Phuket Town

On Tuesday, we left Bangkok on a flight for Singapore, leaving Thailand a few days before the expiry of our 30 day visas. We had been thinking about flying home from Singapore but decided instead to come back to Thailand to visit the south of the county. Sadly, hotels in Singapore are expensive and we couldn't justify paying for accomodation for the night so we spent a largly sleepless night in the airport. Luckily, a few cafes stayed open all night so we were able to get something to eat and drink.

One cafe sold "chocolate mouse" which we initially assumed was a spelling error. I stand corrected:



Finally, morning arrived and we got on a plane to Phuket.

First impressions of Phuket: it's insanely hot here. Hotter than Singapore, perhaps, which surprised us. It's also, unsurprisingly, even more touristy than everywhere else we've been in Thailand. When we arrived at Phuket airport, we were set upon by an army of touts who were keen to charge us far too much money for a minibus to our guesthouse or a boat trip to Ko Phi Phi. We eventually found the taxi rank and caught a taxi for far less money than the touts were going to charge us.

We're staying in Phuket Town, quite a distance from the beaches and consequently a lot cheaper than places near a beach. We haven't made it to the beach at all yet, mainly because we have spent our first two nights here at a nearby bar, being plied with free drinks by the owner and a whole load of cool British and American ex-pats, and have consequently spent our first two full days nursing hangovers.

Here is a picture of us with the Turkish guy who owns the bar:



A mention must be made of the hilarious Plup Fiction picture which adorns one of the walls of the bar. Well, it made me chuckle anyway:



In the next few days, we plan to catch a boat to Ko Phi Phi, supposedly the most beautiful of Thailand's islands. We'll stay there for as long as we can afford, which probably won't be long since Phi Phi is meant to be the most expensive place in Thailand to stay.