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Published: March 2nd 2010
Minibus
My ride to Phuket.Today I finished my journey to Phuket (pronounced Poo-get and not homonymous with a phrase that eloquently states
I don‘t care). It started off early with breakfast and my hotel checkout, which, as is customary of the hotel’s staff, took entirely too long. I thought I was going to miss my minibus to Phuket, but that was late, too.
Like all my Asian travels, this ride took much longer than expected. A “six hour ride” took about nine hours. With all my upcoming Asian travels I now plan to bank on them taking 1.5x as long as scheduled.
The minibus was a bit worn, crowded and warm (it had air conditioning but it wasn’t all that effective); however, it served its purpose in getting us there for a reasonable price. Besides me, “us” included a few locals, a man from Penzance, England, his wife from somewhere in Asia and a few people from outside of Dallas. Eventually we picked up an American girl who was making a visa run into Malaysia. She was originally from Argentina but has lived in Queens and Brooklyn most of her life.
We finally made it to the station, which turned out to
Close quarters
We had a long ride in a small van. be a tourist shop that sells trip packages and local tours. While we arranged our transportation to our accommodations, I found a tour package on a tour I planned to do now that I am in Phuket - a trip to Phang Nga Bay where the island from the 1970s James Bond film
The Man with the Golden Gun (one of my favorites) was filmed. I got this arranged and set off with the English guy, his wife and the American girl in our original minibus - the driver was taking us to our hotels as an add-on to the trip.
When I arrived, I checked into the guesthouse with the owner, a guy named Dave from England. Dave checked me in and walked me around the block or two outside the guesthouse, showing me some of the better restaurants to check out. When we returned, I met Mark, another Englishman, who was staying at the guesthouse. Dave left me to help Mark get his stereo gear together for a gig he had that night at one of the bars in the area.
Having not eaten since early this morning, I was famished. I quickly put my things
Chang beer
My first Thai beer. in my room and set out for something to eat. I went to one of the places Dave recommended, Mr. Thong’s, and had a Chang beer, my first Thai beer, and stir fried chicken with vegetables and rice. I added a Heinz sweet chilli sauce to the rice, which gave it a lot more flavor. It was pretty surprising to see Heinz products here. Then again it does appear to be more sophisticated - I (disappointingly) didn’t notice anyone foregoing a fork and spoon for use of a hand.
After dinner, I picked up a few beverages for the room - a couple beers, some V8 and a large jug of water to use for drinking as well as brushing my teeth (I was warned several times before I left not to trust the water or the ice).
While he showed me around, Dave had recommended a bar in the area that I should go to. He said to ask for a woman named “Nga” and to say hello. I went and she wasn’t there. I did end up talking to one of the workers there, an older woman, for a bit, then a few other locals that
Dinner
Chicken and vegetables with rice. she introduced me to. They all were under the impression that Nga and I were best friends even though I told them several times I was just saying hi because Dave told me to.
Still unsatisfied, a few of the girls decided to take matters into their own hands and took me over to the sister bar where Nga was. I hopped onto the back of a motorbike with a girl named Lily and we sped off to the town of Kata, a few miles away. This was a lot of fun, streaking along the beach road with a cool breeze dulling the effect of the heat and humidity.
When we arrived, the first person I saw was Mark, who I met earlier at the guesthouse. It turned out that this was where he was performing. I ended up hanging out with Lily, Mark (when he wasn’t singing), Dave (who showed up later), the infamous Nga and a host of others locals.
It was a fun night but the long day caught up to me after midnight. Lily dropped me off back at the guesthouse and I called it a night.
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