If it wasn't for the strength of the pound all these crooks would have us bankrupt by now, but fortunately the money we have been ripped off isn't that much.

We found a nice hotel just up the road for 10quid a night - bargain - so we decided to stay for 2! To give us time to figure out where to go next.

March 14
As there is not much going on in Phuket town we decided to catch a bus to one of the beaches. We were meant to go to Kata but ended up in Karon as there were no signs in English. As it turned out the dive shop we were going to look for in Kata, was actually just where we got off the bus in Karon - very lucky!
We preceded to book 5 more dives for the weekend - 2 on Sat, 3 on Sun. We wandered round the town of Karon, which is where we had agreed to meet Dan on Monday. This is very much tourist central, as for the last week we have been the "only whites in the village" and now the only Thais are the ones selling stuff to the thousands of Germans, Ozzies and English.
We found our hotel and it was really nice so we decided to make it our home for a whole 6 nights!
After all this hard work we decided to relax and have a few cold beers/cocktails and food in one of the many bars near the sea front.

To get back to Phuket town we realised the buses had stopped, due to us spending too much time in the bar. Instead of bartering a "tuk tuk" taxi James managed to get us a lift in a spacious air con van, from a tour operator who had dropped his clients off and was returning back to base in the town. For his hospitality James gave him 1.50 pound - Bargain!! (By the look on his face we dont know if he thought this was generous or a joke!) So we quicly walked away and into the nearest shop.

March 15
We got up and packed our rucksacks once again - which we are now becoming experts at! We left the hotel with a clear idea of where we were going and how we would get there - for once, except unlike the day before, we had big rucksacks to carry in the blistering midday sun across town to the bus stop next to the stinking fish market.
After our local bus journey on what only can be described as an open back truck with bench seats and cost us a whopping 40p each, we reached the coast, and our new home.

The prospect of staying somewhere for a while, without having to figure out how to travel to the next place, where to stay and pack the bloomin rucksack is good!
After settling in we went for a stroll down to the beach front. Which is where the tsunami hit in 2004. It seems as though they are in full swing back to getting every penny out of the tourists.

For our evening meal we decided to eat in the Cafe/restaurant of our hotel, as it has a soup and salad bar, which looked well nice! Trace had swordfish - cooked to perfection. I had Duck in BBQ Orange sauce - the whole meal was lush!

March 16
Went downstairs for a buffet breakfast, which again was well tasty - I'm going to enjoy staying here! I had scrambled egg with shrimp and a full brekkie - with cereal at long last -Spot on!

Trace went to have her legs and stuff waxed. It was the most painful experience of my life!! They dont use hot wax here and think it hurt more putting the cold sticky wax on than it did ripping it off - ouch!

We headed on a "tuk tuk" (not like the ones in India - here they are more like mini trucks and have 4 wheels) to the next town along, Patong Beach. My goodness we thought Karon Beach was a tourist trap - this place is awful! It has loads of tacky bars and touristy shops galore. James a bit gutted as the Billabong T-shirt he bought in Singapore (from a "proper shop") is now every where we look and fake! Plus much cheaper, so it looks like he's wearing a rip off!!
Anyway getting sidetracked. We headed here for the dive shop. After being in the shop for over an hour trying on boots and fins and looking at dive computers. We had to make an exit to the internet cafe to take a closer look at finances then thought "sod it", went back into the shop and bought fins each, boots each and a dive computer!
After this we went to a nearby bar for a stiff drink! We wandered the streets for a bit looking in the artwork shops, trying hard not to spend any more money on paintings.
We headed back to our hotel for a quiet drink and food.

March 17
It was an early start as our pick up was at 8.30am for diving. We were on the boat by 9.30 am. We had a crazy instructor with us - she also found the tiniest things to show us in the water. most of the time we just nodded our heads and showed the "OK" sign but didn't have a clue what she was pointing at!
James wore the Dive computer for the first time - and it worked!
The first dive was great. James' ears were better than ever and we saw an 12 foot long Shark! Well....... we all thought it was a shark as it had a fin and was huge, made our hearts pound when it swam round us, but to our disappointment on the surface they told us it was only a Guitar Ray ( a cross between a shark and a ray). Whatever!
The second dive we were by a wall reef with loads of fish and coral. This time we did see a shark! It was a Bamboo Shark - granted it was only about 50 cm long - It was still a Shark!

By the time we got back tothe hotel (around 4.30pm) we were shattered and passed out on the bed. Only woken by the phone ringing (thanks Malc!) We were then ready for dinner. We tried hard to get in the spirit of St Patricks day by having a few drinks and watching Ireland whip Italy's butt! We tried very hard to stay awake for the England match but woke up when it was all over so don'teven know the score - or do we want to know?

March 18
Another early start, pick up at 8.30 am. Today the dive boat was full of Japanese! We had three dives today all slightly different with loads of different fish - scorpion, lion, stone, yellow trumpet and more!
On a wreck james spotted a tiny Snake/eel thing. It was about 10am long and about 3mm wide and the same colour as the stuff it was lying on. I think he was showing off as now he had found stuff to de-fog his mask he could actually see stuff!
We are now getting better with our air and not breathing too much, we can last much longer than some of the others on the dive. Both of us are coming up with the same amount of air. James is a little greedier as he starts with a 15 litre tank and I only have a 12 litre, but it means we can see much more!

Again we were shattered so went back for a bit of a siesta (well I did!). We went downstairs for dinner as couldn't be bothered to walk any further!

March 19
Woke up at our leisure this morning - bliss! James went for his hair cut. Better than my experience in Malaysia, but not as good as I cut it! He now has a tan line - around his neck where the girl cut it so short using a razor blade.

We went for a walk along the beach front in the heat of the day - boy its really hot here!
We met up with Dan - old uni mate of James - and 6 of his aussie mates for lunch and few beers. They proved straight away they were a lively bunch and knew we'd have some fun over the next few days!
We went out for dinner. A couple of lads had the biggest prawns we've ever seen - they were more like lobsters!

Cheers Dan

March 20
We got in touch with Dan after breakfast to find out that 1 of the lads didn't get back until 11am, and another was still unaccounted for!
We spent the day at the beach, sunning ourselves - finally! James waited all day for the sun to lose a bit of heat, walked back to the hotel to get 1000Baht and his camera so he could go on a Jetski, only to find out the price had gone up by 500Baht and he couldn't afford it - Gutted!
We met the lads for evening dinner and found out the missing lad had got back at 2.30pm. They had been partying and clubbing all the way through the night and morning and couldn't remember where he was staying - nutcases!! The majority of our group all decided to try the giant prawns - they were well good!
After dinner we jumped into a Tuk Tuk straight back to Patong Beach, to start another night very similar to the one before. This time We left with Dan at 2am, leaving the other guys carrying on.

March 21
We spent the day with Dan on an organised day trip. We drove to a Temple with caves and monkeys. The monkeys were eating bananas out of the tourists hands. We then went on a long tail boat which raced us through the mangroves. The large engine that was propelling us was so loud you couldn't talk to the person sat next to you!
The next form of transport we took were sea canoes - which were inflatable more like a long thin rubber dinghy! A guide paddled us around the unusual Thai coast in and out of small and large caves. To get into some of the caves we had to lie flat in the canoe to fit through the gaps between the water and the cave ceiling.

How Close?

Floating Muslim Fishing Village

March 22
First job of the day was to pack our rucksack - we haven't had to do for a while! We checked out of our hotel and walked up the road 3 doors and checked into our new hotel.
All the lads left at midday to go to Phi Phi Island to continue their holiday, unfortunately we couldn't go with them as we have to get to Bangkok tomorrow. We won't be able to witness them causing carnage there!

We headed to the place where we could get ourselves a full massage. One hour later,a bottle of oil, some twisting and contorting and a lot of slapping, we emerged kind of ok and as good as new.
We got a tuk tuk to the art galleries at Patong, withthe intention of finding one we both agreed on in the thousands of paintings on offer. 2 hours later we emerged, after haggling, with 3 paintings. Trace was gutted as she saw a painting of a lion fish when she went by in a taxi a couple of days ago only to find afteran hour of searching for it, it to be half lion fish and half mermaid with her boobs out - not amused!

We got a tuk tuk back to Karon Beach and went for some food. We decided that we hadn't spent enough today so we shared a Thai green curry and a Lobster Thermidor. The curry was very hot and Lobster delicious!

March 23
Trace headed to the beach on her own to try and top her tan up a bit. James hid from the sun by going back to the gallery as the picture he picked had not been finished and they were finishing it through the night.
We went for lunch for the last time at Karon Cafe (where we stayed for a week) for a dirty burger and steak sandwich - Lush!

Taxi picked us up and we headed to the airport - our first plane journey in 4 weeks!

written by  James & Tracey on March 13, 2007 from Phuket, Thailand
from the travel blog: James & Tracey World Tour
Send a Compliment

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we want more! we want more! what you up to? Where you at?

written by  Megan Hunt on March 21, 2007

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There you go Megan!

written by  James & Tracey on March 22, 2007

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Cool - were they on the SangTip? I remember a very long night/day after drink that Thai Whiskey!!

written by  Megan Hunt on March 22, 2007

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