Better Accommodation But in Someone Else's Hotel

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The boat back to Phuket made a couple of diversions and took four very tedious hours. Again, we arrived to be met by crowds of people touting for business, and we eventually found one in our price range near Karon Beach. It was still basic by most people's standards, but positive luxury compared to Koh Phi Phi. The shower was just that, a real shower!

With the money we were prepared to spend, a hotel with a swimming pool was not an option, however there was a big posh hotel called the Phuket Arcadia down the road and it was quite easy to sneak in and use theirs. It took them until our last day to work-out that we were not actually guests at the hotel, by which time we had befriended an American family who were prepared to make out that we were relatives of theirs to the large group of security guards who turned-up.

Whilst we were there, I out-classed the others with my diving skills. That said, there was an American woman who watched us showing off for a while and then totally out-classed all of us with a fantastic backwards dive, which we then failed miserably to copy.

We hired a jeep for one of the days and toured round the island. Lots of beaches to check out, but one attraction which we wanted to find, the so called 007 Island where they filmed "The man with the golden gun" was only accessible by boat. That evening we went to a much larger beach resort called Patong. Patong is one of those places which gives Thailand its reputation for prostitution. It consisted of bar full of Thai women in very skimpy dresses calling after you as you walk past. The standard line is "Hello sexy man, I want to go with you" which did wonders for the ego. More often than not, it was only a matter of time before some fat Germans came along and made them an offer.

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Photos

Not Our Hotel
Using the swimming pool at the Phuket Arcadia Hotel

Koh Phuket
A view over Koh Phuket