One year in Thailand: Phuket: With the boys

Playing pool with the boys

The flood problems in Bangkok reached a climax towards the end of October. It was high tide and there were fears the city would be flooded. The government declared a 5 day holiday over the weekend of the 21st-22nd and as a result many businesses closed. All of our corporate English classes were cancelled. Our apartment owner who had been telling us for weeks that we MUST leave due to impending meter + high floods in our area was virtually pushing us out the door. Our apartment was full of his fear propoganda and with the latest government warning his paranoïa reached boiling point. Adding to that it was near impossible to buy bottled water as well as some foodstuffs.

For these reasons we decided to leave Bangkok for a few days - destination Phuket. Celine's cousin, Romain, who has been staying with us was already heading down to Phuket to see friends and it just so happened that they had a spare room in their house for a few days.

We ended up staying with them for a little under a week. They had a house on Kammala beach - one they moved into a day before the 2004 tsunami. Luckily their house was not affected.

The first stop was to rent a motorbike.

We spent the mornings riding around the island and exploring different beaches. We stopped at Patong (the most touristic), Kata, Karon, Kammala and Surin beach. Our favourite was Kammala which was laid back and relaxed while having all the ammenities you want at the same time.

At night we had dinners at different restaurants and explored some of the various bars on offer. We had a night out in Patong and experienced a ping pong show; amongst other things - very educational :). There were markets to explore as well so we always had things to do.

We both had a good time meeting Romain's friends and enjoying Phuket. It really is a cool island when you have the chance to explore it on motorbike.