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Published: April 5th 2011
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Somehow it took a full day to get from one coast of Thailand to the other so we didn’t arrive into Phuket town until about 11pm. When travelling in Thailand you should always add at least 3 hours on to your expected time of arrival and be prepared to change bus several times for no apparent reason. We had heard mixed reviews of Phuket so we thought the only way to decide was to visit for ourselves and make up our own minds. First impressions were not good at all. Phuket town looked like a bit of a dump and accommodation was really expensive and filthy. It was late so we ended up paying far too much for the only clean room we could find. The next day we got up early and found somewhere much cheaper in the old part of town. Things quickly started to look up and in my opinion Phuket Old town was one the nicest places we have been to on our travels. The streets are full of gorgeous old Sino-Portuguese style buildings and there are cool little bars and restaurants all over the place. They seem to be into all things vintage, from cars to
furniture and decor. I loved wandering around the little streets and got a bit carried away taking pictures of colourful old shutters, doors and tiles. Dima just has to humour me when I get like that. There is also a big live music scene in town and they seem especially keen on jazz.
We found a great little bar called Glastnost which served really good wine. A guy at one of the other tables started to play guitar. He was really good and we found out later that he had been a session musician for the Doobie Brothers among many other bands. (I didn’t actually know who the Doobie Brothers were but Dima tells me they were ok.) He invited us along to a jazz night at another bar where he was playing the drums. We hitched a ride in the back of his truck and went to watch the music. I am not always the biggest fan of jazz but it was actually really good. It was a kind of open mic night so local guys would just turn up and accompany on a flute or saxophone or trumpet.
The next morning we got up early (with
slight hangovers) to explore the beaches. We made the mistake of going to Patong beach which is one of the most popular on the island. It was the busiest beach I have ever seen in my life and was full of horribly sunburnt looking tourists. There were sun loungers and people as far as the eye could see. Dima actually said it actually made him feel sick so we decided not to stay a minute longer and hired a scooter to escape the crowds. We did find nicer and slightly less crowded beaches elsewhere on Phuket but overall it really isn’t great unless you like to be packed onto a beach with thousands of other people. In my opinion the only thing worth going to Phuket for is Phuket Old Town.
Continuing our island hopping, we moved next to Ko Phi Phi which at one time must have been the perfect tropical paradise but has been slightly ruined by the thousands of tourists that flock there every day. The island is tiny and has no motorised transport so everything is either a walk or a boat ride away. Despite the crowds we still really liked Phi Phi and it
is possible to get away and find a quieter beach. Long Beach was our favourite because of its stunning views and perfectly clear water. While on the island, we booked to do a snorkelling trip which took you to several beaches and snorkelling sights including Maya Bay which is where ‘The Beach’ was filmed. Our boat didn’t take us into the bay itself so we had to jump off and swim to shore clambering over rocks and then walking across gravel to get to the actual beach via a kind of back entrance. I cut myself on the coral a few times on the way. It was not a pleasant route and I am pretty sure that Mr DiCaprio did not have to endure such hardships whilst filming there! It wasn’t even worth the effort because sadly the beach is now ruined by people and boats. Another paradise lost.
Our next and final Thai island was Ko Lanta where apparently the aforementioned Mr DiCaprio has a holiday home. I did look out for him in the hope that he would meet me and fall instantly in love…but no such luck. Dima and I both loved Lanta because it was
by far the most relaxing place we have been in Thailand and we finally found the perfect little beach hut that we had been looking for. We stayed for five days and literally did the same thing every single day. It was nice to have a bit of routine for once, even if it was just: get up, have breakfast, go to the beach, have lunch, go to the beach, watch the sunset, have dinner, go to bed. The beaches aren’t quite so perfect as some of the other islands we have seen but they weren’t far off.
We spent almost a month travelling around the Thai islands and overall we really enjoyed it. At times there are far too many people around and it can be very busy and touristy but it is possible to escape the crowds because we did it on many occasions. It was very hard for us to leave Thailand for the second time but I’m pretty sure we will be back again one day.
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