PHUKET

Arrived here at 1.00am after a long flight from Frankfurt. But the next morning we were up for a breakfast in Shark Restaurant – outdoors, undercover and warm and breezy. The weather again was fine [cloudy really with patches of sun] which was quite remarkable given (a) the humidity levels and (b) the fact that Phuket was still experiencing the rainy end of the monsoon season.

The beach at Karon was quiet – no surf to speak of but gentle waves and a breeze. Despite its being the ‘off-season’ there were still largish numbers of people on the beach. Getting there I had to run the gauntlet of the Indian boys trying to entice interest in a time share [I think]. They were very  very unimpressed, when after about 20 minutes of fake excitement on their part, I turned down their offer of a ‘major prize’ and a tuk-tuk trip to see their Paradise Hotel [or whatever it was called!].

Karon Beach and the Old Phuket Resort. A great place to stay – quiet easily accessible and close to all the amenities and restaurants a tourist could want.

One morning I spent an hour walking the streets just looking – not in NZ would you see anyone filling up a motorbike fuel tank with petrol from a glass bottle. OSH would likely have something to say about that.  But like the previous day, the weather was very humid – and changes of clothes were required at least twice over the course of the day.

A trip on our last night to Fantasea meant a road trip – not very far but about 45 minutes in travelling time through Karon to Patong Beach and on to Fantasea. Like Gold Coast’s Dreamworld in a way, this was an environment for kids and spending. Still amazingly warm and with little to interest enjoying the many gimmicks and shows that festooned the ‘streets’ of the town. It was an impressive event – the dinner was probably worth the 400 baht each but drinks were expensive [as would be expected]. The show auditorium catered for 3000 people [and it was pretty much full] and while it was spectacular and included some highly trained elephants doing elephant ‘tricks’ it was probably less absorbing than other shows we had seen [in Macau and China] on previous overseas trips. However, the kids were enthralled.

The next morning was another early start. And this time a 1 hr drive to the airport to catch a flight to Bangkok.