Phuket... beach town
Trip Start
Aug 04, 2008
1
7
16
Trip End
Aug 21, 2008
Phuket,
Thailand
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
This morning, we slept in and lounged around after breakfast until it was time to head to the airport. We had a 1pm flight, so we checked out by 11, paid for our mini-bar eats, and grabbed a taxi to the airport. 45 minutes and 300baht later, we were lined up for check-in and walking through the metal scanners.
We flew Air Asia, the cheapest airline flying between these areas. It apparently is very popular, as the airport lobbies were packed with people... some in line-ups, some running to catch their plane, and others just getting in everyone else's way.
Everything went as planned, and by 3pm, we were in a mini-bus, headed to Kata beach to find our beach-side resort! We were wondering why the bus ride was so cheap, when we made an unannounced stop at a local tourism agency, where we were asked to exit the bus to "get our tickets checked". After a few minutes listening to the tourism agent try and offer us "best deals in Phuket" for snorkeling, etc... it became pretty clear that the bus company had an "agreement" with this agency, to bring their customers through for a mandatory stop. When we had all piled back into the bus, everyone on the bus was grumbling about the time-wasted by this stop.
Nevertheless, we reached out resort by 4:30pm... where we had our room upgraded due to a mistake in booking! Well, we went from "Superior" to "Deluxe"... seemed backwards to us. The room was gorgeous! Definitely the most luxurious on the trip so far. Everything was draped just so. But, this city was about the beach! So, off we went!
We grabbed our beach towels and trunks, and made our was down to the beach. It was just a 3 minute walk, and we were paying our 200 baht to sit on padded lounge chairs under a beach umbrella. White sand, blue waters, rushing waves, not too many people... this was perfect! However, after half an hour... I found out that I'm just not the type to lounge on the beach all day. We strategically hid our stuff under our towels, and went out in the waters! We were our there for only a few moments, when swoosh!... big wave came and knocked us both over. It was my first time swimming in waves... lots of fun. We frollicked amongst the waves for the next half hour, aiming to stay for the sunset. I rushed back to the hotel to get my camera... and got back just in time to miss the entire thing!
Dinner beach-side at a local Thai restaurant. Good food, pretty good views... into the darkness, and we were back in the hotel. DVD rentals were free, so we grabbed a bunch, and holed up for the rest of the night.
