Phuket

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We took our afternoon flight down to Phuket on Tuesday, and after a quick bite to eat, my brother, Tony, came to meet us for a drink at our hostel (Bodega) bar. He entertained us with stories of his travels, and later, we (along with Marion - a fellow traveller from our hostel) went and joined him, John, Bartley and some of their friends from their hostel (Kool Backpackers). Kool Backpackers is run by a guy named Ang, who seemed really nice and had a wicked sense of humour. He often sat chatting with his guests, giving off a really welcoming vibe. The hostel is based on the hectic bar street, Bangla Road, where hundreds of touts promote 'ping-pong' shows - women doing bizarre things with ping-pong balls, and - as I was later advised - live animals. Needless to say, we weren't interested. We had a few drinks at Kool Backpackers, something to eat at a nearby restaurant, chilled, then headed back to bed at around 3am.

On the Wednesday, Edithe, Marion and I spent the day at Kata Beach. It was a lovely, relaxing day. The sea was crystal clear, so we spent half the day just floating around. After ten days of inland cities, the beach was a lovely escape. In the evening, we went for dinner at Pum, a Thai restaurant recommended by the guys at our hostel. It was delicious! Later, we popped to see the lads at Kool Backpackers, then went back to the hostel, played a few games of Jenga with other guests and the staff from our hostel, then went to bed relatively early, in preparation for our boat trip the next morning.

Waking up at the crack of dawn on Thursday, we arrived at the hostel bar at our pick-up time of 7:45am for our boat trip to Coral Island and Raya Island. We originally requested a trip to Phi Phi, but our hostel staff advised us that we could book it the next day. However, when the time came, the boat was fully booked, so we opted for the other one. The bus arrived at gone 8:15, and after a 40 minute drive, we were herded together with hundreds of other people outside a shop near the port, where we were left standing for about an hour. During this time, we were handed coloured stickers to determine what boat we'd be taking. Eventually, we were taken to the boat and off we went.

Our first stop was Coral Island, where we relaxed on the beach and I dug out my snorkel (the boat guides didn't provide them at this point) to check out the beautiful coral not far from the shore. I was mesmerised by its breathing motion, and followed what looked like a small barracuda for a while.

After an hour or so, we were taken back to the boat, and taken to Raya Island. We anchored a little way from the rocky side of the island, and snorkelled for an hour. The fish were plentiful, so there was a lot to look at, although we were instructed to wear life jackets so I wasn't able to dive.

Following this, we were taken for lunch at a buffet restaurant about a fifteen minute walk from the beach, although we were told it was only a 300m walk. The food was awful - way too salty. Anyway, we walked back to the beach and I zonked out on a sun bed for a couple of hours, only waking up to move the sun bed further into the shade when the sun touched my bare feet. I was already a wee bit pink from snorkelling, so I didn't want to expose my skin any more. After the beach, we boarded the boat to return to Phuket. Arriving back at the port, we discovered that we had not been booked onto any of the buses, so we had to squeeze into an already packed one. It wasn't a total disaster, as I got chatting to a nice woman from Crete called Christina, and she told me about her job as a massage therapist with Six Seasons. We exchanged details and agreed to stay in touch.

Let me make this clear: unless you enjoy poorly organised day-trips, do not book with Raya Princess Tours.

In the evening, Edithe set off to a cabaret show, and I met the lads at their hostel. We watched Django and ate KFC, then I headed back around midnight. Sounds like a boring night but the inaccurate English subtitles on the English movie and an unsuccessful rock-paper-scissors challenge to determine who went to get the food kept us entertained. Plus, I had to wake up early to head to the airport to meet my sister, Sophie.

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Photos

Bangla Road madness!
"Nope, I don't want to see a ping-pong show, ta very much!"