from people who hire Thai women for barely any money to look after their children while they rub oil on their fat sweaty bodies and drink copious amounts of
Bang Thao
Home of the rich and the famous cocktails. Do I sound bitter? I only had gibbon poop on my trainers, snobs!. Anyway I was looking for this english pub that I'd heard good things about and attempted to wander in the general direction. As expected, I got lost and wandered through this super-resort and while I was there I asked to view a room, had a massage for free and very nearly had dinner in the gourmet restaurant. So a pretty eventful day off really.
So it was with a heavy heart that I left the project for my next destination, the coastal town of Khao Lak to stay for 5 days in a nice little bungalow just off the main road. I hopped on a bus and at Phuket bus terminal and was in Khao Lak about one and a half hours later. Took me ages to find the place as it is off the beaten track and has no signposting. After a few enquiries I found it, checked in with the minimum of fuss and just went for some food and a few beers before hitting the hay. This morning had a massive american breakfast absolutely free, and after talking to the lady in
Nai Thon 2
This is the other end, still boring huh? charge of the restaurant found out the tsunami volunteers live over the road. She said she could hook me up with whoever is in charge and I could hang with them for a few days. This is a relief because they all seem the same sort of age and before this I was a little bit dismayed as Khao Lak at night is pretty damn sedate. Things are looking up.
Until next time peeps
Joe
P.S No-ones left any comments yet, give me something to work with people!
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Mum
non-member comment
Hi Joe Glad to hear from you. I have tried to add a comment but it obviously didn't work. You sound as though you are having a wicked time and everything is very diverse. That must be brilliant. I'm pretty jealous really. It surpasses my backpacking in America as I never ate a pig's penis that I know of !!!! Take care..........................watch those lady boys Mum X