More sand and surf

Trip Start Jan 29, 2008

Trip End Mar 04, 2008

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Where I stayed

Chong ko Travel

(Patong hotels)

Flag of Thailand Phuket, Thailand
Friday, February 29, 2008

After a 15 hour (yes, FIFTEEN) overnight bus ride from Bangkok to Phuket, I finally arrived just before 5:00am, stiff, sore and exhausted. My hair was in a massive knot at the back of my head from sleeping upright in the barely-reclining seat. The bus station appeared to be in the middle of nowhere so I had to wait for the travel information centre to open before leaving, since I wasn't entirely sure where I was headed. Once I had worked the knot out of my hair, I read my book (Marley and Me) while I waited. As I was sitting in the station more buses pulled up and I saw a VIP bus from Bangkok. That is probably the one I should have taken but nobody even mentioned it to me when I was buying my ticket. I guess I should have known when I got on the bus and it was packed with Thais. I was the sole white person on that bus. Nobody other than me seemed to notice though. The man in the seat next to mine was really nice. He didn't speak English but sometimes spoke Thai and threw in an English word or two, and gestured a lot, to tell me things like "this is a bathroom stop" and what have you.

At 6am one of the tuk tuk drivers that had been harassing me since I got to the bus station told me the travel centre was open. So I walked across the street and asked the guy there if he could get me a cheap room on Patong Beach. He laughed. Then he asked how much I wanted to spend. I said not more than 1,200 baht. He laughed some more then walked out of the information office and did not come back.

Patong Beach

Helpful.

Fortunately one of the vultures waiting for me outside overheard this and told me he could get me a nice room near the beach (only a five minute walk) for 1,000. I knew from experience not to trust these guys but I also knew he would at least get me close the beach and from there I could probably find something reasonable. True to his word, and much to my surprise, he took me to a very nice hotel, located three minutes by foot from the beach. The hotel let me check in at 6:30am and I didn't have to check out until noon the next day. So I went upstairs and slept for a few hours since I didn't get nearly enough sleep on the bus.

When I had slept off some of my stiffness, I decided to walk around and check out Phuket. I had heard so much from others raving about it. I have to admit I was a bit disappointed. The beach was beautiful and there is a lot of white sand, but it is covered in lounge chairs and old people. Where were all the fun people? I was kind of sad because Cindy and Robert were gone and things just aren't as fun without them around to begin with, and now I couldn't even find a place to meet potentially fun people. But it was only early afternoon so I decided to get some emailing done and find a liveaboard trip for my last couple days in Thailand. The Thai guy running the Internet cafe I went to is by the far the best looking Thai I have ever laid eyes on. He was really nice and spoke perfect English with no accent. He was drawing portraits while monitoring the cafe so I didn't interrupt him too much.

I did a little research on the web then asked at my hotel about liveaboards. They booked me on a two day, one night trip starting tomorrow to the Similans, which Cindy and Robert loved so I know I will too. Then I went for a two hour and badly needed Thai massage, had dinner, and went back to my room to get ready for my very early day tomorrow.