Day 4 – 7: Patong Beach, Phucket

Before Fishy (movie link)

After Fishy (movie link)

BANGLA ROAD (movie link – taken by Wendy)

BANGLA ROAD 2 (movie link – taken by Don)

Hi everyone,

Day 4-7

We flew from Bangkok to Phuket.  We loaded in a packed minibus with other tourists bound to the sinful Patong Beach for 150 Bhat each (around $5).  It was a 45 mn trip through hills and modest mountains to the beach resort town.

Patong was nuts.  We chose it due to its beach and nightlife.  Boy…if I was 20 years old again and a boy with a very high alcohol tolerance and high testosterone, then this would be ‘the’ place to be.  Ultimately, it is a beach with a seedy underbelly and crazy nightlife.  Clubs, “beer bars”, ping pong shows – and I DO NOT mean the game…(look this up if you need to know).

The highlights:

• Wonderful Seafood!  The Savoey Restaurant is amazing.  We ate fish fried in sweet chili sauce here and it was to die for.

• Bangla Road.  For the love of god, this is the Las Vegas of streets in Thailand.  Buildings with girlie bars, nightclubs, everyone out to sell you something everywhere you walk.  “Madame, you like leather?  You like watches, you like Ping Pong??? Meester, you need tailor?  You need Fisho Spa? Meester, Tuk tuk?  Ping Pong???  Massaaaaage???  Fun until you get annoyed with it on the 2nd & 3rd day.  We were asked about 50 times in one night if we wanted to see a Ping Pong Show.  We almost did out of sheer curiousity our last night there until Don got very sick with high temperatures due to some type of food poisoning. [PLEASE see the movies here…you won’t understand until you see them…PLEASE do not let young kids watch this part.]

• Tailors!  We found a great tailor at “Lucky’s”.  Our salesman ‘Nick’ helped us choose our fabrics and styles.  Nice guy.  When I went to pick up the clothing at the last fitting on our last night there (while Don was throwing up in the hotel room…) he took me out to find raman for his sickness ..down an alley, where obviously the Raman man hangs out…and he paid for it, which was super nice.  His comment to me:  ” Your husband, very nice man.  He treated me like a person and not just some worker. You have good man.”  Me: “Yes, he’s wonderful, I’m a lucky woman.  I hope he’s still alive when I get back.”  After a few more changes to the clothing in the wee hours of the night he actually had the clothing delivered to our hotel room lobby at 11pm.  Definitely nice to be nice to everyone….[ah yes, I had 3 skirts and 2 dresses made in linen and Don had 5 button downs made to his body type which looked amazing.  They will keep our sizes & swatches of the materials we chose so we can order them again if we wish]

• Tour of Phuket!  We hired a car for 1000 Bhat for 5 hours (US $32).  This was the best thing we could have done.  Our driver who wanted us to know he was Muslim, took us in an air conditioned mini van all around the island.  Here is our itinerary (we could have done more, but we kept it simple)

1) BIG BHUDDA up on the hill overlooking all of Phuket island.  Impressive, lots of dead looking cats (due to the heat).  We have a lot of ‘dead’ cat photos.  (they are so hot they barely move)

2) Elephant Riding.  We both got kissedd!  The elephant put her trunk on our cheeks and wetly sucked in and made a wet “smock” sound. It was cute and wet… I hate being licked by dogs, so this of course made me squeal with disgust & partial delight).  Don fed the elephant a ton of sugar cane which it was hoarding in its mouth and asking him with her trunk for more and more and more. Yes, we took a short ride.  After 5 mn we both felt terrible for the elephant and asked to turn back and get off. 🙁

3) Water Fall  – in the national park (200 Bhat entrance fee each) we hiked 300 meters to a BEAUTIFUL WATERFALL, and swam!  We took photos and video (see attached).  The whole trip I promised Don a waterfall and he wasn’t disappointed.  Another Russian couple took photos of us while we then took photos of them.  This was one of the highlights of our trip to be sure.

4) Back to Patong Beach!!!