Back from Phuket, Thailand

I'm back from my 3-night, 4-day trip to Phuket and i want to post a couple of thoughts before i forget. i took around 200 photos. now starts the random, rapid release of my thoughts on my recent trip ...

so many Toyotas. being a Japanese manufacturer we don't see many toyotas here in Korea but in phuket there are toyotas everywhere. tacomas, carollas, camerys and so on.

so many dogs. everywhere you traveled there'd be a dog just prancing around, crossing a busy street, sleeping on foot steps, or sitting in baskets (photo coming soon)! they seemed pretty harmless and very independent. none looked abused or malnourished and i wondered where they were getting their food. some dogs had proper collars (indicating ownership?) but were still roaming free.

Phuket reminded me of the Caribbean island called St. Martin (or Sint Maarten for those of us that stayed on the Dutch side). dirty and beachy and exotic. my sister used to live there and when i was younger i visited her there. no matter how far inland you go on Phuket you still can feel the beachy feeling. people wearing flip flops and sarongs and western sun-burned red faces. you are never far away from the beach on the island of Phuket. the place is pretty dirty; many major thoroughfares were dirt roads and little shacks and haphazard huts can be spotted everywhere. transportation of all kinds share the same skinny, hilly and winding roads. there would be people walking, unhelmeted mo-ped riders (often holding kids while riding), cars, tuk-tuks (3-wheeled taxi), toyotas of all kinds, trucks packed with laborers, and the slow moving and loud local buses called sawngthaew (open-air taxi-truck which reminds me of a hay ride) all making their way to and fro.

coming out of the Phuket airport (and hotel, and really, anywhere else along the tourist shopping streets) you can expect to be solicited by taxi drivers that offer rides to your hotel, to the next beach town, to Phuket Town (equivalent concept: "downtown") or where ever else. in fact, the thing i spent the most money on was taxi while staying on Phuket and that is because, while it is possible to walk from beach town to beach town (e.g. Kata, Karon, Patong, and so on), it is rather unsafe since the roads are not that accommodating and since the terrain is rather mountainous - not flat and straight. from kata to phuket town - 350 Baht (~$9.27). from central festival shopping mall to phuket town - 150 Baht (~$3.97). from kata to patong - 250 Baht (~$6.62). the all day taxi rental is the way to go at 300 Baht (~$7.94) per hour with a minimum of 3 hour rental. the pushy taxi solicitation was alarming at first then amusing, then down right irritating.

common scam includes being (unknowingly) taken/driven to the gem stone factory which hand out free petrol stamps to any driver who brings them tourists. the tourist gets dropped off wondering what's going on, then the tourist is told by the taxi/moped driver to go inside for a few minutes and to return for their ride to their intended destination. the tourist goes inside, listens to boring gem stone solicitation then comes out to find that their taxi/moped transportation has left without them. this didn't happen to me but happened to many of the tourists that I met there.

thai honking mannerisms are quite different from koreans. they make a ~very~ quick, light tap of the horn. for example, if a taxi driver thinks a moped is in the way or taking too much room on the side of the road or moving too slow, they will ever so slightly tap the horn as they pass. this is unlike korea where the drivers lay on the horn heavy and hard and for a long time.

the weather was beautiful, the skies were blue and the water was warm and the people were friendly. I had a good time in Phuket, but it was such a short visit that I hardly feel like I got to know the country / culture but I did experience many things and I am very proud that I accomplished my goal: to travel to a foreign country by myself. I was surprised that I made friends with many people while I was there: a German, an Australian family, a Tasmanian couple, a Norwegian group, and ... finally a cute and friendly American guy from Maryland - we hit it off well but i blew it ...

his name was Brad. we were actually seated next to each other on the plane from Bangkok to Phuket and had a nice two hour long conversation where i established some important facts: he has a job and is not married and is intelligent and friendly and has a good disposition and a nice personality. but we went different ways after arriving at the airport (i had to go to baggage claim and had my own transportation to my hotel; he was staying at a different hotel nearby). when we happened to bump into each other by chance later that same day i could have joined him for dinner after he said that he was eating alone but instead i said, "have a nice dinner. i'm going back to my room to eat" OMG - what a jerk i am! what can i say? i'm not used to dating and taking risks (especially on guys) and i'm also kinda old-fashioned and don't want to seem easy or pushy. if i had that moment to do again i'd ask if he wanted company and i would have had dinner with him. he was tall, cute, and had blue eyes as well as all the other things i mentioned above. oh well. you live and you learn!

the saturday i was there, saturday September 16th, there were bombings in Hat Yai in southern Tailand near the Malaysian border. No group has officially claimed responsibility but news has connected them to Islamic insurgencies in that region. A 29 year old Canadian English teacher was one of the 4 fatalities. I was not near this location but I was happy to be going back home to Korea.

some highlights of my trip include:

• staying at the beautiful Kata Beach Resort right on the beach with the following amenities that were important to me:


• free breakfast buffet with tons of breads, fruits, juices, cereals, breakfast meats and veggies and waffles and eggs and so on (kimchi too!)


• use of beach towels (i packed my own but wish i hadn't so that i could have more room in luggage)


• you can drop your key off at the front desk when you go swimming so that you don't have to worry about theft.


• if you get up early enough, you can reserve one of the lounge chairs that face the beach (not on the beach but just as good a view). you better believe i was in one of those lounges every day! the bad part was that they were paired in twos and i was odd man out and usually my neighboring chair went unclaimed, so i think all the late coming couples (newlyweds no doubt) sneered at me but i didn't care b/c it was my vacation too! hello? try the wake up call and get your ass out of bed if you want to catch the worm people!


• 2 complimentary bottles of water each day. (the water pumped through the pluming system is thailand is not potable)


• being lazy and sun bathing under the bright sun, blue skies and listening to the rolling waves and the chirping, melodious birds (i think they are called The Blue Whistling Thrush - photo coming soon) and reading and people watching and swimming in the pool and taking a walk along the ocean's edge.


• the bus ride to/from Phuket Town. It was so cheap - 25 Baht (~$.66) each way (10 miles) and depending on the driver's demeanor you can get there in anywhere from 45 mins to 1 hour and 15 minutes. riding the local bus was important to me as i felt better connected to the culture and could get a closer understanding of the way of life for the locals on the island.


• Sunday Market at Phuket Town. I enjoyed this even though i bought two things that ended up not fitting - there are no fitting rooms so you have to guess or be skinny and i didn't do either of those things well. but i was happy to give the board shorts that i bought for myself to the girl from the Australian family that i met at the hotel. the Australian mom and i went to the market together. and the other thing was a pair of elephant-print pants that i bought for my sister but they didn't fit me and she and i are similarly sized so they will have to be creatively used for something else - socks perhaps? ha ha ha


• Phuket Fantasea - this was like an Elephant Show, a variety act, circus show, acrobatics show and so on all rolled into one grand performance. prior to the show they had elephant rides and photo opps. with baby tigers. i managed to find the only other single there that day and we hung out for the few hours we had to kill before the show. he was from Germany and i really enjoyed meeting him.


• Wat Chalong - the largest Buddhist temple in Phuket. this was an interesting experience. there were many rituals and traditions being practiced but there were no tourist guides or facts sheets to explain the meaning of such practices. luckily there was a dos and don'ts list which i promptly read. don't pat anyone (such as a cute and friendly kid) on the head as the head is considered the highest, cleanest part of the body, cleaner than the hands. (how do they play duck-duck-goose? just kidding)


• foot massage! omg. heaven. i only got the half hour foot massage for 150 Baht (~$3.97) because i couldn't imagine my feet being massaged for one hour. now i can.