Patong [ Wed. 9th February - Sat. 12th February 2005 ]

Phuket was off our list because of the tsunami but after speaking to other travellers we decided to go. Parts of Phuket were hit quite bad but are now quickly on the road to recovery. The buildings close to the beach in Patong were devasted and were being reconstructed when we were there.
One street back and you'd never know that anything ever happened. They rely heavily on tourism, so we felt it would help them if we did go.

We got a flight from Kuala Lumpur with Air Asia to Phuket and headed to the resort of Patong. When we arrived we were suprised to see how busy it was - the first two hotels we went to were fully booked. We finally managed to get a really nice room at Lucky Mansion for just 500 baht (7 quid), which was 'lucky'!

The first 2 days there was spent on the beach just lazing around. I'd been watching people have a go at the paraglide all day and decided to do it. Joo wasn't keen at all. It was a great feeling up there and you could see the whole area around Patong beach. One of the guys who runs it, joins you but isn't strapped on - he just clings on! Scary stuff!

That evening we explored the main street and popped in a few bars. It was very interesting seeing all the lady boys around and we were having games of 'Guess the sex'! Have a look at the pictures to see just how convincing some of them are!!

The next night we met up with Katy, who we'd met in Singapore and was also in Phuket. We headed out again to the bars and far too much alcohol was consumed. The snacks on offer at the bar were not of the usual peanut variety, but were deep fried crickets! Usually we'd have declined them but with plenty of beer inside you, you're up for anything! Verdict - not that bad actually, a little salty and their little legs do get stuck in your teeth!

On the Friday we booked a tour and went over to see James Bond Island, the island used for 'The Man with the Golden Gun' film. The pictures from that are here.

Patong was ok but it was very sleazy with all the overweight balding over 50's men with the 20 year old Thai girls. We decided to move over to the island of Ko Samui and booked a bus for the following day (Saturday).

Here's the pictures from Patong...

Patong beach, Phuket.



Getting kitted out for the paraglide.









Look, here's not even strapped in!



Joo playing a game of 'Hammer the nail'.



Another game of 'Hammer the nail'.



Katy, Joo and Me.



Bar snacks! Deep fried crickets....Ummm!



We did eat them...






Look how convincing these lady boys are!









End of the night... Us three with the owners of the bar.