Posted on

Thailand – Day 10 (Patong, Phuket)

I woke up to the sound of waves crashing on shore and pulled back the curtains to a gorgeous sunny day. Finally! After coffee and breakfast I spent most of the day bouncing between the beach, the pool, and my balcony. My fingers were pretty much prunes the whole day. Since it wasn’t raining, I actually got to see a sunset here which was pretty nice. Then I walked over to the nighttime clubbing district, Bangla Walking Street, and was overwhelmed by the crowd and bars and lights and people advertising “ping pong shows” (no, thanks) and various types of drink specials and gambling. It was all a bit overwhelming, kinda like the Vegas strip, so I continued on to the big mall right down the street from there and watched their water fountain show while eating ice cream. I touched on it a bit before yesterday, but I can’t help but notice that blackouts seem pretty common here. Although with the way their electrical wiring is here I’m surprised the entire island hasn’t caught fire every time there’s a firm gust of wind. I made my way back to the hotel to pack up for my trip to Bangkok tomorrow, but tonight is the Patong full moon music festival which they have every month during tourist season starting in November so it’s SUPER noisy outside even at this late hour. I’m not going to say I don’t like Patong, I just wish I had come here about 15 years ago…10 years ago even, when I actually enjoyed clubbing and partying and stuff. Now, it’s just kind of annoying. I prefer Krabi, by far, at this age.

Posted on

Thailand – Day 9 (Phuket)

Today was a super, super lazy day. Partly due to the weather, rain and storms kept moving in and out all day. It wasn’t too bad in the morning so after coffee and breakfast I walked the length of the beach (no shells in Patong, but the beach sand has so much silica it sparkles like glitter) and watched the various beach sports going on for a bit. So, so, so many ill-fitting banana hammocks my god this beach is totally different from Krabi.

I went back to the hotel and jumped in the pool and read my book while sunbathing for a while. Some storms rolled in, so I went up to my room, and when they passed I got some food and did some shopping while dodging the overly aggressive souvenir shop people. Look, I can take heckling but draw the line at touching. Once a lady grabbed my arm to show me some cheap thing in her booth I shrugged her off and left entirely to another area where the sales people were more respectful. One thing I noticed here that’s kinda scary, the power lines are just massive tangled messes that constantly buzz and pop. They aren’t even high up, you could just reach up and grab them in some places. Super dangerous.

Another round of storms rolled in, so I went back to the hotel and farted around on the internet and played video games for the rest of the day. I was thinking of booking a tour or something for tomorrow, but I kinda liked just laying around the pool and on the beach so I might just do that again. Not many photos since I kept my phone at the hotel most of the day to avoid it getting wet.

Posted on

Thailand – Day 8 (off to Phuket!)

The weather finally decided to turn rainy so I slept in and watched Red vs. Blue on Netflix for a while before getting up during a break in the rain to slowly trudge over to Starbucks down the street for some caffeine. I repacked my bags and got ready for my trip to Phuket, then read my book until the taxi arrived. The driver seemed nice enough, but he brought his wife with him and I think they were having an argument because they didn’t say more than 10 words to each other the entire drive and she would glare at him and he adjusted the rear-view mirror so he couldn’t see me and I couldn’t see him. It was weird, and I wondered if it was because I was a solo female traveler, but whatever…his aggressive driving got me to Phuket half an hour early. I checked in to my hotel in Patong, which happens to be directly across the street from the Jet Ski rental place. I need to find someone to go with me, I’m paranoid about it breaking down and drifting out to sea or something but I want to go so bad! I sat on my big balcony at the hotel watching the storms roll in and out for a while, then started walking looking for food. Right around the corner I ran into a Hooters, and to be honest they really do have good wings so I stopped and got a pina colada drink and wings. Then I ran into the first Irish pub I’ve seen since Paris and stopped in for a pint of Magners, which is really the worst of all the ciders but still better than beer. It’s kinda racist, but the people they had outside trying to lure people in were dressed up as leprechauns. I laughed, because that shit’s funny, and they seemed to be having a really fun time harassing the tourists. It was raining pretty heavily by the time I finished my drink, so I threw on a poncho and walked back to the hotel. I have nothing scheduled for tomorrow, perhaps another “do nothing” day is in order?