Blogs from Phuket, South-West Thailand, Thailand, Asia

On March 24th we arrived in Phuket. As we had been there before we thought we would go on one of the excursions to see more. We chose Highlights of Phuket. We drove first to the southern most part of the island, Cape Prom Thep. It was a very hot day but the views from the cliff top were stunning. We walked to the top of the promontory where there is an elephant shrine. People leave statues of elephants here to ensure good luck. Fletcher would have loved to steal one or two!! A little further on was a statue of a local general and further still an unusual looking lighthouse. The statue also had small devotional figures left there by locals.An interesting place , but we were glad to return to the bus and the ... read more

Phuket (careful with that pronunciation now - POOKET) was never a place we really wanted to go due to its popularity with foreign tourists, but as numbers are so low at the moment we grabbed the opportunity. Our stay on the island began with three nights at the Memory at On On Hotelwhich, Wi-Fi problems aside, was a great hotel. Located in the heart of the old town, it is the oldest hotel in town having been established by a Chinese migrant in 1927. It certainly has a lot of charm, and the free tea, coffee and biscuits during the day on the first floor veranda is a really nice touch. The hotel featured in the 2000 film "The Beach" and was renovated in 2012 when new owners took charge. It's fair to say we didn't ... read more

Saturday 1st February 2020 We left home at 8 a.m. to be chauffeured to Alicante train station by our son Nick. The fast train to Barcelona departed on time at 9.25 and just four-and-a-half hours later, having stopped just three times on the way, at Valencia, Castellon and Tarragona, we alighted at Barcelona Sants station in brilliant sunshine. We have excellent trains in Spain, fast, smooth, quiet (on modern track) comfortable and excellent value; we paid twenty-four euros each, in First class. Very civilised! By 3 p.m. we were at Barcelona International Airport, so had a long wait until our 9.35 p.m. departure. Fortunately, we were able to check in the rucksacks straight away at the Qatar Airways bag drop, then had a leisurely lunch of barbecued ribs and browsed the smart shops. Barcelona is a ... read more

Dag 31: Old town Phuket vanochtend nemen we na het ontbijt de longtailboat naar de pier en konden we (een uur voor vertrek) al op de ferry. ongeveer een kwartier voor vertrek begon het enorm hard te regenen. GIETEN! Iedereen die binnenkwam was doorweekt. Bij het vertrek hield het niet op. er was enorm veel wind en de boot schommelde op het water. Bij het verlaten van de pier zag ik een andere boot opeens heel dicht komen. Te dicht. Niet veel later botste de andere boot tegen ons (of wij tegen hen). Het was gelukkig niet in volle snelheid en er was geen schade. Toen we bijna de baai uit waren zagen we wel wat activiteit op een boot naast ons. We naderden (deze keer gecontroleerd) de boot en we zagen mensen overstappen naar ons ... read more

De reis van Koh Tao naar Phuket was erg lang. In de avond namen we de nachtboot waarmee we 10 uur onderweg waren naar het vaste land. De bedden waren niet erg comfortabel en de airco stond wel erg hard, dat we ze maar dicht hadden gedaan. 's ochtends vroeg namen we de taxibus naar de andere kant van het vaste land (wat ook weer 2 uur duurde) en toen moetsen we nog eens 2,5 uur met de boot. Gelukkig kon ik alles bij elkaar wel genoeg slaap krijgen om me op Phi Phi fit genoeg te voelen. De Phi Phi eilanden zijn al prachtig als je aankomt, groene, rotsachtige heuvels die in de zee verdwijnen. Toen we er aankwamen werden onze grote rugzakken op karren opgestapeld die door 1 persoon per kar voortgereden werden naar ... read more