09/02/2010 Phuket Town & around

We got up and found some breakfast at a reasonable price about 120 baht each for bacon eggs toast juice and coffee so that’s ok. We than busted a deal on a scooter supposedly 300 baht a day but got it for 200. Well that was all well and good until about 15 minutes later. When we hired the bike she only had one helmet and said that’s ok you don’t have to wear helmets. I gave the helmet to Tracey to make her feel safer. Off we went and made the decision at the end of the block to turn left and there was a local police patrol and yes we got pulled over, and were informed that the driver has to wear a helmet but it doesn’t matter if the passengers head gets smashed in an accident. Obviously we tried to talk our way out of this one but it was “make money out of tourist day” and he fined me 300 Baht and if it was not paid by 3.00pm that day they would be looking for us. Seeing as we thought the motel was overpriced I did consider it may be a good option to not pay the fine and get a free night in jail but seeing as Tracey did not want to commit any crimes so she could end up in jail as well it would not be an acceptable option.

So off we went to pay the fine. The police station was set up to take all the money off the tourists for their fines. I met another Aussie guy paying his 300 baht fine for parking in the wrong place. After we had made our Police donation we headed off on our expensive bike hire. We cruised off to the actual town of Phuket to check out the sites. Nothing too exciting. We went into Old Phuket Town and they did have some old buildings. We checked them out and bought a local fruit ice block as it was really hot and I mean searing hot, you had to walk on the shady side of the road or you were frying. We stopped for a cool drink in a really trendy little shop which was owned by a really nice lady who was actually Thai but she could speak Italian as well as English and Thai. Her shop was really nice with great cakes coffee etc. She was very helpful and suggested we check out this other beach that was less busy and probably cheaper. Her idea of being less busy was only slightly correct. We checked it out as well as some cheaper accommodation and made the decision that Phuket is way overpriced and sucks so we were outta there. Went back and booked some boat tickets To Phi Phi. Well seeing as we could not get any contacts to book a room we had to go with the agent in Phuket and cost us 2,000 a night way over budget but we had heard good things about Phi Phi so we took the rooms.

We had dinner at a nice restaurant and grabbed a couple of beers from 7 / 11 and went down to the beach to listen to the free music blaring from the bars opposite and to watch people launch flying lanterns. They try and sell them to you but we just watched everyone else fly theirs. They fly for ages. Cruised the strip and headed home.

SO IN SUMMARY PHUKET SUCKS. It’s overpriced, the beaches are ok but you have to fight your way through the millions of umbrellas. IF YOU WANT TO GO AND GET SMASHED I GUESS IT WOULD BE OK BUT THE DRINKS WERE BASICALLY AUSSIE PRICE. *** SO DON’T GO THERE UNLESS YOU WIN THE TRIP***

Bel Aire Resort, 59/1-3 Sainamyen Road, Patong Beach, Kathu, Phuket (1800 Bt)