Phuket

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Day 9

...in which we dozed, got some sun, dozed, and ate...



Given that we got to our hotel somewhere around 1:30am, it was always going to be a slow day. We had decided to spend the first two nights staying at Nai Yang Beach Resort. It was close to the airport, and sounded like it would be quieter than other areas. There weren't many tourists around, but there were plenty of locals trying to sell to what few farangs there were. It was a bit of a surprise to see how expensive things were here (compared to Chiang Mi and Bangkok). Still cheaper than back home of course.

For reasons we're not sure of, the resort saw fit to have an enclosure containing several tortoises on their grounds. Entertaining but odd.

We spent a bit of the day chilling by the pool, then went for a walk on the beach, came back and dozed, and then grabbing a tasty dinner on the beach (a whole fish cooked with LOTS of garlic and pepper, some fried Morning Glory, and a couple of Mango smoothies). Yummo.



Day 10

...in which Chris felt ill, various remedies were imbibed, and a laughing local drove us to Kata Beach...

Chris woke up with a really bad headache, and a pretty wobbly belly (it had been a bit funny for a few days, but worse today). After taking a panadol, We wandered across to a place recommended for breakfast. This was followed by a probiotic, some Dragon's Blood in water (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sangre_de_Grado), some Ginger tablets, and some Astragalus.

After checking out of the hotel, we walked out and promptly got set upon by cries of "taxi? taxi!" by several guys. We went with the first one to offer and he then seemed to spend the first 15 minutes of the trip laughing at how he was first, and how we had been overwhelmed by choice "Not many farang, many taxi" (or words to that effect).

The trip down to Kata took around an hour, and by the end of it, Chris was feeling a lot better.

The resort in Kata was stunning. It's called the Boomerang Resort (cos you'll keep coming back I guess?), and is in great condition. It's a bit back from the beach, but they offer a free pick up/drop off at the beach from the resort. It was great to stay in a place where everything was working!

We wandered around the beach for the afternoon, and grabbed a lift back to the resort when the evening storm kicked in. While waiting for the lift some locals came and chatted to another guy who worked there, and then gave us some delicious mango and sticky rice. Yay for supernice locals. 😊

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Photos

Windy days
What else do you do when it's windy - go kite surfing!

Lah-dee-dah
Boomerang resort - nice bed!

Nina
So, the Thai characters for Phuket, look a lot like Nina.

Lunch View
Not a bad spot for lunch

Da Big Buddha
Undergoing some restoration work at the moment. We didn't get up there - cloudy days meant the view probably wasn't as good as it could be.

Beach for rent
Rent a chair and a brolly?

Storm
When the horizon looks like this, and the local start packing everything away quickly, you know it's time to find shelter.