Baan Suktothai Patong

28/8
Landed at Phucket safely at around 9pm. Queued for our bags and got our tourist visas then went out for a taxi to our hotel.
Walked out into the heaviest rainfall we'd ever seen. Welcome to Thailand in monsoon!

The process of choosing a taxi was a quick introduction to the way business is done here. All the taxi agents nearest the arrivals gate wanted 1100TB and by the time we got to the rank we got a rate of 500TB.

45 mins later we were ...

... the boat at 2pm. We visited Saad Had Beach where there were supposed to be "wild monkeys". (Apparently they were hiding because we "weren't able to stop".. boo.) From the cruise boat we hopped on a small boat to go through Viking Cave as well as under the rock overhangs. We took the boat to Loh Samah Bay for some snorkeling and kayaking next. Yes, three of us on one kayak with no life jackets! (Safety first!!!!) Then, we made it back to the boat which took us ...

... while performing in Kathu, Phuket. They turned to a vegetarian diet and prayed to the Nine Emperor Gods, people usually died from malaria at this time so when they survived they had a festival to thank the gods. Nowadays it's a bit more than just say a few prayers. Every day they had a procession from the different Chinese temples in the town. We watched one procession and oh my god it was crazy! Before the procession got to us loads of people including small kids ...

... och snyggt. Vi gör oss redo för stranden. Vid lunchtid sätt** vi oss vid "Cactus In"´s s**v**ing. Stället är mysigt. Vi tar några klunkar kall öl medan vi begrundar menyn. Vid bardisken sitt** en man, som jag direkt kan se, inte komm** från Thailand. Han är lång och v**kar välbyggd. Han ät** och drick** rödvin medan han sitt** och kollar på TV. Med jämna mellanrum utdelar han ord** till p**sonalen. Vi har alltså stött på ägaren. När s**vitrisen komm** vill hon ha pengar för ...

... on the beach during which we saw and were kissed by a baby elephant (sorry, no pics, we forgot the camera) - we went to Thailand's most famous attraction - the Phuket Fantasea. This is sort of a mix of Disneyland and Dollywood - Phuket, Thailand style. The place was all lit up and there were little booths, shops and games everywhere. Then, you go into this massive building to indulge yourself on Japanese, Thai and European cuisine!! The show follows at ...

... squinted her eyes and held the camera just waiting, as if it was a magic trick. Of course no photo was taken, so I had to ask the girl again to which she reluctantly agreed - and again Mum did the SAME thing, holding the camera as if it were some strange box! And again NO PHOTO. By this stage I was yelling at Mum, "what are you DOING? Why can't you just PRESS A BUTTON? etc" and there was no way I was asking the girl again. Beware the ...

... Eller som jeg tenkte i mitt stille sinn etter mange aar i rusmiddel etaten; kunne dette vaere en skamloes gammel fyllefant som sa han kunne det for litt gratis skjenk..... Neida; han var brukt for dette gjennom seremonier gjennom flere aar og skulle jeg noen gang brenne ett lik tror jeg en skjenk er paa sin plass..... En bisarr forestilling. Gubben fikk etterhvert en gul jerrykanne brennvaeske av sin foelgesvenn som foerst dynket over kisten til innholdet ble lettere aa ...

... out for nutella crepes for breakfast (bad idea) and a day of shopping. The boys are leaving tonight to need to get their shopping done. Like im going to complain :) We shop all day none stop, with little breaks to try to find me accommodation for the night, not easy, especially for a reasonable price. Thailand is so hot we were all sweating like pigs, it was again, foul. All i really ...

... heading out to see the next morning. After arriving at the dive centre early we put our equipment together and head out to sea. After putting out gear on we roll backwards into the sea and descend to about 12m where we practice many more exercises before having a fun dive where our instructors lead us round the reef. We do a second dive that morning practicing more skills before heading back to the classroom. Day 3 we are back out at the reef for a ...

... likes to play games with you to keep you drinking and one of their favorites is Connect 4 (you will never beat them!!!!). after loosing 5 games in a row I decided to get on the bar with my broken foot and dance, purely to show the working girls how to do it properly( they were pretty bad dancers, have they never watched fame or footloose!!! After a few of my magic rhythmic hip gyration a few of the workings girls looked unimpressed, loser's!!! One minute ...