The Adventures of Doug and Bec: Thailand

Plane ride to Phuket was fairly basic as we flew with Air Asia again but luckily this time we had a bit better seating and people around us... ie; no people that take up their seat and half of yours! The KL to Phuket flight was fairly empty so Bec and I had a row to ourselves which was a good change.

We arrived in Phuket to fine very efficient and quick entry. We filled out a little form with out names etc and then headed through passport check where they hardly even looked at them and did not bother taking out finger prints like they are meant to, and customs was non-existent. We were greeted by the shuttle bus that the hotel we had booked organised for us and headed down to Patong.

The hotel we stayed at was the Royal Crown Hotel, and for about $18 a night we had a large room with pool view which had free wifi, free bottled water and a shuttle bus to the shops/beach and back every 2 hours (the hotel was a 15 minute walk from the beach)

We headed down to the beach after checking in. The beach was one of the best we had seen and for once free from litter (Vietnam was disgusting for rubbish on the beaches). The water was unfortunately about 30 degrees, so it was like getting into a bath and not real refreshing!

One thing we did notice about Patong is the fact that everything was fairly expensive... It is the low season so rooms were fairly cheap, but the food and activities were so much more than Vietnam and Cambodia. Dinner on the first night was at a Thai place in the centre of town and worked out to be about a $15 meal, where in Vietnam meals were more like $5-$10. After doing some reading up on the area we understand that Patong is the most expensive place in Thailand due to the amount of tourist here... Patong also lived up to its reputation of Ladyboys - which we noticed hanging around the front of many of the bars!

Day two in Patong we decided to relax... We ended up having a swim in the pool and read a book... after so much travelling we needed a bit of a break and it was a nice place to have a rest as the hotel was probably the most comfortable one we have had. We headed back to the centre of town in the evening for some dinner and a look around the shops.

Day three in Patong Bec and I parted ways for some of the day as she headed south in a taxi to go horse riding on the beach while i headed down to the beach for a swim and did a bit of fruit shopping as we were feeling a bit fruit deprived after going from Vietnam and Cambodia where every meal is ended with a plate of fruit, to Patong where it was seemingly scarce. Bec enjoyed her horse riding but was a little disappointing in the beach that they went to as it was low tide and the water was a long way out, definitely not the beach they had on the brochure of the horse riding!

Day four in Patong we headed down to the beach for the day and hired two banana chairs with umbrellas for 200 Baht (ie; $6.60) The weather was a bit touch and go with some showers but we had a few periods of sun and got some swimming and reading in. The owner of the banana chairs brought us drinks and offered food throughout the day and we found a small kebab stand and had some amazing cheap kebabs for lunch. I can definitely recommend the food stalls over some of the restaurants for meals in Patong... not jut for price but for the taste of the food. The kebab man used 5 sauces on each kebab and talked me through what each one was and how he prepares his chicken. (as I am writing this we are back in Patong and hopefully i find him again!)

Toward the end of the day we booked a ferry ride to the nearby island of Koh Phi Phi for the following morning. The hotel quotes us 600 baht per person but a local tourist office gave us tickets on the same boat (inc transfer to the dock from out hotel - about 30 km) for 300 baht per person... so definitely worth bargaining.