One night in Patong, Phuket (Thailand)

After 4 days in Bangkok it was time to move on.......to Phuket or the infamous Patong beach to be precise. Our flight arrived at lunch time in Phuket where we transferred by airport Taxi to our hotel in Patong Beach.

After check-in, we went straight to the beautiful beach...which is unfortunately seriously over-crowded with European tourists (Germans, Swiss, Swedish, Norwegians, Russians etc). This place appears to be the Mallorca of Thailand!

A lot of the category 'beach-whale' are crowding here as well....I assume not just for the sunbathing part during the day, but also for the attention of the other sex in the evening :-/ *blearch*

Traditional long-tail boat on shores of Phuket

The Cruise even comes here! (for Jane & Philipp)

Anyway - we still enjoyed the half day at the beach especially hearing more news from the cold (very cold) Europe....sorry guys!

We enjoyed fresh coconut juice and the stunning sunset in the evening.

Nice white sandy beach - shame about the beach whales species

After a great dinner of baked tiger prawns in claypot with glass noodles (Thai style), we went for a walk on the streets of Patong where we ended up in the crowded party street!

WOW...so many bars, clubs and people!!! Amazing..... The first set of bars was dedicated to the he-she's! To our surprise (and relief, perhaps), it was not always as obvious on the first sight if it was a 'real' she or a transvestite! Interesting but VERY scary (from a man's point of view..)...

One has to admit though, that this was by far the liveliest stretch of bars of all and these 'girls' know how to party and how to tease the boys! :) For those of you who are still in denial or ask themselfes WTF....just have a look at the video!!! (which are, incidentally, taking AGES to upload)

There were streets after streets dedicated to various 'themes', i.e. go-go bars (imagine petite Thai girls with fat, horny old men), normal 'family' bars (cant believe parents bring their 6-year olds here!) and more bars...eg. doctor/nurse themed, schoolgirl themed etc.


After about 3 hours of soaking in the mad party town, we decided to finish the night with our favourite dessert - Pancake!But, we couldnt find any! :( We did find, and overhear, however, quite a few men propositioning Thai girls and some walking back with them to the hotel room. The conversation was pretty basic - as one can imagine. Apparently, it costs THB 300 for a 'massage' if she comes back with you.

On the way home we then discovered that our hotel was round the corner from the gay-quarter of the island! *yeay* We decided NOT to go and have a look....

After another lie-in today we went for breakfast/lunch at the road-stall opposite the hotel and had a delicious barbequed chicken, a specialty of Phuket & Som Tam (Thai Papaya salad)! The Thais dont bother mincing their garlic, they just put in whole bulbs into the salad! No vampires in this region!

Again... these road stalls just provide the best food! soooooo *yummy*
Somtam with Pork Crackling..yumm...(Thais eat a lot of fresh herbs and raw vegetables - this was served with a herb that looks like 'Mimosa' leaves and Cabbage)

Rows of Massage parlours, lots of girls offering "Massa-gee, massa-gee"

Unfortunately for us - we didn't get to try any of the local massages yet :-/ but that's still on our to do list for after the boat trip....

Today, we took a 1.5 hour carride to Khao Lak, one of the worst areas affected by the Tsunami. This is where we will be board the Dive boat tomorrow. Our hotel had no more rooms - so we are staying in, *ahem* what one would call "basic" accomodation....at least for us.

Tomorrow, we are going on the dive boat and therefore will not be able to update our Blog until we return on 18th of Jan...sorry :) Afterwards, we promise you lots of wonderful pictures of lovely beaches and clear blue waters! heheh..