Phuket!!

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We travelled over from Koh Samui to Phuket, leaving at 6.30am and they told us we would be there by 3pm, but this being Thailand, of course we didn’t arrive until 12 hours later, at around 7pm.

We spent three nights in total in Phuket and it was kind of like a mini holiday, we spent loads of money, stayed in luxury accommodation (3* hotel with air con and a pool - this is considered as luxury these days), went the cinema, had nice meals out and took a break from the travelling lifestyle.

As for Phuket, it seems to be one of the main places everyone goes on holiday in Thailand but for me, it wasn’t the best and I would not return.

We stayed in the resort of Karon, about 10 minutes outside of the main resort of Patong; the beaches were nice but the weather wasn’t great. We had torrential rain on all three nights and massive lightening storms, on the second night we got soaked walking from the cinemas to the bar, we were literally soaked through, as we walked into the irish bar looking like drowned rats everyone looked at us like we were mental! During the day, it was hot but very cloudy so it wasn’t great sunbathing weather, nevertheless, we made the most of having a swimming pool and spent our days reading around the pool, visiting local temples and swimming.

As for the nights, we spent the first two nights in Patong - what an experience! Everywhere we turned was just people trying to get us into lap dancing bars or to go and see ping pong shows, it was almost as seedy as Pattaya! Luckily we found ourselves an irish bar with a happy hour and live band so sung along to the pogues and whiskey in the jar before going on to ‘a club’. I put this in brackets because im not even sure if you can describe it as a club, it was like no place I had ever been before. Imagine a nightclub in the 1990s in some eastern European country where everyone wore clothes that may have been fashionable 30 years ago (although I doubt they ever were) and where every strange drunk person thinks they are the best dancer the world has ever seen. We were never going to find the love of our life, have a crazy night or make friends but it was quite funny just sitting back and watching all these people dance their hearts out, I actually quite enjoyed it!

The highlight of our second night was finding an irish bar which sold nice white wine and a proper roast chicken dinner and drinking whiskey at the cinema watching GI Joe. After that it all just went a little down hill.. We came out of the cinema and got caught in a monsoon, braved the rain as everyone else took shelter an then spent the rest of the night soaking wet, we only lasted an hour or so before we headed home.

I honestly don’t understand why people flock to Phuket, maybe im missing something, but it wasn’t for me and I was quite looking forward to leaving. don’t get me wrong, it was nice to get a break from the travelling life as it was more like a holiday, we traded dorm rooms in hostels for hotels with air con, we had a pool, we swapped cheap food for bistro meals and wine but apart from that, I would not go back to Phuket.

Its not a bad place, but there are just so many better, more beautiful places in Thailand with much better nightlife.

Next stop, Koh Lanta, and I for one cant wait…

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