Beaches

We arrived at Phuket airport around 4pm. We didn't have a hotel booked and ended up spending a couple of hours with a tour agency trying to sort out a room as well as trying to find out info about visiting nearby islands. Everything just seemed like such hard work! We got a taxi to the airport as I was just really tired and feeling unwell and wanted to lie down. We headed for the Kata beach area.

The taxi driver didn't speak English and didn't know where the hotel was. He had to stop 3 times to ask for directions. When he did find out where the hotel was he didn't even take us to the front door. He parked nearby, dumped our luggage on the roadside and drove off, leaving Reena to have to carry it all. Reena went to get help from the hotel reception. We checked in and I climbed into bed and didn't move for a while. We were glad the room was nice and comfy.

After showering we went to get some dinner. I ordered a pizza but only managed to eat one slice. I couldn't handle the burning sensation. I left Reena eating and went back to the hotel to lie down. I felt quite weak.

The next day I didn't get out of bed either (only to go to the bathroom). Reena went out to explore and kept coming back to check on me. Even drinking water was hard work for me as I just kept getting a burning sensation every time I drank. I took my tablets as advised by the doctor, but it felt like they were just adding to the pain! Reena ordered dinner to be brought up to the room. I had soup and tried to eat most of it.

The next day I decided I wasn't going to stay in bed and was up for going to the beach. We walked there slowly after having tea & toast in the room. I didn't bother putting on my bikini as I wasn't up to going in the water. The water was so blue and the sand golden. We hired some sun loungers, it was quite hot, so we were glad we had a parasol. We just relaxed. It was nice to be away from the hotel room, even though it just meant lying elsewhere! We ordered some fresh fruit juices to drink. We stayed at the beach for a couple of hours before heading back to the hotel.

We went out for dinner that evening and I was feeling really hungry, but I stuck to soup. Re had a nice big platter of prawns. Unfortunately her stomach wasn’t too good and every time she shat down to eat she’d have to run off to the bathroom soon afterwards!

The next day we decided to have a pamper & beauty day. We went to a beautician near our hotel with a list of things we wanted done. We’d arranged it all the night before and were told to turn up at 1pm. Little did we know how long we’d be spending there. We left after 8pm! I had waxing done of my arms & legs, a pedicure and my hair straightened. Re had her hair coloured, a manicure & pedicure with her nails done. She was done before me. The waxing took ages because they were using cold wax. I even told them to heat it up, but they wouldn’t listen, so it took them about 4 hours to get all the hairs out. I was so glad I was lying down for most of it as I would not have been able to cope sitting for that long as I was feeling weak. They gave me some lemon, honey & ginger teas which was quite good for me. We only had breakfast, we missed lunch, so were starving by the time we left. We ended up in a restaurant with a live band. It was a good atmosphere and some people even danced. It was our last night in Kata, we were going to patong beach tomorrow. It’s one of the main touristy beaches of Phuket and very busy.

So the next day we packed up and got a taxi to the hotel at Patong. We were about a 10-15 min walk from Bangla Rd, which is the party street, so we were glad to have some peace and quiet. Although when we checked in we realised there was a mosque behind the hotel and we wondered if we would be woken up by the morning prayer call. Luckily we didn’t hear anything. The room was nice, we even had a balcony, not that there was a view, only another hotel opposite us. We checked in and went for a wander. I was feeling better and wanted to spend less time resting. I still wasn’t eating properly, but was trying to drink as much water as possible. We stopped off at a juice bar, where we discovered dragon fruit. I had never heard of it or tried it. Reena got a shake with it. I stuck to mango & banana, as I wasn’t sure if my stomach would be able to handle anything else. I even had trouble with that & Reena had to drink it for me. I still had the burning feeling, which was very annoying!

We went into shops to buy some beach wear. I wanted a bikini as I didn’t have one. After wandering in a few we ended up at a travel agents to see what we could do besides sitting on the beach. We found a 3 day jungle trip to Khao Sok that we liked the look of. So we booked that and also an evening event called Fantasea, which is a show trying to give an overview of Thailand, set in a type of theme park without the rides. They use elephants for part of the show.

After the booking we went back to the hotel to freshen up and head out for dinner. We came out to Bangla Road to take in the atmosphere. We saw some lady boys. It was very busy round here, as it is where most of the bars and restaurants are. We weren't sure where to eat, we had a look at our options and found a restaurant round the corner on the road facing the beach. The food was yummy, I managed to eat something other than soup, woo-hoo! We were really hungry and ordered far too much, but we made a good attempt at it all. We had a bit of a walk after dinner and then got the equivalent of a rickshaw (songthaew) back to the hotel.

The next day, after breakfast, we went to the beach. We had a nice walk along it from near our hotel to the main spot where we hired some sun beds and chilled out. We both went for a paddle in the waves and just relaxed for a few hours. For lunch we went to a cafe nearby and then walked back to the hotel via some shops. We walked through a food market area and tried some thai type desserts. They were cocunut cakes. We watched the lady make them fresh and we got a batch to take back to the hotel. They were really nice, not too sweet.

It was Xmas eve and we were planning to party later. So we thought we'd get some rest before heading out. We got ready and got a rickshaw down to the big shopping centre. there wer xmas lights and decorations up so we took some photos and went to find a nice restaurant. We ended up in a small pub type place. So we ordered some drinks with the meal. I had gin and Reena had JD. After dinner we went on a bar crawl. It was still early. We had a club to go to but didn't want to go til later. We also wanted to check out all the clubs to see which one we liked best. We ended up going to the place we had tickets for as we didn't like the look of the others. It wasn't too bad, not full, but enough people. We were given santa hats upon entry, which we wore for a while until welost them. The music was good and it got busier as the night went on. I stopped drinking by this point as it was burning. i'd only had 2 gins. I let Reena drink for me. We bumped into the travel agent Som & his friend Po. We joined them and had a good night boogeying.

Unfortunately Reena slipped on the wet floor & went splat!She really scared me the way she fell. She fell on her knee and hurt it and her right wrist. I said to her to go to the hospital, but she said no and that she needed to bandage up her wrist. So I went to the reception to ask them if they had a first aid kit. No such luck, they had plasters and some bandage type sheets, but not a bandage. So I took the sheets and tape and stuck together as many of the sheets as possible with Reena's help so we could use it as a bandage. It would do for now. I definitely had one in my first aid kit, so it was only to hold in place until we got back to the hotel. Reena insisted she was fine and that she couldn't feel any pain at the moment as she had been drinking, but she knew she would feel it tomorrow.

We stayed a while longer at the club and then decided we should go home. I got a rickshaw to take us. Back at the hotel we needed an ice pack. Luckily the guy on reception was able to get us some. Up in the room I gave Reena my bandage to put on. She applied the ice pack and was in a lot of pain, poor thing.

The next day we didn't do much. We had a lie in, relaxed and wandered about. Reena's knee had a big bruise on it and she had to take it slow. It was Xmas day and it was weird to be in a hot place. We both called our families.

The next day we went to the beach again and just chilled on the sun loungers. We were both chatty and having a laugh and people watching. We didn’t stay too long as we had the show to go to in the evening and pick up was around 5.30pm. We didn’t have to worry about dinner as there was a buffet restaurant on site that we were going to. It was about a 30 min drive from our hotel near to Kamala beach. It was like a theme park without the rides. There were lots of statues, souvenir shops and decor. The actual show took place in a huge building that looked like a palace and temple combined. The grounds were big and you could ride on an elephant.

We were greeted by women dressed in traditional Thai costume & jewellery. We collected our tickets and then wandered around the grounds taking photos. Inside there was a huge hall where the buffet was held. There was so much food and many different types of cuisine not just Thai food. I managed to eat a few things, I was on the mend! I tried a little bit of everything. The desserts section was fab, so many little cakes. We both enjoyed our meal.

We were then led to the theatre to watch the show. We had seats quite near the front, which was good. The show tried to give the audience an insight into Thailand’s culture and traditions. There was singing, comedy, drama, magic tricks, dancing, myths & legends being told and performing elephants. We enjoyed the show, but were concerned about the elephants being used to entertain.

The next day we sorted out our rucsacs for the jungle. We decided it would be easier to use just one so we'd pack away stuff in the other that we wouldn't need. We'd be leaving early next morning so got things sorted out, had an early dinner and an early night. We went to have dinner at the Royal Paradise Hotel as the restaurant was high up and gave a good view for sunset and the sea. The food was yummy as well.

Early next morning we had breakfast and set off to go to Khao Sok. It took a couple of hours to drive there. We had a whole minibus to ourselves, so we spread out and enjoyed the ride.