Phuket

As you surmised (impressive vocabulary heh?!) from my post about Penang, I wasn't planning on going to Phuket. But after seeing the pictures of the place I had to check it out. It is an extremely touristy place, and it's got that reputation where so many travellers like to slag it and say "oh it's terrible, it's way too touristy", forgetting that they are of course tourists themselves, even though they like to pretend that they are somehow above hanging out in places where there are other tourists. If you've travelled much at all, you know the type, and after meeting so many of them they start to get on my nerves. Anyways enough about them haha. Phuket was one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen. Yes, it is extremely commericalized, with your standard go-go bars, prostitutes, and lady boys shouting and grabbing at you as you pass by them at night. But if you can get past that nuisance, the beach is absolutely amazing. And since it's facing west it has beautiful sunsets every night. I spent a couple days just lying on the beach like a beached whale, drinking Chang beers, and eating Pad Thai every few hours (Thai food is officially my favorite food on this trip so far).

Since it was low season, everything was much cheaper than usual, and I managed to find a big hotel room for $10/night with TV and fan. And to make it even better, I just happened to have 3 cool girls from England staying in the room next to mine. I quickly befriended them, and we partied hard that night, checking out some live music, and then hitting some other shady bar, where we had some intense games of Connect Four. I'm still amazed how easy it is to roll into a place by myself, and within a short time I am hanging out with new friends. Very cool.

We did a day trip to Ko Phi Phi, which is where they filmed "The Beach". Again, this place is insanely touristy, but the place is absolutely beautiful and I'm so glad I checked it out. We did some snorkelling and had a fantastic buffet lunch. We also stopped at some random island in the middle of the ocean, and that is where I stepped on a piece of coral that carved a sizeable gash into my foot. It still hurts to this day (one month later). But I had a beer and it was all good.

That night, I met up with another CSer, Christine, who had just gotten into Phuket and was looking to meet up with people. So we met up for drinks and dinner, and we then proceeded to walk all over Patong (main beach area of Phuket), stopping at every 7-11 for Chang Beers. We came across an arcade style fortune teller, that looked exactly like the one from the movie "Big" with Tom Hanks. I got my fortune and it was nothing but glowing things for my future..I guess we'll see on that one. Christine however did not fare so well with her fortune. She didn't let it get her down too much though. We met up with the English girls and had another crazy night on the town. Good times. My last day in Phuket was spent on the beach (where else) with Christine. Laying on a beach all day is a great thing to do when you're hungover. That evening, I saw the most beautiful sunset I have ever seen. Not sure what it was, but the sky was full of all kinds of crazy colours all at once like purple, orange, blue. Anyways, writing about it is fairly meaningless. But I've never stared so long at the sky. We don't get those in Winnipeg.