The Glitz, the Glamour

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It proved rather difficult to tear myself away from Ton Sai, not only because I'd made myself quite comfortable there, but because my next stop was to be Phuket, a plac on which I wasn't overly keen. To many people, Phuket and Thailand are synonymous, and as the country's premier tourist desitnation, it encompasses the very best and the very worst elements of Thailand's mass tourism industry. The province is filled with beautiful beaches, with white sand and azure waters... which have been totally taken over by glitzy resorts, overpriced restaurants, beach chairs as far as the eye can see, aggressive souvenier hawkers, and hordes of tourists. It's got all the Western comforts and conveniences you could want... but it's got all the Western comforts and conveniences you could want. But, I was still curious, so off I went, and upon my arrival in my base of Phuket Town, I was pleasantly suprised to find a relatively Thai environment. True, I had to share a van there with two mismatched couples comprising overweight, obnoxious, middle-aged European men with beautiful young Thai girls (Phuket is also synonymous with Thai sex tourism), but the town itself was nice. I'd read in my LP that one hotel in Phuket had served as the set for the Khao San crackhouse scenes of The Beach, and the novelty proved too much a draw, so there I settled. As could be expected, the novelty of staying in such a grotty but visually familiar hotel wore off after about five minutes, and the first trip to the shared, squat bathroom that apparently hadn't been cleaned since the hotel's humble beginnings in 1929, but at this point in my travels I can handle pretty much anything so there I stayed (plus, I may have - technically - shared a bed with Leonardo DiCaprio! It's the stuff grade 9 dreams are made of).

The next day I set off by public bus for the beach town of Patong, the biggest and busiest and usually what one thinks of as Phuket, and, my God, it was obscene. The most unpleasantly overdevelopped stretch of sand I've seen in Asia. It could have been a nice beach, but I couldn't tell because the sand was covered with beach chairs and tourists, and the waters were filled with jet skis and boats pulling parasailers and water-skiers. Inland was a concrete jungle of bars, restaurants, and hotels, and I spent the day both on the beach and off repeatedly having to remind myself of where in the world I was, it could easily have been a resort area of Spain, or Mexico, or anywhere else in the Western world. In fact, depressingly enough, the only distinguishingly Thai feature were the couples of old white men and young Thai girls. I was left reeling from my day at Patong, and the day is apparently infinitely more pleasant than the night - I can only imagine. Deciding I needed something a little calmer and quieter, I spent the next day at Kamala, a less popular beach which has been described to me as the least Phuket of Phuket's beaches, and although it was definately less developped than Patong, there were still all the tourist amenities, including souvenir stands and beach umbrellas. It wasn't unpleasant, but I was disappointed after the much more pleasant and laid-back atmosphere of Ton Sai.

Three days was enough in the Phuket area for me, so I left for Ko Phi Phi, reputedly just as developped but which I'd found infinitely more tolerable when I'd passed through in November. Met a lovely Brit on the way to the one cheap accomodation on the island, and spent a few days just hanging out on the beach with her, and guiltily enjoying all the pleasures of the island, like pizzerias, hollywood movies, and lots and lots of bars and clubs with fabulous happy hour specials. I could rail against the overdevelopment of what one can still glimpse was an unspeakably beautiful place (maybe even The Beach), but, what's the point, I did really enjoy myself... I only wish people would think to pick up the garbage they breezily walk past along the beach (I mean really, how hard is it!)

Off to Ko Lanta to meet up with Vanessa (see the Lao blogs) and continue my hard life of beach and island hopping, hope Vancouver weather is looking up. 😉

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Photos

A Very Phuket View?
Kamala

Into the Heavens
Patong

Guilty Pleasures
In a pretty place (Phi Phi)

Travelling in Style
The Phi Phi (but not my, *sniff*) way