New Year in Phuket, Thailand - Destination 1!

  Phuket, Thailand
Monday, December 31, 2007

Pink Bangkok Taxi!

Well, I (Nic) managed to stay on the plane & we landed finally at Bangkok in the heat! We then caught a pink taxi??!! (which Adam was most amused about!)to the older airport where we boarded to our first destination - PHUKET!

We've arrived 1am! Chilling on our Balcony..

We landed pretty late and managed to have our first experience of the thai way!.......the taxi guy randomly stopped at some travel place where the ladies tried to get us out of the taxi telling us that our hotel was full and that we couldn't stay there....thankfully we had read about it on the plane so refused to budge and eventually the guy carried on..

Our first Singha beer of many! How white n tired?!

A bit of luxury for wk 1 - Kata Country House

We travelled down towards the lower end of the island and on reaching Patong, all I can say is that it was like... IBIZIA but 10x the size!!

Fast food/neon signs, bars,massage (well we think?!!) places, lots of noise and people/parties everywhere but thankfully we were not staying there!

Ad in his element,we have a bookshop nxt door

We finally (after the guy did a detour to a restaurant saying he needed the loo which took half an hour!!) arrived at our hotel which was perfect... loads of palm tress, chilled and like being in a mini jungle! 

Chilling by the pool...

Adams was most impressed too as believe it or not, then is a BOOK SHOP!!! next door and is the only one we have seen in Phuket!!

A typical Thai restaurant!

 

Since then we have managed not to do alot as without setting alarms we seem to wake up at 3pm each day and have had 13 hours sleep a night, miracle!

Many beautiful beaches of Phuket...

Kata beach near us is pretty rammed, beautiful white sand etc.. but very touristy. They say that the western culture has hit Phuket and that is definately true but it is cool to be here and a fab start to the trip!

Ads Thai Foot Massage n scrape! Poor lady!

So far we have spolied ourselves with an hours thai foot massage for about two pounds and a thai massage also, which consisted of the lady walking on my back.... very painful to say the least but invigorating!

Crazy masseur girls, New Years Eve!

Adam managed to charm the thai ladies in the massage place and got given a can of beer at the end, a refreshing tradition perhaps??! It was so funny though as at the end of the foot massage the ladies all went outside and started drinking beer which was a great sight to see, they definately like to have fun in Thailand!

Another beer, another curry.Random dinosaur place!

 

New Years Eve was eventful to say the least!

More cocktails please!

We ended up eating in a make shift dinasour style posh restaurant ( felt like I was in Sandown on the Isle of Wight!) after which we went to a swedish style kareoke bar served by a very gay thai guy and lady boy,

NY with some lady boys...uuumm!

it was all very amusing!

2008 has begun, what a year we have ahead!

Stumbling home we then ended up in a British guy's pub who gave us free drinks to the early hours and then admitted he had just come out of jail at home and couldn't go back there!!

Worse for wear New years Eve, 2007!

Yes sounds all abit mad but was REALLY good fun and definately a new year to remember!

4am in some random british escapee's bar!

Snorkelling on the reef!

After new years day we treated ourselves with xmas money (Thanks Bruce!) to a speedboat adventure

Azure of the thai waters

around all of the beautiful islands off of Phuket, one was where the film 'The beach' was filmed, it was beautiful, emerald sea, white sand etc... I won't go on!

Monkey island, fanta anyone?!

We also saw monkeys on the beach and then did some snorkelling, the reef was fab!

Thai fishing boats....

We saw a reef shark which was pretty scary to say the least and then a small swordfish swam right across my snorkel at which point I thought it was a baby shark and panicked (slightly!) to which our guide laughed and told me what it actually was!

Maya Bay Snorkelling Trip, thanks Bruce!

Maya Bay, where 'The Beach' was filmed

....and some idiot!

Maya Bay

and more....

After then chilling with lunch on the beautiful Phi Phi with some fellow travellers and eating fresh pineapple on another isle thinking that without doubt giving up everything for our world trip was definitely worth it!

Phi Phi islan!

Rainy Heathrow or pineapple on a white sand island...uuuum!

Exploring by motorbike, how do u start it?!

The next day we attempted motorbiking round the island which is a hairy experience to say the least and Thailand has the highest road death rates...what are we like!

Overlooking the island

Good experience though, beautiful beaches, temples, mental roundabouts & a few bizarre gear changes catapulting us with a few near misses (Adam was driving course!).. Then to end apart a flat tyre....need we say more but to fix it cost 50 pence, bargain!

.. and a temple or two!

I think we will stick to the local tansport in Thailand for the future - the TUK-TUK!!

Chilling on the white sands.. just perfect!

Local boats and islands..

More chilling on the beach..this is the life!

Local transport - a Daihatsu Tuk Tuk! We love em!

Anyway our first week of a 'holiday' is coming to an end and we actually hit the back packing life finally where the proper travelling will begin! No more nice hotel, taxi's, speedboats and massage but onto crammed hot buses, too heavy backpacks and dormitories!!! We can't wait....or can we?!!

Mum will all our accomodation be like this?!!