October 16
arrived safely in phuket
We've now left Chiang Mai, and already I am missing it!
Last night we went to the Sunday Walking Street markets, which are a bit different from the normal markets (held every night). First of all, the marketeers are from outside of Chiang Mai, travelling down from more Northern parts of Thailand to sell their wares. Secondly, most of the people who visit these markets are Thai people themselves, which is the opposite of the normal markets where mostly Westerners are found. Last of all, the prices are cheap!! Unlike most markets we've seen in Thailand, almost everything has a marked price so you don't need to barter. And much to our dismay, some of the things we had bought in the other markets (after bartering) were on sale for even cheaper here!
We saw a few Thai boys (not ladyboys) drawing pictures of people, so when I saw one without a customer I asked him how much it was - equivalent to around $3.50 AUD! So of course, we both got our portraits done. Nee's is very good (charcoal based) and mine was pretty good too (pencil based) - we were both very impressed. It was difficult to stay still for 20 mins though, especially with lots of people walking past and staring at us!!
The markets were advertised to be closing at midnight, however they started packing up an hour early, so unfortunately we missed out on buying some of the things we wanted to, although Nee was understandably more disappointed than I was. We didn't visit MBK centre when we were in Bangkok so I think we'll have to make up for it on our way back home.
This morning we didn't leave the hotel until about 11am - preferring just to relax a little after breakfast and watch some lame American movies subtitled in Thai in our hotel room. We did some serious shopping the other night, so it was difficult fitting everything in our bags. I think we've still got about 20kg of our limit left (incl. hand luggage), but we'll definitely have to buy another bag to fit more crap in.
We're becoming pros in arranging transportation! Seriously, nothing could be easier in Thailand. There are a myriad of taxi drivers hounding you - "where you go?", "tuk-tuk!", "beep beep beep". When we walked out of our hotel with our bags this morning, about 5 or 6 taxi drivers started walking towards us and shouting out "taxi", "tuk-tuk", "airport", etc. An old guy with terrible stature (almost bent over in 2) got to us first and offered us to take us to the airport for 150B. I said no and started walking away, towards the other taxi drivers, and quick as a flash he said "OK, 100 baht, lets go!". Cheap as chips, literally, 100 baht roughly converting to about $3.50 AUD, for a 15-20 minute taxi ride. It's unfortunate for the taxi drivers, but since it is such a saturated market, they are forced to charge ridiculously low prices (and try and trick westerners into paying double or triple what the minimum would be).
After a non-eventful flight (no crash on landing!) we arrived in Phuket. I hadn't researched too much about the south of Thailand, except I think most of it is just beaches and party life, etc, so I figured it would be pretty easy to plan while we went. The number of tourist information centres is crazy, most of them offering the same things - island tours, accommodation, transfers, etc.
Tonight we are staying in a nice little "hotel" of sorts, about 200m from the beach. I booked it last night on wotif.com, managing to get a "deluxe" room for around $32 a night (including breakfast - probably a shit one though). It's not like the other hotels we've stayed at, but it's very modern and the interior decorating is very cute - although it's more Chinese-style than Thai! As a bonus, they have free internet to every room, and also a single computer in the reception that has free internet as well (which I am currently using). Thank god it's only has about 6-8 rooms or something like that - I don't really have to compete with anyone but Nee. Hopefully I can add a few photos to this blog while we're here.
We enjoyed some pizza on the waterfront this evening, following a relaxing walk on the beach. It's very warm here in Phuket compared to Chiang Mai - the humidity is stifling. The hotel we're staying at happens to be situated beside a gay bar. Not my cup of tea, but then again I don't really drink tea anyway.
Other than Mum's suggestion of hiring scooters and driving around (which sounds rather dangerous) is there anything else you can suggest we do while in Phuket? I think we'll be heading around to the Krabi province (including Ko Phi Phi Don) on Wednesday, but not sure as yet.
Last night we went to the Sunday Walking Street markets, which are a bit different from the normal markets (held every night). First of all, the marketeers are from outside of Chiang Mai, travelling down from more Northern parts of Thailand to sell their wares. Secondly, most of the people who visit these markets are Thai people themselves, which is the opposite of the normal markets where mostly Westerners are found. Last of all, the prices are cheap!! Unlike most markets we've seen in Thailand, almost everything has a marked price so you don't need to barter. And much to our dismay, some of the things we had bought in the other markets (after bartering) were on sale for even cheaper here!
We saw a few Thai boys (not ladyboys) drawing pictures of people, so when I saw one without a customer I asked him how much it was - equivalent to around $3.50 AUD! So of course, we both got our portraits done. Nee's is very good (charcoal based) and mine was pretty good too (pencil based) - we were both very impressed. It was difficult to stay still for 20 mins though, especially with lots of people walking past and staring at us!!
The markets were advertised to be closing at midnight, however they started packing up an hour early, so unfortunately we missed out on buying some of the things we wanted to, although Nee was understandably more disappointed than I was. We didn't visit MBK centre when we were in Bangkok so I think we'll have to make up for it on our way back home.
This morning we didn't leave the hotel until about 11am - preferring just to relax a little after breakfast and watch some lame American movies subtitled in Thai in our hotel room. We did some serious shopping the other night, so it was difficult fitting everything in our bags. I think we've still got about 20kg of our limit left (incl. hand luggage), but we'll definitely have to buy another bag to fit more crap in.
We're becoming pros in arranging transportation! Seriously, nothing could be easier in Thailand. There are a myriad of taxi drivers hounding you - "where you go?", "tuk-tuk!", "beep beep beep". When we walked out of our hotel with our bags this morning, about 5 or 6 taxi drivers started walking towards us and shouting out "taxi", "tuk-tuk", "airport", etc. An old guy with terrible stature (almost bent over in 2) got to us first and offered us to take us to the airport for 150B. I said no and started walking away, towards the other taxi drivers, and quick as a flash he said "OK, 100 baht, lets go!". Cheap as chips, literally, 100 baht roughly converting to about $3.50 AUD, for a 15-20 minute taxi ride. It's unfortunate for the taxi drivers, but since it is such a saturated market, they are forced to charge ridiculously low prices (and try and trick westerners into paying double or triple what the minimum would be).
After a non-eventful flight (no crash on landing!) we arrived in Phuket. I hadn't researched too much about the south of Thailand, except I think most of it is just beaches and party life, etc, so I figured it would be pretty easy to plan while we went. The number of tourist information centres is crazy, most of them offering the same things - island tours, accommodation, transfers, etc.
Tonight we are staying in a nice little "hotel" of sorts, about 200m from the beach. I booked it last night on wotif.com, managing to get a "deluxe" room for around $32 a night (including breakfast - probably a shit one though). It's not like the other hotels we've stayed at, but it's very modern and the interior decorating is very cute - although it's more Chinese-style than Thai! As a bonus, they have free internet to every room, and also a single computer in the reception that has free internet as well (which I am currently using). Thank god it's only has about 6-8 rooms or something like that - I don't really have to compete with anyone but Nee. Hopefully I can add a few photos to this blog while we're here.
We enjoyed some pizza on the waterfront this evening, following a relaxing walk on the beach. It's very warm here in Phuket compared to Chiang Mai - the humidity is stifling. The hotel we're staying at happens to be situated beside a gay bar. Not my cup of tea, but then again I don't really drink tea anyway.
Other than Mum's suggestion of hiring scooters and driving around (which sounds rather dangerous) is there anything else you can suggest we do while in Phuket? I think we'll be heading around to the Krabi province (including Ko Phi Phi Don) on Wednesday, but not sure as yet.
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Woke up this morning to the sound of garbage trucks and realised I had forgot to put your overflowing recycling bin out. Luckily for you guys the old girl tore up the bitumen and managed to get me there with just enough time to drag your bins across the street just infront of the truck (he had already gone up the street).
So now you can truely relax and enjoy your holiday knowing that your recycling bin has been emptied.
Hope you are having fun. I have to go now and do a presentation for uni... fun fun fun... wish I was hanging out with you guys but joining you on your honeymoon would have been a little weird.
one day..........