Phuket, thailand

Sorry for the length between blog posts. We've been on Thailand time,
where nothing ever gets done. In the photo is the light and sound
fountain show in the courtyard of Patong Beach's (on Phuket Island)
shiny new mall. The flower is being projected onto the misting water.

The fountain show reminded me of Vegas, and in many ways, Patong Beach
is like Las Vegas. There is a veneer of carefree vacationing painted
over a seedier party zone atmosphere.

We were ready to leave Asia and come home after our diving trip, but
our tickets are set for the 29th from Singapore to Hong Kong and the
5th from Hong Kong home. We tried changing the dates, but Cathay is
super busy and all booked up through mid sept. For some reason, there
are a bunch of Canadians in China right now who want to come home ;).

So, given that we blew our accommodation budget at the dive resort, we
thought of the cheap hotels in Thailand and right away made plans for
a week of beach sitting there. Our hotel was cheaper than expected
($20/night with ensuite, hot water, satelite tv, and a comfy bed)
since it is the low (monsoon) season in Phuket now. That was a nice
change from the high season we've seen everywhere else, but it did
rain almost everyday.

We were still able to get in some body surfing and sitting under an
umbrella on the beach reading trashy books. There was a couple minutes
of huddling under the umbrella trying not to get wet, and although
many people scampered away, we rode it out and were rewarded with a
second umbrella, which was good for addad sun protection when the rain
stopped.

In the day, the beach is the focal point if the town, but at night,
there are scores of bars and nightclubs that open. We were pretty
creeped out by the number of fat old white guys walking around with
young Thai "girlfriends" and the "massage parlours" with women outside
who didn't look strong enough to give a Thai massage. There were some
places where the women did look like they could give massages all day,
so you could tell the difference. The pharmacies offered a prominent
shelf with an array of condoms and pregnancy tests.

We didn't try any of the bars and we were happy that the low season
kept it relatively quiet where we were at the end of the strip. I can
imagine I would have been in heaven here when I was 19, but although
we did some excellent eating and relaxing, I would likely try a
different beach if I were to go back to Thailand again.