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Published: January 14th 2010
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Day Thirteen - Phuket, the Russian Benidorm
I awoke to the sun filtering in as the train was nearing our destination. We got up around 6.30am, the staff turned our bunks into seats again and soon our breakfast arrived. It was British Rail standard but would fill a hole for now.
Leaving the train an hour later at Surat Thani we were greeted with touts and eventually got sorted for our coach to Phuket. It was nothing special but had aircon and reclining seats at least. It was 4 hours later we pulled into Phuket Town and again the touts fell upon us.
We needed to get to Kata but the taxi drivers wanted 800 baht - about 2-300 over the odds. With a little taxi mafia running, they were sticking to their price. We took a local bus instead for 30 baht each and it was a nice change. It was basically a truck with benches along the sides in the back.
At Kata, we jumped off and quickly found the hostel, Southern Fried Rice. The place was fine but we had to walk past a few girly bars to get there which didn’t make a
great first impression. The eccentric name was obvious once we met the owner, Terry. An amiable Norwegian who has lived there for 7 years, he dropped the bombshell that he had overbooked us and had only one room but another reserved elsewhere.
Angela nearly jumped down his throat at this suggestion so we looked at the room to see if we would all fit. It was massive so we got two camp beds in and were happy enough, especially as we had a discount coming.
We all showered to freshen up and got ready for the beach. To get there, we could take a shortcut past a river that was stinking of sewage though. This and the sight of thousands and thousands on the beach didn’t help matters. It was not unexpected for me but as we grabbed a space, I don’t think Angela nor I were in the most light of moods. We hit the water though and things quickly improved.
The sea was lovely and after a snooze on the beach, I surveyed it afresh. The beach was around 1.5km long, lined with sunbeds but still plenty of sand free. The water wasn’t that busy and a
Buddha sitting on the hilltop added a calmness.
I knew it would be more resort than paradise island but we needed to stop there to get to Ko Yao Yai. At the hotel, I contacted Ko Yao Yai to see if we could there early as we couldn’t get our booking sorted on Ko Phi Phi. Ko Yao Yai said they could take us on the 4th, a day early, so we decided to stay at Terry’s for another night. Better the devil.
The Russians have taken Phuket over though. There were a smattering of Scandinavians and Italians with the backpackers at Patpong Bay but the majority were Russian. Now I’m sure a lot of them are lovely people but together they are like the Brits abroad in Spain. They horde and take over; they are not pleasant to the Thais; and for all the money some of them evidently have, they have too much of an affiliation to nylon and polyester to be healthy. Dripping in genuine Rolexes, throwing US dollars around but wearing clothes that would make Spandau Ballet blush.
Although Terry urged us to try his menu, we headed out and found a lovely place around the corner. The food was good and the waitress was a hoot. She was a stereotypical teeny tiny Thai that giggled, forgot glasses of wine and brightened the day up. When Leanne took her a tip she looked like she had been given a birthday present.
Back at Terry’s everyone was ready for bed early as it had been a long day. We found we had three English speaking TV channels - Sci-Fi, Universal (Hallmark in the UK) and CNBC News. As I was editing photos I put Universal on in the background. Five hours of Law & Order later, I fell asleep.
Today’s Highlights Waking up on a train; the clear Andaman Sea; and another crazy waitress.
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