Phuket RnR Part I

Spent the last week of April in Phuket for some rest and recuperation. There was a huge difference between travelling in low season and high season; I was in Phuket in December 2012 during the Christmas period and the place was just horrible...too many tourists and touts harassing people. The week I spent there recently was a stark contrast, the locals were so much nicer and friendlier, everyone smiled, bargains were better...plus, I didn't have to see people walking around shirtless in Jungceylon. *shudders*

I flew with Air Asia and arrived around noon time. The first thing I did as soon as I cleared security was get a free SIM card from a nearby TrueMove stall. It's easy to top up as it's available in all 7-11 stores.

Seeing as I had some hours to kill before arriving at my hotel in Patong, I decided to save some money by taking the shared minibus. The price is around 150 baht (RM15) and it's worth it if you don't mind the 1.5 hour ride and detour to the travel agency. The tour agents will leave you alone if you tell them you have pre-booked your hotel and tours already. One lady was surprised at how prepared I was but I told her that I come to Phuket regularly.

The minibus dropped me of at Rat-Uthit Road, near Paradise Complex, and a few steps away my hotel, Rendez Vouz Hotel. The hotel's owned by a French man and he's very friendly. This is the second time I stayed there so we had a chat and he showed me the superior room (priced at 1000THB), which was much smaller than the suite I had previously stayed in. However, at that price and the fact that it's well located, I feel it's worth it. The room oversees the street outside but it's not very noisy at night. The building's situated in the gay complex; however, the noise and action is a few streets away. Only thing I didn't like about the room was the mosquitoes although they went away after a few anti-bug sprays.

The next morning, I went downstairs to eat at the hotel's 150THB buffet and moseyed off to Patong Beach. One bad thing about the beaches in Phuket during low season is the dirty state of the water...good lord, there were plastic bottles, potato chip bags and all sorts of nasty things in the murky brown water. At least the sun was out and the sand clean. I rented a sundeck and umbrella for 80THB and stayed there the whole day.

Dinner was at the nearby Kiraku restaurant, which is located the next block over from Rendez Vous. Kiraku is owned by a Japanese and they serve mainly local fare. Prices are fair. I saw fish rice porridge for RM8. (As I was feeling unwell and had a cold, I had to stay away from booze and eat nourishing stuff). I ordered green tea as well but I didn't think it was worth it since the cup was quite tiny (and not refillable).

 Then off to bed I went, not stopping to see any "ping pong" shows or what not...although there was something going in the gay plaza. They were having a drag night and all the hotels around that area were promoting their lodgings by having shirtless young gai bois, and European drag queens holding the signs and walking around the square. It was quite a spectacle. Two middle aged Australian couples had stopped by next to me to view the scene and while the two female partners were quite interested, their male partners took one look and said, "Oh, it's just the queens." They tried to get their wives to move along by proclaiming that it's not a "ping pong" show, to which one of the wives snapped, "I know, dickhead!"

The next day was spent again in Patong Beach, lazing around at the same spot. Had mango and sticky rice from a 'famous' shop- by famous I mean there are boards around the restaurant proclaiming the shop as having the best mango and sticky rice on the island - and just chilled until the sun came down. The locals came out around 5:30pm to swim in the sea...one thing I've noticed is that they usually wait until most of the sun is out and there's less tourists on the beach. Smart move. Most of the tourists had left already and there were a few stragglers with their lone umbrella and sun decks left on the beach, i.e. me.

I had dinner at BBQ Hut and tried their advertised 99THB frozen margaritas. Maybe it was just me, but it tasted ordinary and wasn't too potent. But who the hell cares, you can't get RM9 margaritas anywhere in Malaysia! That's one thing I missed about living in the US...the cheap ass hell margaritas, tequila and authentic Tex-Mex food! (I did visit BBQ Hut on the second last day of my vacation and the bartender must have recognized me because she served me two mean ass margaritas that made me fly high in the sky).

Up next: Beautiful (but deadly) Karon Beach and a great stay at the Front Village Hotel.